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JDaniel4s Mom

growing & learning with him

Pause Life for a Moment- His Creation or Mine

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Pause Life for a Moment
JDaniel’s oldest and most dear friend Jake turned four last week. Jake’s mom decided to hold his birthday party at a local firehouse.
She is an expert baker and cake decorator. I was not surprised to see this beautifully decorated fire truck at his party.

Before we headed over to the party I suggested to JDaniel that he draw a fire truck that we could place in Jake’s present bag instead of making or buying a birthday card.

I laid out crayons and copy paper for both of us to draw on. This was going to be an opportunity to teach JDaniel how to draw a simple fire truck using simple squares, rectangles, and circles. I would show him how to draw one and then he would create his own version of the fire truck.

Once things were set up on the kitchen table, I called him over to create with me.

He took a seat right next to me and listened to my plan. He watched me show him how to create a fire truck. When I had finished, he pronounced it to be a very nice fire truck.

Now it was his turn to create a fire truck. I had given him an example of what the final product should look like. I waited with bated breath to see what he would create.

He selected a red crayon just as I had. He placed it on the paper and made a gigantic circle. A circle wasn’t needed until it was time for the fire truck to be done and then it won’t need that big of a wheel.

He continued drawing adding several dots and some long and short lines to the circle.

The teacher in me started to think about what I have said wrong in my directions that lead to a big circle and not a square or rectangle.

The teacher continued to wonder if he had forgotten how to draw a rectangle or a square. Maybe I had only dreamed that he knew how to draw them in the first place.

Finally, the mom in me kicked in and finally asked JDaniel what he was drawing.

“Oh! I am drawing a fire cat! Jake loves cats and fire. I thought he would love this.” JDaniel announced.

“Should I write down what it is on the paper?” I asked.

JDaniel looked horrified. “Mom, he will know what it is!” JDaniel declared.

Part of me wanted to write down what it was! Part of me wanted it to be a truck just like the one I had drawn.

The wise part of me paused for a moment and realized that this wasn’t my drawing it was his. That wise mom part stopped to think about how JDaniel would feel if I insisted on it being my way.

It is that wise mom part that I hope will prevail in instances like this and remember that when JDaniel creates the creation he makes is his not mine.

Quest to Find Answers to His Questions

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Our days start with questions.

“Is it morning yet?” JDaniel shouts from his bed upstairs.

“I think I see light outside my window. Do you see the light?” he continues his questioning.

Sometimes it isn’t a shout but, it is a whisper in my ear made after tiptoeing down the stairs.

Once the first questions are answered, he is ready with the next set

“What can I have for breakfast?“

“Can I look in the fridge before I decide?”

“Is there still leftover pizza?”

“Can I have ice cream? It is a dairy product , isn’t it? Don’t you let me have dairy products at breakfast time?”

Once breakfast has been eaten, the questions shift to non-food questions.

“Can I watch a show or use the iPad?”

“Will you play with me before you shower?”

“Do I have to go to school? Can’t I just stay with you?”

“Won’t you be lonely without me?”

“Do we have to get in the car now?”

Once we get in the car, the questions shift to building connection questions.

“Are leeches and worms in the same family?”

“Can you tell me the name of every type of cat the you know?”

“What were my favorite sleepy time friends as a baby?”

“ What are all the books you know about frogs?”

“Why can’t I have the window down?”

“Why is there pollen?

The questions barely end after we get to school and I walk him to his classroom.

They start over again as soon as we get back in the car on our way home.

Similar questions to those asked at breakfast are asked again during lunch.

Once lunch is done, the questions swirl around activities we will do in the afternoon.

“Do I have to have quiet time?”

“Will you play with me first?”

“Can we play outside?”

“Is the pollen bad today?”

“Do you have a craft planned?”

“Will I get a treat if go upstairs for quiet time without fussy?”

“Does this counts as fussing?”

“Is quiet time done? Hasn’t it been a long time? Isn’t five minutes a long time?”

“Where is my shoe?” “Did you put it somewhere?”

“Can a friend come over?”

These questions will continue until dinnertime. When new questions will be asked.

“Why can’t I choose the food for dinner?”

“Why can’t a cheese sandwich be what I have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?”

“ Can I have some of Dad’s green tea instead of milk?”

“Can I use hand sanitizer instead of washing my hands?”

“Can I just have five pieces of meat and five peas?”

“Is this tomato a vegetable or a fruit?”

