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JDaniel4s Mom

growing & learning with him

Needle Nosed Pliers Were the Right Tool!

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When you are doing yard work, you need to right set of tools. It is only through the vast experience you have working on your Cozy Coupe and watching your father do work on the house that you learn about the right tools to use. You will still  need to bring your tools out of the garage and sort through them to make the right choice.

Once you have selected the needle nose pliers as the right tool, you have to get down low and get to work. The pliers will need to be aligned with the bottom of the weeds instead of the top. If you try to pull them from the top the pliers will slip of and the weed will remain.

You may even have to stand up slowly from your low squat to give yourself some leverage. Your arms and legs working together can help you yank the weed out by its roots.

There are other times when you have to wretch the pliers into the dirt to loosen the weed from it. It requires that the pliers are dragged in a circle to create a moat around the weed.

When a really tough weed is loosen and deposited in the pail your father has given you, you may choose to celebrate by taking a clump of dirt over to your worms in their compost box. They will probably want to celebrate youy achievement with you.

The Big Mouth Frog Joke

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On Saturday night after the dinner dishes had been cleared we sat around the table discussing our day. We talked about all the yard work we had done and the great books that we had checked out of the library.

It is such fun to have three year old that can join into discussions and share. JDaniel remembered specific details about the edging project he had helped his dad do and the weeds he had helped pull.

When we had finished chatting, my husband decided to try a joke out of JDaniel. With a three year old you can never be sure if they will understand the humor in a joke. Sometimes you have to explain the joke to them and even then you can end up with them rolling their eyes or looking confused.

JDaniel really enjoyed the joke and I thought I would share it with you.



The Big Mouth Frog Joke

One day a big mouth frog was out exploring the swamp not to far from his home. He had a wonderful time seeing new things and meeting new animals.

Just before heading home the big mouthed frog came upon an alligator gliding along the top the water in the swamp.

The big mouth frog noticed the alligator had started gliding towards him and remembered a question he had wanted to ask an alligator if he ever met one. The big mouth frog waited for the alligator to get close enough to him enough to him to ask his question.

The alligator thought is was odd that the frog was waiting for him, but decide to see that he wanted and glided even closer to him.

“Good day!” said the alligator with a grin on his face and twinkle in his eye.

“Good day!” replied the big mouth frog with a smile on his face.

“Can I help you with something?” the alligator asked slyly in a deep voice.

“I have always wondered what an alligator’s favorite food was!” the big mouth frog exclaimed.

“Really?” grinned the alligator.

“Yes, really!” said the big mouth frog.

“Well, I don’t know about all alligators, but I love big mouthed frog!” said the alligator still grinning.

“Oh!” answered the now wide eyed big mouth frog pursing his lips into as tight a pucker as he could and slowly backing away.

You probably needed to see my husband sly grin and final pucker to get the full effect of this joke. Since I didn’t video tape it, you can get the full effect by smiling as wide as you can for both the alligator and big mouth frog parts until the every end. At the end remember to pucker your lips when you read the final words of the big mouthed frog .

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

Managing the Hedge Trimmer

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If you went over with the teenager that lives next store exactly how you wanted the bushes trimmed and shaped in the backyard, you would probably trust him to do the job exactly has you had described it.

Your three year old might think that the teenager needed a supervisor. He might feel the need to supervise the work while standing on a stepstool on the deck a few feet away from the bushes.

As the supervising manager he might feel as if he was needed to watch the teenager work on each step of the task. Each stroke of the trimmer would need to be analyzed and commented on. Critiques of how well trimming is going would need to be shared.

Despite the warm temperature and the need to constantly wipe his forehead, the bush trimming  manager might stay on the deck until the task is complete. He would just wipe his brow with his baseball cap from time to time.

Thankfully the teenager has two little brothers close to the manager’s age. Thankfully he is patient and good with kids! Thankfully he played along with the manager and asked him from time to time how he was doing.

The manager was a tough task master, but displayed expert management skills by issuing words of praise to the bush trimmer from time to time.

You have to love a manager that isn’t afraid to sweat it out with you in the heat of a Carolina summer day!

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

What is the opposite of tree?

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We were pulling out of the drugstore parking lot on Monday. We had just dropped off JDaniel’s allergy prescriptions and were headed to playgroup. He was leaning one elbow on his car seat with his fist holding up his head. He looked so pensive back there staring off into space.

