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JDaniel4s Mom

growing & learning with him

If you really knew me, you would know that…

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I am not a manual reader.
My husband is the ultimate manual reader. Thank goodness! He can read to me how to fix the things I have put together incorrectly.
I am not as patient as I want to be.
My son has inherited this quality from me. He wants things to come together quickly and when he wants it to be done. I think that means he isn’t going to be a manual reader either.
I am distracted at times and start things only to move to something else that has come up that seems more important.
I will find my dust rag later in the day waiting for me just where I left it before I went to take meat out of the freezer to defrost before dinner.
If JDaniel looks content playing something on his own, I will slip off to check e-mail.
He always notices and comes to find me or does something to draw me back like bang his hammer loudly on the carpet. I need to remember that.
I read “high fiber” non-fiction books to increase my knowledge and put me to sleep.
I really due learn something from biographies of presidents and deep theological books. I benefit from them, but not in ways the writer have sometimes intended for me to.
I stash candy in my top dresser drawer to eat during naptime.
My husband has just found location after almost five years of marriage. The stash is going to have to find a new spot to hide in.
What is something I don’t know about you?


 
 
 

Pause Life For A Moment- My Take

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Pause Life for a Moment
 
Have you ever had a moment when you wanted to pause life for a moment and rethink your response to an event or a person? Has life ever caused you pause due to illness or traffic or a family situation? Have you ever paused your life to step out of the hustle and bustle to pray or meditate or just rest?

 

 I will be hosting a wonderful series of guest posts about Pausing Life for a Moment. Each guest poster will have their own take on what that phrase means to them. I am so excited that they will be sharing their thoughts and lives with you. Each has had an impact on this blog in one way or another. I will be sharing a little bit about how they have changed my life and the life of the blog above their posts each week.

Before they share their thoughts, I thought I would start the series off with mine.

Last week was my turn to host playgroup. I haven’t hosted in several months. There are eleven moms in playgroup now. It is usually several months until there is a need to volunteer your house for a group time.

Each week we RSVP on a discussion board as to whether we will be able to make playgroup that week. It can really vary from week to week as to how many moms and toddlers you have at your house.

On Sunday night I checked to see how many people had RSVPed that they were planning to come to playgroup. Seven moms had indicated that they were coming and three hadn’t decided whether they were coming or not. Monday morning at eight o’clock the same numbers appeared on the discussion board.

I started to panic about the amount of food I had prepared for the moms. Each week the host provides a snack for the moms. The children all bring a bag lunch filled with foods their moms know they will eat. I had a pot of vegetarian chili simmering and had planned to make cornbread. This just didn’t see like enough for 7-10 moms.

I quickly vacuumed the living room floor one last time and fled to the grocery store down the street. Literally it took me five minutes to get there from my house. JDaniel was happy to jump in the car and go to the store. He loves the free cookies they give away in the bakery.

Once the cookie had been obtained, I quickly grabbed a package of slice and bake cookies, some raw veggies, a container of dip, and two bags of tortilla chips. I was in and out of the store in less than fifteen minutes.

When I got home, I still had thirty minutes before the moms could start arriving. Moms of toddlers or the moms of toddlers in our group tend to be at least twenty minutes late.

I glanced at the answering machine as I dumped the tortilla chips in a bowl. It showed that there was a new message that had been left. After throwing the empty chip bag in the trash, I pushed the listen button on the machine. It was a message from one of the moms. “Some of us have decided to go to a park today. It really looks like it is going to be pretty. If no one shows up at your house and you want to meet us that would be great.”

I hit the button again and relistened to the message. It didn’t seem to make sense. Why were people going to a park instead of coming to my house? I checked the discussion board for the playgroup again to see if it held any answers to my question. There wasn’t an answer. There was just clarification as to how many moms I now had coming to my house. The number of moms now RSVPing yes was five. There was also the invite for all the moms to meet at the park as an alternative.

At first I was livid! Why had I just rushed off to the store? If I had stayed home and received the phone call I would have know I had more than enough for the moms coming.

When the other moms started to arrive, they questioned what was happening to. Why were they being asked to choose where to spend their morning instead of just going to playgroup at one location?

As we started to play upstairs in JDaniel’s room and try to give all our children lunch at the same time, my house suddenly felt a little crowded. What would I have done with all those moms and five other children?

I stopped and paused life for moment. I looked at situation unfolding in my house. The decision made by some of the moms to go to the park had been a blessing. God had sent the right number of moms and children to my house. I needed set my ego aside and realize this wasn’t about me. It was about moms getting to break cornbread together and watch our children learn to play together. It was about getting to enjoy each of the moms that had come and get to interact with each child. I never would have been able to do that with thirteen more people at my house.