“Why are most things we call vegetables fruits?”

Following dinner these are the questions said most.

“ Do I have to take a bath?”

“Can I play light sabers in the dark with Dad?

“Can we read two or three books instead of one? Two are good for me.

“Can’t we just snuggle?”

“Can I have another hug if I get in bed?”

“Can I have more water?”

“Are all bats nocturnal? Why didn’t God make me nocturnal? Can’t I be nocturnal?”

“Why am I in bed when I’m not tired?”

“Would you say that frog and alligators are in the same family?”

“Why won’t you answer questions after nine o’clock?”

“Will you come check on me?”

“ Will you always love me?”

Finally the questions end and it is silent.

I think that while he is finally sleeping he is still thinking of questions to ask.

He is building connections, testing limits, finding understanding, and constantly learning through questions.

I am left with two questions.

What will he ask tomorrow? Will I have the answers?

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday.

Children at Play- Teddy Needs More Turtle Skating Practice

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Last week as I put away the red sled made of cardboard we played with during Read. Explore.Learn  JDaniel headed upstairs to grab Teddy and my husband’s turtle slippers (which now live in JDaniel’s room). He had another idea of what to do with the bubble wrap ski slope on the living room floor.

The slope wasn’t a slop anymore I was informed. JDaniel declared that it was now an area for Teddy to skate on. The turtle slippers were to be Teddy’s skates.

While Teddy seemed willing to try skating, his feet didn’t seem to agree. It was very hard to keep Teddy’s feet in the slippers. They just kept slipping out.

Teddy’s feet don’t have a large enough surface area to stay in the slippers. I tried to explain that to JDaniel but, the whole concept of the surface area went right over his head.

I suggested that JDaniel hold Teddy’s feet in the slippers. The pressure from his arm muscles might keep Teddy’s feet in.

JDaniel was willing to try this in fact he pressed down on Teddy’s legs as hard as he could. The slippers did stay on but, now his feet won’t move to do to the pressure.

It seemed Teddy would never be able to skate. There were just too many things for JDaniel to do to help him move and keep his slippers on.

Instead of getting frustrated, grabbing Teddy up, and flinging slippers, JDaniel did a very wise thing. He decided it was time to get more helpful ideas from me.

We discussed all the variables involved in Teddy skating down the bubble wrap with slippers. It was a very lively discussion. The kind many of you have probably had with your children when everything seems to be going wrong and every idea that comes to mind is a possibility.

Ultimately JDaniel decided it was my job to make it happen and his job to cheer from the edge of the bubble wrap. I really tried to keep pressure on Teddy and move his feet while sliding my feet behind his. This approach really should have worked. It really should have.

For some unknown reason, Teddy kept falling. He gallantly kept trying with me to make JDaniel’s vision come to be but, it just didn’t happen.

After several attempts, it was decided that we should put the bubble wrap away and try to have Teddy skate another day.

Pause Life for a Moment- Being Like Dad

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Being with Dad

My son wants to be like his dad so much! He wants to do what he is doing and “help” with chores he does around the house. Mostly he just want to be around him.
Cold Coffee
Almost morning my husband fixes coffee. JDaniel has decided that he needs to have coffee in the morning too.
There is a problem. He doesn’t like coffee. JDaniel has taken a few sips of my husbands and decided that it is terrible. It is even worse when it is still warm.
My brilliant husband has invented a solution to JDaniel problem of wanting to have coffee like dad and wanting something he thinks tastes great. All you have to do is mix cold water, milk, and a little sugar and you have cold coffee! This yummy beverage doesn’t even need to be served in a coffee cup.
It is just wonderful in a sippy cup or small plastic glass.
Sitting With a Book
At various times during the day when my husband is home, he can be found sitting in this red leather chair reading the Bible or the newspaper.
If you are a little boy like Jdaniel, you have wanted to do the same thing. 
You grab one of the wooden chairs from your wooden table and chair set and you drag it over to where your dad is sitting. The chair is then placed beside your father’s chair in just the right spot.
Then you have to scurry to the living room and grab a copy of Frog and Toad are Friends or another favorite piece of literature and bring it back to the reading area. 
Once you have something to read, you can finally sit with your dad and look just like he does. You can silently look at the pictures in the book and pretend to read it and be just like dad.
Doing Laundry
Every Sunday afternoon my husband does laundry. I do most of the laundry during the week but, he does his work pants and shirts on Sunday.
Almost every Sunday he has a small boy standing on a plastic white stepstool by his side in the laundry room.
They do the same steps with my husband giving him directions as to the next step every week.
I can hear these words coming out of the laundry room :
“Wrap the pants around the agitator carefully.”
“Don’t stuff the clothes in or they won’t get clean.”
“If you scrub a little Shout on stains with a toothbrush, you can get rid of the stains. Now scrub carefully but, put a little pressure on the brush.
Trimming Trees
I trim the bushes in the yard but, apparently boys trim trees.
When my guys head out to trim trees, I am told that I can stay inside by JDaniel.
He really doesn’t trim the trees. He mostly gathers up the branches and twigs and takes them to the curb.
Although there are times he breaks pieces off of low hanging branches or tries to scrape off the bark.
How do I know about all these events in my guys lives? I tend to peek around corners or out windows and I listen in to their guy talk.
Pausing to see how my guys interact brings me such joy. Yes, I could consider the time they are off together as my downtime. (There are times that I do just let them go off.) 
There are times when hearing them chat and seeing them together makes my day. I love getting to see and hear these memories in the making.
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Getting Back to Our Pre-Holiday Schedule