“What are you thinking,” I asked him.

“Mom, what is the opposite of hot?” he replied.

“Cold is the opposite of hot,” I answered him.

“Okay, what is the opposite of big?” he wanted to know.

“Little or tiny would be the opposite of big?” I told him.

He went on to ask me the opposite of six or seven things and each time I was able to come up with answers quickly.

I was impressed with the number of things he was coming up with. He was using great thinking skills. His wonderfully inherited DNA or exposure to tons of concepts was shining through.

Then he stumped me with one of his opposite questions.

“What is the opposite of tree?” he wanted to know.

I thought and I thought and I thought.

Bushes are low to the ground and trees reach up high but, some trees can be smaller than a bush.

Grass is low to the ground too, but it can grow tall if it isn’t cut often enough.

I couldn’t think of an answer for him. My answer was to say that we would check with the smart moms at playgroup. ( My playgroup is filled with really smart moms that went to really big colleges.)

When I got to playgroup, several of the moms came up with bushes and grass as the opposite of a tree, but they weren’t willing to say it was the right answer or their final answer.

My friend Kathleen suggested I ask you. She claims my readers super smart too and  are probably able to come up with an answer for my son who inspires higher level thinking.

So, what is the opposite of tree?

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

Keeping Hymn from Church

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If you would, try to imagine singing the words to Amazing Grace while trying to hold on to your preschooler who is standing on a pew next to you continually asking you where you are in the song as he sways to the music.

Many of you can imagine this moment and have repeated Sunday after Sunday due to the fact that your church encourages your children to be in the service with you or they don’t offer a Sunday school class that runs during the church service and Sunday school.

The services at my church have children over the age of five sitting with their parents for the first part of the service and then they are walked out to attend children’s church. There are some expectation to that and I want to share an exception with you that has challenged my families’ view on children in church.

The Situation

Sometimes JDaniel is the only child in the three year old class for the first twenty minutes of church. There are two boys that used to be with him and they are now upstairs in the sanctuary with their parents to listen to the prelude music and the opening hymns.

When we became aware of the other families’ decision to do this, we talked over whether we should do the same thing with JDaniel. We came up with a number of cons and pros his being church with us.

Cons

He doesn’t like to sit sill for long periods of time or stand still.

He may not want to leave to go to his Sunday school class. His way of expressing that would be to loudly share his desire to stay in the congregation.

He may decide he wants to talk about a random thought that has occurred to him during the singing to get our attention and distract other people.

He hates for me to leave him in Sunday school in the first place and has to be peeled off me several Sundays in month. We would just be delaying the battle.

Pros

He would be doing what the other boys are doing.

He won’t be walking into an empty room.

He has plans

Our decision was to have him stay in his class and I thought the discussion was over.

JDaniel was found recently flipping through a hymnal we keep in the living room looking over the music. When I asked him what he was doing he said he was learning the music to get ready for the big church. He really seems to want to try being upstairs. Three just seems young to try this experiment in music exploration.

What would you do? (Remember at three JDaniel is unpredictable.)

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

 
 

Trying to guide so, he will thrive!

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“To create a little flower is the labor of ages.”- William Blake

We planted sunflowers in a shallow plastic container so that it would be easy to see the roots form.

We moved the two small thriving plants to a bigger container so that they would grow. They had narrow stems, but seemed to be growing and reaching for the sun.

We moved them one last time into the ground. They continued to reach for the sun. They grew leaves and a small flowers.

These are the flowers a week ago.

We watered them everyday. When they started to get top heavy and droop, we provided stakes to give the support.

The taller flower still developed a crack in its stem. We taped the crack and hoped it would be okay.

Both plants withered in the Carolina sun. Both slowly lost their petals.

I took this picture on Tuesday.

They won’t be displaying their glory.

We will try growing sunflowers again. This time we will plant them directly in the soil.

I hope they will grow deep roots there. Hopefully they will grow thick enough stems to support the flowers they will grow.

The wilting flowers remind of dreams I have for JDaniel.

I so want JDaniel to have deep roots. I want him to be fed nutritionally, spiritually, and emotionally things that will help him grow towards the Son and thrive.

Each day I look back at the events from the day before. I reflect on the lessons I have learned as a mom. Sometimes I need to set aside gardening tools that are not working. Sometimes I need to prune areas that will prevent him from thriving. Sometimes I can sit pack and take in the glories of his growth.