I didn’t write this post to have any of you comment that the park initiating mom was horribly insensitive. This isn’t a poor JDaniel4’s Mom post. This isn’t a post written have you think I am now mad at these moms for choosing to be somewhere else. I am not mad instead I am grateful. This is post written to share with you what I learned when I paused life for a moment and looked at it through His eyes.

I like His view much better.

 

 
 

 

Until There Was You

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Being an aunt is one of my very favorite things to be. I just love my nieces and nephews. They were for a long time my surrogate children. I was the last of my sisters to get married and the last to start a family. My sister’s children were the children I loved to spoil, sent cards to, bragged about, and displayed pictures of on my desk at work.

For the longest time there was just Jason to spoil and love. My sister Michelle was the first get married and start a family. We all spoiled him and loved on him. There were three years between the births of her first son and her second son. Jason was the center of our family gathering and celebrations.

When he was about two we all met in Charlottesville, VA around Thanksgiving. We walked around the Lawn (the grassy located behind the main building on campus) following Jason around. Where he wandered we wandered. A man walked up to my mom after we had been strolling a few minutes and commented that there really needed to be another little one added to the mix. It looked so funny to him to have five adults trailing behind one small boy.

It took another year for my sister to have her second son and two years for my sister Kate to start her family. As each new child joined the family, they were loved on and spoiled almost as much as Jason had been.

It wasn’t until my sister Kate had her son Charlie that my sister Michelle got to experience deep aunt love. She told me that it had taken root when she had arrived to help with Charlie shortly after he was born. It was profound and taken a special place in her heart.

Michelle had thought it had happened to me due to the fact that I didn’t have children. I remember her telling me she had always thought it was a little odd that I loved Jason so much. Looking down at little Charlie in his isolette had instantly created in her that special connection that you are blessed to can with your sibling’s children.

It wasn’t until JDaniel was born that I got to experience a mother’s love for her child. I am so thankful that I learned about aunt love first. My sister’s children helped prepare me for the magical love that I have for JDaniel.

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

On The Day That You Were Born

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It was so quiet in the hospital room the evening JDaniel was born. My husband and I were staring down at our little bundle of joy. JDaniel laid wrapped in a soft blanket in an isolette looking back at us. He was the most beautiful baby either of us had ever seen. We could have looked at him for hours and hours. We did look at him for hours.

Things had been busy earlier in the day. My mom had stopped by along with my husband’s brother’s family to see our little wonder. They had all enjoyed getting to meet JDaniel and hold him for the first time.

It was wonderful share him with others but, there was something so special about our being here just the three of us. It was just our family. JDaniel was the baby we had hoped and prayed for when we decided to start a family a year earlier.

Out of nowhere my husband started singing On the Day That Your Were born to our little man.

Why do birds suddenly appear,

Everytime you are near?

Just like me, they long to be,

Close to you……

Why do stars fall down from the sky,

Every time you walk by?

Just like me, they long to be,

close to you………

On the day that you were born the angels got together,

And decided to create a dream come true,

So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair

And golden starlight in your eyes of blue…

That is why, all the girls in town,

Follow you, all around,

Just like me, they long to be,

Close to you…….

On the day that you were born the angels got together,

And decided to create a dream come true,

So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair

And golden starlight in your eyes of blue…

That is why, all the girls in town,

Follow you, all around,

Just like me, they long to be,

Close to you………

Just like me, they long to be,

Close to you………

I hadn’t heard the song in years. It was perfect for that moment. It encompassed everything we both were thinking and feeling.

It will be a memory that stays with me forever.

This post is linked to Remembered. 
 
 
 