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During the holidays I tried to keep JDaniel on schedule for his quiet time in the afternoon and meal times, but I would be the first to admit they veered a little of course.
Many of the things that fill our daily schedule were not available during most of December and we had to find different things to do.

What Changed

There was no school, library story times, or playgroup for all or part of the month.
The boy next door and his family went away for two weeks. That means there wasn’t a call at four o’clock to see if he could come to play and we couldn’t head out to see if they are out playing after lunch.

Other changes:

It rained cold rain for days.
My husband was home for a few days. We loved having him home, but it did change our routine.
We tried to spend more time with my mom who lives in the same town we do. We see her on Fridays every week, but I tried to go over more. She loves seeing us despite the fact she has to hunt for her comb and brush after we leave.
JDaniel decided to start sleeping later in the morning. Hooray!
We rushed to try to get Christmas shopping done before everyone started their Christmas vacation.
I didn’t have my mom’s group at church to meet with.

Back to Our Scheduled Activities

While we enjoyed spending time together as a family and JDaniel and I had a great time together ( except for occasional meltdowns) , I am ready to get back to our regular schedule.
Yesterday was JDaniel’s first day back at preschool. He really didn’t want to go. I  think he believes I get lonely. He just wanted to play with me in his room.
 

When we absolutely had to go. He went happily. I was so worried he would have a meltdown. I am so glad I was wrong.

Today we will head back to story time at the library. I have really missed seeing the story time librarian Amber. She is expecting in March and should be close finally looking like she is pregnant. I can’t wait to see how she looks.Tomorrow we have preschool again. I hope it goes as well as it did on Tuesday.Next week playgroup and my mom’s group will start back up. Our schedule will be back to its pre-holiday routine. It was hard to leave the routine behind for the holidays, but I will cherish the memories we made and the return to the routine completely next week.

How did your children do with returning to the old routine?
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Finding the Topper for Your Tree

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This is the first year we have done a full-size tree for Christmas. In previous years we have done small tabletop trees that JDaniel couldn’t topple. I wrote about last year’s tree in a post called Maybe This Tree Will Grow Next Year.

JDaniel was super excited about selecting a tree. We visited several stores to find just the right one. He lobbied hard for a bright blue tree, but we ended up settling on a traditional green one.

After setting up the tree, we hung up some of our non-breakable ornaments along with the ones we have made while doing the Truth in the Tinsel curriculum and some homemade ornaments. 

The tree was missing something. It needed something on top of the tree. We hadn’t looked for a star, dove, or angel while looking for the tree so, we had to head out again to find a tree topper.

JDaniel fell hard for a multicolored star that lit up and since I hadn’t given on the blue tree. I went with the star he picked out. When we brought it home and tried it on the tree, the top of the tree began to lean toward the floor and the star decided to not stay stationary on top of the tree.

JDaniel was so disappointed. He really loved the star, but it had to go back in the box.

I decided to create a game out of our star search by having him search for things around the house we could use on top of the tree. It was raining that afternoon and cold I really didn’t want to head out and start the tree topper search again.

He came back within ten minutes with a box loaded with things for us to try.

