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JDaniel4s Mom

growing & learning with him

Things JDaniel Does That I Don’t

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Mama Kat lists several topics to write about in her Writer’s Workshop each week. One of the ideas for this week was 22 things you have never done.

 
 I have never …

Wanted to be R2D2 for Halloween.

Wanted to be told robot stories several times a day while traveling in a car.

Desired to wear my red rain boots on the wrong feet, because I like the fit better.

Slept in a bed surrounded by zillions of my favorite stuffed friends.

Jumped and out of bed with the desire to grab a front loader and pretend to dig up the blue carpet in my room.

Finger painted with toothpaste on the bathroom mirror.

Squirreled away television remotes, shoes, and other assorted items under couches and behind loveseats.

Been obsessed with recycling so much that I check the bottles abandoned on the beach to see if they have triangles on them.

Been thrilled to gather sticks for hours on a Saturday to build a beaver home.

Wanted to spend hours on Youtube watching C3PO.

Crawled on the floor and pretended to be a cat.

Wondered why R2D2 and C3PO don’t have parents.

Loved to sit in the bathroom with an iPad because I might have to go to the bathroom sometime in the next few hours watching PBSKids.org.

Made a play area out of bed sheets because they were fun to lie in. ( I have laid in a pre-made play area.)

Picked up a broken piece of sidewalk outside of church and then run to the curb every Sunday like clockwork.

Told my mom I hated her and then kissed her face all over.

Danced with a broom while sweeping and listening to Old McDonald.

Relished the samples at Trader Joe’s, Williams- Sonoma, and Publix so much that I can’t stop talking about them.

Said that I loved everything so I didn’t have to remember specific things I loved about school.

Named almost every stuffed animal and sleepy time item what it is + y. We have Rabbity, Liony, Bluey ( The blue blanket), Greeny ( The green blanket) and so on.

Found joy in rolling down the back passenger window with my foot to see if my mom would noticed.

Pretended to fix my car with plastic tools.

I have done some of these things, but never in the way my son chooses to. Maybe I need to before I turn fifty. Living like my three year old in many of these ways sure sounds like fun.

This post is linked to Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop.

Passing Down Costumes Cousin to Cousin

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This cute fuzzy dog suit has had a long run.

It was worn by the first born boy in my family. His mother thought it was fun.

He decided to be a fireman the next year and it passed to his brother.

“I think you two will look cute!” said his mother.

One will put fires to an end

And the other will be a fireman’s friend.

After each in that family has worn it, it was sent to New York by mail.

It was hoped cousins there would want to scamper and wiggle their tail.

It sat in a box waiting  year after year.

No one wanted to be a dog there it feared.

The cousins there chose to be other creatures.

They never wore the suit and doned dog features.

It traveled with other costumes cousins has used to Carolina, it hoped it would be selected and worn

Despite its frizzy fuzz and that it was now a tiny bit torn.

The frugal mom bought a different costume at a consignment sale.

But her Carolina boy fell instead for the  Dalmatian costume and its stubby tail.

This year it headed to the sale for others to wear.

They will love it too. It needn’t despair.

This post is linked to Mama Kat’s Writer Workshop.

You Can’t Serve Two Masters- Darth Vader Made the Wrong Choice

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“You can not serve two masters,” I tell Jdaniel when he questions why something he is doing or has seen is bad or just not good.

We have started going over scripture memory verses with JDaniel at meal times using a verse packet called Foundation Verses from Desiring God Ministries and “No one can serve two masters” from Matthew 6:24a was one of the first ones.

He has been told that it means you can’t do what God wants and what you want if they are two vary different things.

As a three year old with tons of his own ideas, he understands that he doesn’t always get his own way. He would love to master of all things, but he really wants to please God too.

We have reminded him that it isn’t his way or our way. It is God’s way we are all trying to follow. He has been reminded that Mom and Dad still struggle with this too.

He seemed to be understanding what we were saying, but we weren’t sure.

Then something happened that made it crystal clear for him. We got three boxes of cereal in the mail with Star Wars characters on them. If you put the boxes together they made a panoramic scene.

JDaniel had no idea who they were or what they were from, but he was fascinated by the robots in the picture.

I tried telling him a little about each of the characters and we watched some short clips on Youtube that weren’t violent. They mostly concentrated on R2D2 and C-3PO. He loved watching them.

Then he started asking about Darth Vader. He has a large picture on the third box. Who was he? Was he bad? Why does he look like a robot?

“Well, Darth Vader was a man who had to make a choice,” I told him.

“He had to chose who to follow and he chose the wrong master,” I continued.

“So, he was bad?” JDaniel asked.

“Yes, he was bad and he didn’t turn away from bad things when he could have (Yes, I know he did in the end.),” I replied.

“Not good,” JDaniel replied back.

“Really not good,” I answered back.

We haven’t really gotten to all the Darth Vader does in the movies series. My husband did show him one of the scenes where Darth Vader is fighting with a light saber. We have chatted more about making good choices and following through with doing the right thing.

