Back to the Salt Mines
Many of you probably returned to working in the salt mines yesterday after a holiday break. I have been working in the salt mines for several weeks now without a break in sight.
growing & learning with him
Many of you probably returned to working in the salt mines yesterday after a holiday break. I have been working in the salt mines for several weeks now without a break in sight.
My husband says I’m heading back to the salt mines almost every morning. I’m not sure if that is why JDaniel loved to pretend to work in the salt mines so much or it could be the Mighty Machines video on machines working in the salt mines that we have watched over and over again.
As JDaniel told his friend Nathan when he came over to play and was invited to work in the mine, “I work here almost every morning.” He does work in the salt mine every morning with me by his side. There is a space between the futon and closet in the guest room that has been transformed into the mine. There is also a brace that supports the futon that is the perfect tunnel for the machines to slip under to begin their work.
There used to be only construction trucks and machines on site. They would dig up the salt and transfer it to other machines that would carry it out of the mine.
Then the whole operation expanded. JDaniel has dragged or driven in almost every machine he has across the hall from his room into the mine. When I asked him about it, he said they all had to be there for a reason.
Now there is a fire truck that waits just outside the mine encase there is a fire after salt is dynamited out of the mine. You won’t want to have a fire and not be able to put it out immediately. The ten feet between JDaniel’s room and the guest room is just too far for the truck to travel.
A lawnmower that makes popping sounds when you push it is used to dynamite the salt. The pops of the ball in the mower are the sounds that come from the explosion. We have to back away from the mine and close our eyes during all explosions. Salt in our eyes would really hurt.
A drum has been added to the mine too. It is a salt drum crusher. Once the salt has been extracted from the mine, it has to be brought over to the crusher to be banged on with drum sticks. In the Might Machines video, there is a crusher and we couldn’t leave it out of our pretend to play.
There are tons of assorted cars and tractors parked on the edge of the mine now too. They belong to the mineworkers. Other than the plastic dogs that drive the fire truck JDaniel and I are the only mineworkers I know off, but apparently there may be others I just haven’t seen them yet.
What pretend play are you doing at your house?
We had talked (JDaniel and me) about how Santa was based on a wonderful man that live long ago named St. Nick. I had mentioned that presents come on Christmas Day in remembrance of this wonderful man. We had also read books that had Santa in them. I tried not to make a big deal about him.
All seemed to be going well until we need to stop at our local BI-Lo for milk one evening. Seriously all we went in the store for was milk. We got a whole lot more than milk on this visit.
Right inside the doorway of the BI-Lo is a photo studio. (Not all BI-Los have them. The one closest to us does.) Right outside of the photo studio in front of the frozen foods was set up an area where you could have a picture taken with Santa. Sitting right on an emerald green wingback chair was Santa as happy and jolly as could be.
JDaniel had never seen Santa outside of a book. This man in a white beards and read suit stopped him cold in his tracks. Peeking at him from behind my legs JDaniel waved and smiled broadly. When Santa invited him to come and sit with him, JDaniel suddenly remembered we needed to get milk and guided me quickly away from Santa and through the frozen foods to the milk cooler.
After retrieving and paying for the milk, we headed out the door and JDaniel looked back at Santa’s chair and Santa was gone. “Where did he go?” JDaniel asked. I told him I thought Santa needed to go and eat dinner just like we did. JDaniel seemed think that made sense.
While eating dinner that night, I asked JDaniel to tell his dad who we saw at the grocery store. “I saw the real Santa,” he said, “Right there at BI-Lo.”
I guess we have seen Santa and for the next few years he is real.
How did you handle Santa at your house?
JDaniel sat mesmerized through most of the performance which is saying a lot for a two and three-quarters-year-old. He hopped off and on my mom’s lap twice but, most of the time he sat in a chair by himself and took it all in. He loved music. I could hear him sing the songs that were familiar to him in a sweet quiet voice. Thankfully the people around us didn’t mind.