We tried:

 A Playskool Man
A Rocket
A Sippy Cup
A Chenille Worm
A Wrench
A Fireman’s Hat
None of these really fit well with the rest of the tree.
A few days later we headed to Walmart and found the perfect star. My husband and I love it. JDaniel would still like to keep trying.

What is on top of your tree?

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday.

Adventures-In-Mommy-Land- and a Christmas Craft: An Egg Carton Tree

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I saw the tree below in a Christmas craft book and knew we had to make it. Once I had gathered all the materials, creating it was sort of an adventure. JDaniel wanted to play with the decorative elements and I wanted to decorate the tree. Actually, he wanted to pretend to bake a cake and decorate it with decorative elements. He really enjoyed it.

The post sharing how to make this wonderful tree is on Adventures-In-Mommy-Land today.  I hope you will head over and check it out.

Behold The Joy Of Leaves

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jd4smom_loadingleaves

JDaniel and the boys next door have been waiting and waiting for the leaves from the birch trees in our backyard to fall.

When there was finally enough on the ground, they had a wonderful time playing in them and with them. I loved getting to take pictures of the boys enjoying the leaves at the end of last week.

My maternal grandmother loved to quote the poem Trees by Joyce Kilmer when I was little. She would recite it word by word. When tried to decide how to share pictures of their joyous leaf play, I decided to use part of that poem.

The first stanza and last stanza of this poem are Joyce Kilmer’s. The rest of the stanzas are my words.

jd4smom_wheelbarrowandleaves

I think that I shall never see
Boys more happy playing beside a tree.

JDaniel and Leaves

 

The leaves it shed
won’t be left for dead.
They will be raked into a pile
And jumped into preschool style.
The leaves will be thrown into the air
to descend inside clothes and onto hair.jd4smom_leavesinjacket They will be loaded in a boy’s car
and driven, but not very far. jd4smom_loadingleaves-copy Those leaves will become a brand new heap
They will be jumped into again and again by boys who leap.jd4smom_moreleaves Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

This post is linked to Mama Kat’s Writing Workshop and Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday.

 

P.S. JDaniel is wearing his yellow Thankfulness Tree leaf that says “Dad”. He said he wanted his dad close to him.

 

Thanksgiving for Kids- Being Thankful Tree

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This special time of year is filled with thankfulness and falling leaves. I decided to create a Being Thankful Tree for my son to use to display people and things he is thankful for.
The Being Thankful tree is so easy to make.
Materials:

  • Two pieces of cardboard
  • Colored paper
  • Ribbon

Here is how to create a tree: 
Cut two tree cutouts twelve inches tall out of cardboard. Hint: The tree looks best with all the branches pointing out.
One of the tree cutouts will need a slit that descends from the top of the tree down its center leaving three and a half inches at the bottom uncut.

The other tree cutout received a cut from the bottom of the tree in the center. I left four and half inches at the top.
Slide the tree cutout with the slit rising from the bottom unto the other tree cut out. 
Voila! You have a tree. Now it is onto the leaves.
 
Cut oversized leaves out of fall-colored paper.
Put a small slit in the leaf for the ribbon to pass through.
Put a piece of ribbon in each leaf and tie it off to make a loop.
Place the names of people and things that you love the leaves. This can be done once a day leading up to Thanksgiving or at one sitting.
JDaniel loved the idea of a thankfulness tree so much that he asked if we could make one for the next-door neighbors!

He has also loved rearranging the leaves and making them fall!
Update: He has taken to wearing the leaves of the people he likes that day like a ring on his finger.

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday, Mommy Club Wednesday, and several other places.

Muffin Tin Monday- Boo for Lunch!

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JDaniel usually eats everything in his muffin tin meals. This week several items were left in the tin.  He just didn’t like their contents.

What did he like?

The cream cheese bagel ghost flew off the tray. (Do ghosts fly?)

The dip was scooped up.

The mac and cheese with sport equipment noodles that look like bones to me were a slam dunk.

The ghost shaped marshmallows were a success. ( I guess they flew too.)

What he did not like?

The cucumber sticks were left standing in their corner of the tin as yucky despite the fact that  JDaniel’s inhaled as a before dinner appetizer the night before.

The tuna fish was scooped up and moved to an empty cup in the top row so he wouldn’t have to sit near it. JDaniel asked for tuna for breakfast a few day later.

I guess I can’t complain about his being a picky eater. He really does it a wide variety of foods. Some days that just don’t tickle his fancy.

What won’t your children eat?

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