I am going to be hosting a giveaway that includes the three cereal boxes with the Star Wars scenes and a $25 Walmart gift card this Sunday. I hope you will stop by and enter it. You never know what conversations the boxes could stir up at your house.

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

At the Beach- Myrtle Beach South Carolina

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We left on Sunday for a few days at the beach. We have been to other hotels in Myrtle Beach, but this was our first time at Dunes Village. We loved it so much we plan to go back next year.

The weather was overcast the whole time we were there. We loved the cooler weather and lack of sun beating down on us.

It looked like this most of the time we were there, but it didn’t rain.
JDaniel loved running and searching for shells. I keep thinking about the theme song from Chariots of Fire when I watched him run.
I am not sure what was happening in this picture. I just love that JDaniel’s arms are out and my husband’s are on his hips.
 We spent hours digging in the sand just like a construction machine.
Some days we would head down to the beach for a walk and end up sitting and playing in the sand.
JDaniel loved the indoor water parks. There was one in each of the hotel’s buildings. JDaniel loved the sub and the waterslides. My husband and I weren’t thrilled with going down the slides over and over again. JDaniel was up for going down them four and five times in a row. With fewer people in the waterpark in the fall we were able to climb the stairs and do just that.
He loved when the buckets would dump on my head. He encouraged Dad to help the buckets dump.
Ocean Learning Sites- Links 4 Moms
Mostly he just loved being in the water. We were alway near him. He had no fear of the waves or the water.
This post is linked to Picnesday.

Parking for Handicap Toy Vehicles

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JDaniel notices everything and hears everything too. Two weeks ago he heard me say that we were going to have to park further away from the store than I wanted to, because the only spots close in were handicap spots.

No sooner did we get out of the car than he wanted me to show him the handicap spots. I showed him the signs on the spaces and in front of them that show that they are for people with handicaps.

On the way home he wanted to know what handicaps were and why people had them. It turned into a long conversation. He wanted to know why God gave people handicaps and could people get better from them.

After we got home he didn’t mention handicaps again. It was as if he had sorted out everything he needed to in his mind about them and had moved on to something else.

Last week we put a set of cubbies up in Jdaniel’s room to hold all of this vehicles. I was really tired of having them parked all over his room.

I asked JDaniel to put the cars, trucks and construction equipment on the shelves and went to do something else.

When I came back, two of the bottom cubbies were empty. I asked him why there weren’t vehicles in them.

“They are for the handicapped Mom,” he replied.

I had to hold back a chuckle. I love that he was thinking about those vehicles with special needs.

I didn’t think we have any handicapped vehicles. Apparently he has decided that we don’t either. He has started storing vehicles in the cubbies, but it any start to have special needs he will know where to park them.

What do you children do that makes you want to laugh, but you know it would be inappropriate to?

Vehicle Exploration! Fun for Two Generations!

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There is nothing better on a Sunday afternoon in South Carolina then to go to your town’s Touch a Truck event. You can wander up and down the closed off main street, climb, explore, and take in the amazing attributes that the various pieces of equipment possess.

Driving a mini front loader fills a preschooler with unexplainable joy.
Discussing the road grader with your dad creates a bonding memory.
Getting to experience shifting gears and checking out each button is heaven.
Boys both young and slightly aging love to take it all in.
Some of the slightly aging boys may need time to explore on their own.
It seems exploring and playing on construction equipment is something boys never outgrow.
This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday and Things I Can’t Say’s Magic Moments.

Our Back to School Traditions

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I have read everyone’s wonderful Back to School Traditions posts and thought I would share what we did for JDaniel’s first day. If you haven’t had a chance to share your back to school traditions or first day of school pictures, the link up will stay open until September 8th.

Labeling Clothes

Before school started we labeled all of JDaniel’s things for preschool using Mabel Labels. I met some of the Mabel Label’s ladies at the Type A Conference and they offered to make JDaniel a set of labels for school. I really love them. Some are designed to go clothes, some of shoes, and others on everything else.

School Shopping- Items I Love
These are great for inside shoes. We also used them to label JDaniel’s extra clothes bag and backpack.
These are designed for inside clothes.
These are great for pencils, notebooks, and everything else.
JDaniel loved helping to label his clothes.

Back to School Breakfast

We started the day with blueberry pancakes I made the night before and reheated. I was worried things would get to hectic in the morning so, I went ahead and made them early.

Back to School Pictures
After breakfast, I took JDaniel out to his tree to take his first day of school picture. He didn’t look happy. I decided to take some quick shots as we walked into school later.
They weren’t much better. I may have to stage some next week.
Back to School Lunch
JDaniel requested pizza for his lunch. I picked up pizza from Moretti’s a family favorite while JDaniel was in school. My husband met us at the house to celebrate JDaniel’s first day of school and hear about his morning.

He was able to share a few things between bites of pizza. He loved recess and snack. The dump trucks and robot in class were a hit too. I was also informed that he didn’t need his worry rock. He said that he won’t need it this year. He just loves it there.