This post linked to Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop!

Just Guys at Home (Mom is away!)

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Mama’s going to a conference called Type A!

While she is gone, we will do things the guy way!

The dishes will go in the sink after meals and there they will stay.

We will spread out all the toys and leave them out instead of putting them away.

Mom left turkey sandwiches for lunch but, I think we should go to Chick Fil-A.

Skipping nap time will be good. It can’t hurt to ask and see what Dad will say.

Mom likes routine, but dad may let the schedule sway.

Guys need variety in their lives. We really like it that way.

Have fun Mom while you are away!

Today is Guy’s Day!

Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!

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

Disclaimer: I am only going to a small part of the Type A Parent Conference in Asheville. I will be leaving tonight and be back tomorrow night.  The section I am going to will have hands on workshops! I am so excited about learning new things about blogging and spending time with amazing bloggers.

Instructions Needed the Right Tools to Follow

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So, I bought a wading pool for JDaniel and his friends to play in when they come over for playgroup. The directions that came in the box suggested that the pool could be blown up in 10-20 minutes by two adults.

Playgroup would arrive at my house on Monday so, on Friday I tried blowing up one section of the pool for 10 minutes and got very little of the pool inflated. I was left huffing and puffing.

I then tried using a bicycle pump to inflate the pool but, found that the nozzle won’t fit in the air hole of the pump.

Finally I called my next door neighbor to see if she had a pump that would work. She checked with her teenage son and he offered to pump up the pool using their air compressor.

Guess what? When you use an air compressor, the pool can be inflated in less than 10 minutes. I guess the directions were right if you have the right tools to make them work.

You might need the right boots to fill the pool too.

 
 
This post is linked to Mrs. Matlocks’ Alphabe Thursday. 
 
 

Have you ever has a set of directions that were difficult for you to follow?

He has geeky feet!

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We live in the land of flip flops here in South Carolina and JDaniel wears socks with his sandals almost every day. Thankfully there are people from all over the world that live in our area. My husband says that if people notice they will just think we are from a European country where socks with sandals are fashion trend in the toddler set. (I am pretty sure that that unspecified country probably would probably frown on wearing socks that have bright red toes and heels. )

If we visited them in their unspecified country, they would probably think we were geeky Americans. I sure they wouldn’t think we were displaying a new American sandal trends. With the advent of the internet people can now see in a split second what the American toddler set is wearing this summer.

Why does he have socks on with his sandals? He has them on to prevent his feet from having contact with grass. JDaniel has topical allergies that can give him an extremely itchy rash on his feet and legs in the spring and summer.

Some people may look at his feet and think we have missed the summer sandal fashion boat. I look at his feet and think they are protected and itch free.

This post is linked to Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop. The prompt was “In honor of the “white” after Memorial Day rule, name a fashion rule that you either break or enforce.”
 

Do Dust Bunnies Hatch?

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I talk about dust bunnies a lot with JDaniel as we remove them from our house. They seem to gather frequently behind tables and under furniture in our home.

One day while riding in the car JDaniel started asking questions about dust bunnies.

JDaniel: Where do the bunnies come from?

Me: Well, they form when dead skin, hair and other things gather close to each other on the floor.

JDaniel: No, how are they born? Do they hatch?

Me: Hatch? Sweet boy, they aren’t birds they don’t hatch.

JDaniel: Do they have moms and dads like I do?

Me: No, they don’t have parents?

JDaniel: Why? I do.

Me: Yes, you do. They aren’t real bunnies. If they were real bunnies, they would have parents.

JDaniel: Mom, they are real. I can see them.

Me: That’s true. I can see them too.

JDaniel: How do they grow?

Me: They move closer to other dust and it sort of attaches to them.

JDaniel: No, what do they eat.

Me: I don’t think they have mouths to eat.

JDaniel: Sure, they do.

Me: I guess there could be dust carrots.

JDaniel: I only like cooked carrots. Do dust bunnies like cooked carrots?

Me: I haven’t really noticed. I guess they would like them cooked.

JDaniel: Can I feed them some of mine?

Me: I don’t think we should feed them or they will start to grow larger and larger.

JDaniel: Are you sure they don’t hatch?

Me: Yes, I am sure they don’t hatch.

Disclaimer: I couldn’t remember the conversation word for word so, I added words that I felt I needed to. Most of it came straight from our conversation.

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

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