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Why such a tiny tree? We actually don’t have space for a large tree. Well, we could have put it in front of the fireplace, but if we had a tree in front of the fireplace where would we hang the Christmas stockings. My mom suggested that we move some of the furniture out of the living room to make room for a tree. I am not sure where we would put the displaced furniture in our house. We have furniture everywhere. It flanks every wall of every room. Yes, it may mean we probably have too much furniture or maybe it means our Cape Cod house is really small and doesn’t hold a lot of furniture. We combined two homes when we got married four years ago and I gave away a lot, but maybe not enough for our house to hold.
Next year JDaniel will be three and half and he will probably want a full size tree. Until then this little tree will be our special Christmas tree and we love it.
>This real life situation got worse when JDaniel had to go through it surrounded by a circle of my husband’s relatives waiting for his reaction to the wonderful gift Nana has just given to you. He had all eyes on him.
Here is how the situation unfolded from JDaniel’s perspective:
You feel the heat start to rise in your face and your demand that it has to be possible to get it out of the box. Mom has just removed a talking garbage truck you have also been given from its package. This present should be able to be freed too. Words of frustration start to fly out of your mouth and your feet start a little stomping dance.
Your mom and dad look like their faces are turning red. Your mom tries to calm you down with the reasons you have to wait and why the garbage truck is enough to play with just now. You think they just don’t get it so, you try telling them what you need again. Mom decides what you need is time out of the conference room the family has gathered in to have a Time Out in the hall. She warns you that if you can’t settle down you will need to go to the hotel room and get ready for bed. All the while she is hugging you tight and trying to help you calm down.
You finally calm down and can be walked back into the conference room. Dad sits you on his lap and you get to watch the other two young children in the family get to open their gifts. They receive dolls that are easily removed from their boxes and you wonder why remote controlled cranes are so difficult to remove theirs.
When your cousins finally finish opening their presents, you quietly drag the partially boxed crane and garbage truck under a tablecloth draped table and try to enjoy the rest of the evening resigned to the fact that the crane will remain in the box until you get home.
Lesson I learned as a mom:
The bank stop was quick. We were able to get through the drive thru without a wait. The teller sent a lollipop out with my copy of the deposit slip. “Did we get one?” I was asked from the backseat. “Yes, we did and it will be perfect to have after lunch.” I replied. JDaniel didn’t care about when he got to eat it just that a lollipop was given to us.
We then headed to the ACE Hardware store right down the street. It houses a small outpost of the post office. It usually has a long line and tons of little items little fingers can pick up and move to a new location, but it was right down the street. The parking lot was crowded and people were streaming in and out of the store. This looked like this stop might turn into a nightmare. I was so anxious about JDaniel losing it and having to come back on Monday that I walked in the door farthest away from the post office instead of the one right next to it.
Entering through the door we did led to a miracle. Right before our eyes was a popcorn machine filled with freshly popped corn. Beside the popcorn machine should an angel wearing ACE Hardware apparel handing out bags of free popcorn. JDaniel and I waited hand in hand for his turn to get a bag of popcorn. Once it was procured we walked slowly to the post office area and waited in line to send the giveaway package. When I say slowly, I mean slowly. A toddler with one hand holding a bag of popcorn and one hand reaching in to pick up the next puff of corn has trouble walking quickly. He had to move very slowly through a store.
There was only one lady in front of us when we got in the post office line. I was a little relieved. It should have taken no time at all but, she couldn’t decide on the design she wanted for her Christmas stamp. It would seem like she made a decision and then she would change to a different stamp. She changed her mind three or four times. I started wishing for my own bag of popcorn. I didn’t dare take a handful of JDaniel’s. If we finished the bag before we paid the postage for the package, the nuts and bolt in small drawers beside us could become the focus of a toddler with busy fingers.