This post is linked to Mama Kat’s Writing Workshop.

Quarters Not Needed Let’s Pretend

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Have you seen these mechanical toys at your local big box store or shopping center? They can cost as little as fifty cents or tons more depending on where they are located.

JDaniel first encountered a cluster of vehicles at my mother in-law’s local mall. He asked if he could ride in a sports car and I put the money in the slot. The car started rocking back and forth and making revving sounds. Needless to say he didn’t stay in it long. “Help!” he cried with his arms over his head.

That first encounter occurred when he was just about two. It seemed to scar as well as scare him.

When we went back to that mall later, he just wanted to sit in each of the vehicles in make his own sounds. While in the fire truck, he made a siren sound. He made his own revving sound for the sports car. The school bus was silent as he sat in it. I guess he couldn’t think of a noise that it would make.

Over time we have come across other mechanical toys and he continued to just wanted to sit in them. I love that he didn’t need me to pay for the ride and he loved that it didn’t move.

We stopped at the outlet mall in Gaffney, North Carolina a few weeks ago to get school clothes and JDaniel saw this bull. He asked if I would help him up and I did. He asked if he could really ride it and I put in two quarters. The bull slowly rocked forwards and backwards. He didn’t make noise. He just rocked. JDaniel loved this bull. He was so tame and so unlike what a bucking bull in a rodeo might be like. He was perfect.

When the ride ended , Jdaniel asked if I would let him stay on him for awhile. I said that he could, but that I wasn’t going to pay for another ride. “That is okay mama,” he said, “ This time I will just pretend.”

His words made my heat melt. I bet he had as much fun pretending to ride as he did really riding.

On our way to the car JDaniel saw a fire truck with Bert and Ernie in it. Once again he asked if he could ride it.

I looked at him and asked if he meant really riding it or pretending. He replied, “ I think I would just like to pretend again.

He and Ernie looked like they were having a wonderful chat. I love watching him pretend.

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

Planting and Spreading Words

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We planted two pumpkin seeds beside the our shed after our first attempts at gardening failed.

After awhile, two sprouts grew out of the ground. Then giant leaves appeared

JDaniel and I went to visit my sister Michelle’s family in Atlanta last week and when we came back the plants had started taking over the yard. My husband claims they tried to grab him as he drove past them on the riding mower.

I told JDaniel they are like Jack’s beanstalk. They seem to grow bigger and longer over night.

Our pastor Andy Lewis preached on the verses in James that speak about the tongue on Sunday. He challenged us to think about what we say and why we are saying it for a whole day this week. “Words grow,” he reminded us. “Words can take root in people’s hearts. They can change they way someone feels about you and they can make you wish they could be taken back.

His words hung in my heart when we left church on Sunday. I felt challenged about the words I say to my family and those I love.

My sister Kate who was down visiting last week (Yes, last week was filled with visiting with my sisters!) commented on how she hears my words come out of Jdaniel’s mouth.

In some ways that is a compliment. He speaks in complete sentences and uses lots of different kinds of words. In some ways it is a challenge. He is frustrated and demanding at times. He can try to order others around. I have heard him say, “ I need it right?” more than once.

JDaniel may be just what I need to monitor my words. He shares with me the words I have taught him while I speak with him and with others.

I want my words to grow and bear fruit. I do not want them to spread emotions and ways to interact with others that are not good to my son.

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

I am currently working on my next Mary Lee story. It will probably be posted at the end of the month.

Getting School Shopping Over With!

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This is the first year for Back to School shopping at our house. JDaniel will be starting preschool this fall. We are both excited about his opportunity to not only go to preschool, but to go with one of his closest friends. Although he won’t really need to wear clothes much different than he has been, we did go shopping and get a few “new” things. Each one was a deal. You know how much a love to find a deal.

What did our back to school shopping look like?

I went through the hand me downs from my sisters to figure out what clothes he had inherited from his cousins. He had a ton of pants. I think I counted four pairs of jeans and five pairs of tan pants. There were several button down shirts and a few t-shirts. I love getting to shop in my closets.

We went to an outlet mall not to faraway from home and found shirts he can wear this fall and next spring  for about $3.50 each.

I went on line to look for a pair of shoes that JDaniel can wear to school. He has never had a new pair of shoes before. All of his shoes have come from my sisters or consignment sales. When I brought him over to the computer to show him the new shoes. He commented that he could just wear his red rain boots. There may days when he gets to wear them to school, but I didn’t think he could wear them everyday.

My favorite consignment sale started on Wednesday night and we got the remaining items Jdaniel will need for the spring and fall. They have clothes that look barely worn there. I love getting wonderful clothes in great shape for a reasonable price. I was able to pick up some sweaters, a thermal vest, and a few long sleeved shirts.

JDaniel doesn’t need to gather school supplies this year or select a lunch box for preschool. Those things will have to wait until he starts kindergarten in two years. For now I am so thankful that we were able to get everything he needs for school for under eighty dollars. I know the big dollar years are coming. Maybe I should starts saving for them now?

 

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