Will he be a construction worker or a quality control tester of toys?

Posted February 11th, 2008 by Mom | Comments (0)

J’s current goal is to take things apart - anything.

He loves to acquire screwdrivers (without permission) and “work” on stuff.  He has taken a wooden board off of the fort (I’m sure with C’s encouragement) and while I was on the telephone this evening, he took a handle off of a drawer of our coffee table.  It only took almost an hour to locate the pieces of the handle…

One day when B was cleaning the garage, B found J attempting to “fix” the kids’ toy jeep.  J was “fixing” it, however, in our opinion he was dismantling it.

J also loves to remove the wooden supports from under his bed (the supports that keep the mattress from falling to the floor).  I’m not sure how he accomplishes this, but it is a real pain putting the supports back in the frame.

Above all else, J amazes me with his perseverance to stay at a task until it is completely “fixed.”  I hope he will retain this focus as he gets older and can use it for good (or to, at least, put back what he has taken apart…)

Baby Moses Craft/Snack

Posted February 11th, 2008 by Mom | Comments (1)

With me being the assistant coordinator for the preschool Sunday evening activities (children ages 3-kindergarten), I am staying quite busy. It is a really fun job and fulfills my volunteer goal.

Part of what I am responsible for is getting the 3 classrooms set up so the teachers can come in there and teach and interact with the children without having to look for supplies or have to leave the room to get stuff, including snacks. I also plan the crafts and get those supplies ready.

The craft for the kids this past Sunday evening was the biggest craft we have had and it kept me quite busy this weekend with preparations. Our lesson was on Moses when he was a baby and his mom put him in a basket in the Nile.

To prepare for the craft (for 60 kids plus samples and extras for teachers), on Saturday I made 72 sugar cookie baskets and 65 blue jell-o cups. As you can see here, the craft was to use a Teddy Graham as Moses and wrap a piece of fruit roll-up around him as a blanket and place him in the sugar cookie basket. Icing was on the bottom of the basket as pitch to make the basket water proof. The basket was placed on the blue jell-o water. Stick pretzels with gummies were used to create reeds and weeds in the water.

After the kids made the craft, they got to eat the craft as their snack.

One of the teachers (Julianne) told me that she overheard a 4 year old child say, “This is the coolest craft ever!” (Seriously high praise considering the source!) However, another teacher (Meredith) overheard a mom say, “Great - sugar cookies, chocolate and jell-o in one evening!” (I would have been concerned about the sugar factor as well, if I hadn’t fed my boys the craft/snack.)

This was a great lesson for the kids and I think they will remember it. They got to use all their senses for this craft - hearing the story, seeing and touching the craft and smelling and tasting the snack/craft.

Although this was a complete success, this will be my one big craft for this quarter. It was a lot of work and monetary expense. Though, I did get a lot of enjoyment out of watching the kids!

Date Night 2.2.08

Posted February 5th, 2008 by Mom | Comments (0)

B’s parents (Grandma and Grandpa) babysat the boys on Friday evening so B and I could have a date night. We went to the theater to watch the new National Treasure with Nicholas Cage. I just wanted the world to know that I thought it was as good as the first one and highly recommend it.

Thanks B! I needed the B time!

Also, a special THANK YOU shouted out to Grandma and Grandpa for this lovely evening with my husband!!!

Video Games

Posted February 5th, 2008 by Mom | Comments (0)

B was playing the Wii the other evening.  I passed by C as I was going into the living room and C was going into the kitchen to get a drink of water.

I sat down on the couch and B whispered to me, “As C grows up, I’m really going to miss him getting excited about watching ME playing the Wii!”

The Free World - an introduction

Posted February 5th, 2008 by Mom | Comments (0)

Today, I had the opportunity to vote in the Presidential Primary Election. Since the boys didn’t have preschool today (only M-W-F), I got to bring them with me. Before getting ready to go, I sat down with C and asked him if he knew what voting is or who the President is or what country we live in. He told me that he learned in school about the United States of America, but was unsure about voting and the President.

I explained to C, and later a little to J, that we live in a country called the United States of America and that adults that are 18 years old or older get to vote or choose who is in charge of our country. Right now, our President, the person in charge, is George W. Bush. Mr. Bush, or any President of our country, only gets to be in charge for 8 years at the most and his 8 years are almost finished. It is now time to pick someone else to be our president. That is why we are going to go vote.

It was a little more interesting than usual at the voting location. Today there was a photographer from the “big city” newspaper, not our more modest local town newspaper. I have notified the parental units to be on the lookout for mine, or the boys’ pictures tomorrow in the newspaper where the results from today’s vote will be located. It will be really awesome if C or J make the paper!

Hopefully this will be a good step towards the boys future good citizenship, or at the very least, a starting point for them to be elected to the White House!

Imagine, in thirty years me being First Mommy (or First “Mother” as J prefers to call me)!!!

Things that go bump in the night

Posted February 4th, 2008 by Mom | Comments (0)

On Friday night, J fell out of bed.  I heard a noise and then a wail.  The noise was J falling and then hitting his mouth on the wooden rocking chair.

J’s teeth went through the skin under his mouth.  There is a slit, covered over by a scab under his lip.  The really icky part is the inside of his mouth.  It is still swollen (today, Monday) and has a little bit of infection on it.

This morning, I took him to our dentist to look at his mouth.  The dentist told me that one tooth is loose and may tighten up.  Dr. Andy also told me to feed J lots of popsicles to reduce swelling and to make sure that J keeps his hands out of his mouth.  For now, we aren’t giving J any antibiotics, but will keep an eye on his mouth.  Dr. Andy said that we could have taken J to the emergency room, but that stitches would not be easily applied in a 3 year old’s mouth, nor would a 3 year old likely leave them alone.

J is likely to have a scar inside his mouth from this incident.

As Grandma B said, “J never does anything half-way!”  (Sometimes I wish he did!)