Thankfully the bag held out! There was even popcorn to spare. JDaniel and I headed to the grocery store next store to get milk. It took a long time to get to the milk section at the bag of the story due to serious concentration required to reach to the bottom of the bag and get the final puffs of corn, but we made it without needing a cart or getting distracted by the selection of fruit chews displayed on the aisle we walked down.
That makes ACE the place for my little toddler man! We may need to start every shopping trip there.
I love starting traditions with JDaniel. I loved traditions growing up and have been waiting until he was old enough to understand what is happening at Christmas time to start some.
In my family growing up, there weren’t many traditions. My mom would set up a crèche. We would always have a crooked tree. (It didn’t matter if it was a real tree from a lot or one we cut down or an artificial tree from a box.)We opened one gift the night before Christmas. We visited with my dad’s mom on Christmas Day and would then load up the car and drive to my mom’s parents in New Jersey. We would arrive late at night and would have Christmas morning all over again the day after Christmas.
Since we spend Thanksgiving with my husband’s family, we always have my mom over for Christmas dinner. My husband has a friend come for dinner with us too. I try to make a wonderful Christmas dinner. We open presents that are under a two-foot tree due to my fears of JDaniel pulling down a tree and ornaments crashing everywhere. There are also small gifts in stockings hung by the mantle with the care that everyone gets to open.
This year I am finally ready to introduce some new traditions and maybe a full-size tree. We have put up the crèche, but this year two things are missing. Jesus has been put away and will make His appearance on Christmas Day. The shepherds are also missing. They will begin their journey to the manger on the far side of the house and will move slowly toward the living room where the crèche is located every couple of days. (Shepherds have to move slowly so they don’t lose their sheep.) They will arrive after dinner on Christmas to celebrate Jesus’ birth.
I really want JDaniel to understand that Christmas is about the birth of Christ and not just about great toys and beautiful lights so, following a wonderful Christmas meal I will be serving a birthday cake for Jesus. I hope we sing and rejoice in His birth the same way the shepherds and wise men did thousands of years ago.
What Christmas traditions do you have?
My little Indiana Jones loves to pick up acorns and other small objects while scavenging around the backyard and place them in the pockets of his pants. He has only just discovered that his pants have pockets so, he feels the need to keep them filled.
Thankfully some of his treasures fall out of his pocket during the day. I find them under his chair at the dinner table, beside his car seat, in his bed, and almost anywhere else he spends time during the day.
Some of the remaining acorns and bits nature end up at the bottom of his hamper. He needs to have his clothes washed every few days due mostly to spillage that takes place at mealtimes. I guess I need to be thankful for the yogurt smudges and cottage cheese splotches. If they weren’t there, some of the bits of nature might start to decay if left too long at the bottom of the hamper. Due to his talent for creating modern art displays on his clothes, they don’t get much time to do so.
A few are found when I check his pockets before placing his pants in the washer. I have to confess that I am not the most thorough of pocket checkers. I am often distracted when I am putting things into the washer. There are many things that can cause me to be distracted. JDaniel is always up to something. I am usually trying to figure out what we will be having for dinner at the last minute. I could go on and on with things that cause small acorns tucked at the base of JDaniel’s pockets to go unnoticed.
So, if you happen to know any hungry squirrels that are looking for really clean acorns, please let me know. I have a small number of them that seem to come out of the washer each week.
Does this happen to you?
I love the prayer my nephew Kevin sings before meals. I think he learned it in preschool.
I have thought about having JDaniel learn to sing this prayer. He has learned a number of the songs he has heard on his music CDs. I think he could learn to sing a prayer.
Last night he did add a new part to his prayer. He said, “Thank you, Jesus for our food and for my day.” I ask my husband how is day has gone when he come home each night. I guess JDaniel thought it would be good to incorporate thanks for his day into his prayer. Maybe if he keeps adding to his prayer I will set the song idea aside for awhile. It will be fun to see what he wants to give thanks for next. In our moring prayers he thanks God for fruit chews. The next addition could be food related.
What prayer do your children say before meals?