Trimmings from a Tree Become a Beaver Home

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He Loves Sticks
JDaniel has always loved to gather sticks. He started gathering them as soon as he could walk. We have spent hours picking up sticks and carrying them to the woods behind our house.
There have been times when his friend Nathan, our next-door neighbor, has wanted to do something else and JDaniel has told him he has to finish his work first.
I love the simplicity of picking up the sticks and carrying them to the woods. The sticks are taken out of the yard and JDaniel gets to exercise at the same time. I have been astounded by his ability to focus on a single task for 30 or 45 minutes at a time.
The Beaver Dam
The sticks suddenly stopped leaving the yard last week. My husband was trimming the branches of a tree in the front yard. The branches were both large and small in size. JDaniel started picking them up and carrying them to the bushes in front of the house instead of the woods. He gathered one stick or branch at a time and carefully leaned them against the bushes. When the bushes closest to him filled up, he started carrying them to the set of bushes on the far side of the house.
“What are you doing?” I asked him. “Why I am creating a beaver dam?” JDaniel informed me.
Reasoning with a Beaver
I am all for pretend play, but these sticks and branches started to look terrible in front of the house after a couple of days. I can’t imagine what the neighbors thought about them.
I knew that he would not be enthusiastic about the sticks being moved out of the front yard. He really loved darting in and out of them pretending to be a beaver.
I decided to reason with him.
“I believe if we leave these sticks out front,” I told him, “Beavers are going to drive by and decide this would make a perfect home for them.”
“Mom, beaver can’t drive!” he replied.
“What is someone drives them?” I asked.
“They wouldn’t like it. There is no water for them here,” he answered.
“Maybe we could move the dam into the backyard so they won’t be tempted?” I told him.
“Okay, we can move them, but they still won’t come,” he said matter-a-factly.
Thank goodness we were able to come to an understanding.
The Big Beaver Moves Sticks
JDaniel doesn’t know this yet, but a beaver has come to take some of the sticks away. He is about six feet tall with graying hair and is JDaniel’s dad when he is not being a giant beaver. This big beaver is not a fan of the sticks being anywhere in the yard. He has been taking one or two sticks a day to the woods.
I am hoping it takes JDaniel a while to notice.
This post is linked to Capture the Everyday and Alphabe Thursday.

 

These Mittens Don’t Fit

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Last year I brought JDaniel fleece mittens online on sale. They were a little big for him even though they were size 18-24 months. He has little hands.
This year I pulled out the mittens when we got snow at Christmas time and tried putting them on him. They were still too big. I had hoped that his hands would have grown a little in a year.
The more I looked at the mittens the more I thought that they really should fit his hands. I decided to investigate the mittens and JDaniel’s hands in the mittens. First I tried placing his fingers in a mitten as far as they would reach. This was super easy. Next I tried placing his thumb in the mittens. This required my pushing my fingers into one of the mittens while it was on his hand. It was a tight fit in the mitten with both our hands in there. His thumb won’t push up. I really tried and it wouldn’t go up more than half way into the thumb section of the mitten.
After removing my fingers and his fingers from the mitten, I turned the mitten inside out. I tried stretching out the thumb section to its full length and the inside layer won’t extend. It didn’t make sense the out layer would extend, but not the inner one.
My inquisitive mind wanted to know if this was true about both mittens. It was true the inner layer of the thumbs on both mittens only extends so far.
JDaniel’s mittens were too large for the finger section. That I could fix by pulling them down further on his hands. The thumb issue wasn’t something I could fix. The thumbs were just not put together well in these warm yet defective mittens.
Do you think that is why they were on sale?

 

My Husband is King of the Dishwasher

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Something unique you love about your significant other.
When my husband and I were dating, we cooked a lot at each other’s houses. During the clean up after a dinner at his house one night, I rinsed the dishes and started putting them into the dishwasher. He commented on how I wasn’t putting them in correctly. Considering the fact that I have been loading dishwashers since I was a pre-teen I didn’t think that I was doing it wrong, but I stopped what I was doing to have him tell me what I was doing wrong just to see what he would say.
He began by pointing out there were very particular rules about placing items in the dishwasher.
Rule One
The eating surfaces of plates and bowls should face into the dishwasher.
I hadn’t thought about that but it makes sense.
Rule Two
Double check while you are placing items into the dishwasher to make sure they are completely clean. The dishwasher is really just for sterilizing the dishes and not cleaning them.
I have always really tried to do this. There have been instances that bits and small pieces of food have gotten past me.
Rule Three
Knives have to be placed in the outer cutlery bins to prevent you from accidently being cut by them when you release the metal latch that holds the bins closed which is located in the center of the dishwasher door.
Again I hadn’t thought about this, but it too makes sense.
Rule Four
Never over pack the washer racks it can cause dishes to clang against each other and chip.
I had never had this problem despite over packing for decades, but I noted it was a good rule.
After listening to each rule and having him show me how to load a dishwasher, there was only one response I could give that made sense. “You will be the king of the dishwasher,” I replied. “It will be your domain for as long as we live.” I’m not sure that is what he expected me to say, but it was a great response.
My husband is still king of the dishwasher. I load the dishes JDaniel and I use during the day as we use them but, the dinner dishes and pans are loaded by my husband. He takes the time to readjust the items I have put in if necessary before starting the washer.
Do I care that he rearranges things? Not one bit. My husband is king of the dishwasher and his reign over that domain is supreme.
Oh! The part I love best is that he does the dishes. I also love that he is man of details. Details are not my strong suit. I am so glad that they are his in the dishwasher and beyond.
 

 
 



How to Make a Cardboard Sled

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When the snow arrived last week, we found ourselves without a sled. With the amount of snow, we get each year it never occurred to us to buy one for JDaniel. Thankfully I remembered using cardboard sled during a Let’s Pretend session at the library in the fall. Once I had gathered the materials it was so easy to put together.
Materials:
  • 4 or 5 feet of rope or clothesline
  • A cardboard box
  • A pencil
  • A yardstick

Directions:

    1. Fold a cardboard box flat (Having 2 layers adds strength to the sled)
    2. Using a yardstick mark seven inches from the front of the box on the left and right sides with a pencil. (This will be where the rope enters the sled from the handle.)
    3. Using a yardstick mark seventeen inches from the front of the box on the left and right sides with a pencil. (This will where the handle begins.)
    4. Using a yardstick mark twenty-two inches from the front of the box on the left and right sides with a pencil. (This will be where the handle ends.)
    5. Using a yardstick mark twenty-four inches from the front of the box on the left and right sides with a pencil. (This will be where the rope comes back up from the underside of the sled so that it doesn’t drag and slow the sled down.

  1. Using a knife or scissors carve a hole of about two inches just inside each of the marks.
  2. Fold the rope in half in front of the sled to ensure you will have the same amount of rope threaded through both sides of the cardboard.
  3. Beginning on the left-hand side thread the rope down through the first hole.
  4. Thread the rope up through the second hole and then down through the third. Leave enough of the rope sticking up between the second and third holes to create a handle.
  5. Thread the rope up through the fourth hole and tie a loose knot to keep the rope in place.
  6. Repeat steps 8-10 on the right side of the sled.
  7. Adjust the tension of the rope under the sled to keep the rope as tight on under section as possible while still having comfortable handles and enough rope for the handle to pull.
  8. Tighten the knots above the fourth holes when the rope is as you would like it.

 


This post is linked to ABC and 123: Show and Tell and Show and Tell Saturday.

 

They Make My Heart Melt

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The last time my heart melted was because…

I spend all kinds of time with JDaniel due to the fact that we are home together all day. I love to hear and sometimes watch my husband playing and chatting with JDaniel. It just melts my heart.

Sometimes I just listen on the fringes of where they are playing. I am afraid to look in and disturb these wonderful moments. I don’t always hold back. There are times I jump in and join the fun. There are times we all have fun together.   More often than not when Daddy Time is happening I hang back a little.

JDaniel loves Daddy Time. He has even told me at times that I have jumped in this is “Daddy Time.” They do almost the same things we do during Mommy Time. They play with trucks; chase each other around the house, read, and play hide and seek. It is just different. The things they talk about are different. The way my husband plays with him is different.

Take for example time outside sledding yesterday in the snow. I started out pulling JDaniel around the snow in a sled I had made out of a cardboard box. We had a blast. JDaniel had never sledded before and thought this was a great way to travel over the icy snow. Then Daddy took over. It may be due to the nine inches my husband has on me in height or the speed with which he could pull the sled across the snow. Sledding became more like hydroplaning across the snow and that looked and sounded like it was so much more fun.

Part of me wanted to jump in or take control of the sled and try to make it hydroplane too. Instead, I stood back and took these pictures of my guys playing with a sled in the snow. Hearing the two of them hooting and hollering across the snow did it to me again. I stood there in the cold icy snow feeling my heart melt.

 

 

 

This post is part of Mama Kat’s Writing Workshop.

 

Not Good Mom!

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When we had snow on Christmas Day, I decided JDaniel would need to have his first snowman. At first, he was interested in helping roll the snow into balls. After a few minutes, he picked up his shovel and moved to a different part of the yard to dig in the snow and do work.

I continued to work on the snowman building a second and third snowball. Each ball was a little smaller so that it could be stacked to create the man of snow.

Once the man was assembled I let JDaniel and my husband know I was going inside to get the materials needed to add a face to the snowman. I knew how large I had made the head and grabbed pickles, olives, and carrots that would fit on his face.

When I returned, the snowman had a fourth snowball added to him right on top of the head I had made. I am guessing my husband added the head although no one stepped forward to claim the tiny ball of snow as their creation.

I tried to make the materials I had brought out work. They just didn’t fit this minuscule head. I grabbed a John Deere hat and JDaniel’s sunglasses out of the garage and tried to make the snowman look better.

 

I asked JDaniel to come over and check out the snowman. When he did the news was accurate and yet disappointing. “This is not good! Mom! Just not good!” I was told.

There was only one way to fix this problem. The small head had to go and the original head then became the top ball and thus the head. I was then able to place the face materials on the snowman minus the pickles which somehow disappeared along with several teeth. Although no one claims to have eaten them my guess is JDaniel has a snowy snack.

I think this snowman looks much better.

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