Quiet Time Counsel

There may come a day when you think, "Wow, this child has been really well behaved today. I think I can trust them to be downstairs, alone, during quiet time. I think I'll take a nap." If this thought comes, don't do it.

It will be a mistake.

At the end of quiet time you might feel refreshed. You'll happily retrieve your two other children (who were upstairs near you) from quiet time and ponder, "Hmmm, I wonder where their middle sibling is." You'll head downstairs in search of him.

A grinning, slightly hopping five-year-old will meet you. He'll happily tell you that he's been working on a project. Then you'll come into view of the kitchen table. And everything on it. And under it.

For the safety of all, this picture was taken after the clean-up had been mostly completed.

You'll take in the scene: closed containers of sugar, cornmeal, cinnamon, strawberry syrup, honey, and milk litter the table. An open bottle of olive oil sits next to a punctured apple juice box. Something sticky appears to have pooled under the table. Splotches of red powder dot the table, perhaps from the now-empty Jell-o boxes scattered about. And there is a small plastic container full of... something liquid.

At this point your gut reaction might be to yell and send the child to timeout while you walk around the kitchen and discover that half the dish soap is gone and a puddle of water has taken up residence in front of the sink.

Don't.

Instead, look at how pleased he is. Ask what he's been doing. Listen while he tells you that he's been trying to make cinnamon bread, but it isn't working the way he thought it would. Usher the other two (extremely curious) children away from the mess. Begin to remove those items which still possess a high mess factor.

Try to determine what's in his concoction.

Give up.

While you clean, explain that you know he loves to cook, but that it's an activity which requires mom or dad to be present. Help him understand that there will be no more surprise recipes. Send him to wash his hands after he proudly points out the empty egg shell in the trashcan. Correctly identify the under-the-table sticky substance as the contents of that egg shell.

Don't explode. You'll want to, but don't. You might marvel that you're keeping it together. Continue doing this, even when he excitedly tells you that he learned how to wash dishes. Don't worry, it will be a few hours before you discover that he loaded the dishwasher.

Once you think all the dangerous/extra-messy/full-of-disease ingredients have been cleaned up and the child's hands have been washed, herd all of the children upstairs. Wake up your still-napping husband to relate what just happened. Also, try to calm your rapidly beating heart.

Remember this the next time you think leaving the five-year-old on his own during quiet time is a good idea.

As a Mustard Seed

When I went to register the boys for school way back in August I discovered that Cooper was not in compliance with the immunization rules here. He received one of his Hep B shots when he was four months old. According to this school district he had to have been at least six months old. They wouldn't let me register him.

It's kind of frustrating to be told that something you did five years ago was out of line with rules you weren't even aware of, especially when we thought Cooper was completely up to date. I went home with the completed paperwork and instructions to get him another shot.

As I waited for our health insurance to kick in I watched the days tick down to the start of school. I finally went in to the office the week before school started and asked about getting Cooper into a class. The secretary was alarmed that I'd been turned away and took the paperwork from me immediately. She reassured me that the district would send me a letter letting me know by when he would need the shot.

The letter came last week and the date they specified was this coming Monday. The boys didn't have school today so I made an appointment for this morning. Cooper knew that he would need another shot and had been asking when it would happen, so a few days ago I told him.

He was really worried about it. This morning he threw a massive tantrum, no doubt as a way to stall the inevitable. In the car on the way we said a prayer that he would be brave. Then he asked me to say another one as we sat in the office waiting. He said one more just before the nurse came in, asking that it wouldn't hurt.

That request made me nervous. How could it possibly not hurt? I understood asking for courage, but I worried that asking for it not to hurt at all might be too much.

He opted to have the shot in his arm. I sat next to him and held his hand and I could feel him tense up as the nurse held up the syringe. She asked him to sit as still as he could and she warned that she might have to do it a second time if he squirmed. That was good motivation. He was completely still.

As soon as she finished she congratulated him on how well he had done. He asked if it was over and she assured him that it was.

He turned to me with wide eyes and whispered, "I think the prayer worked!"

I know that we have taught our children to pray and I know that we have set the example of faith, but sometimes I am reminded, and humbled, by their faith and the lack of my own. It made me think of this talk from Elder Holland from the April 2013 General Conference. I often think those words, "Help thou mine unbelief."

Today was a good lesson in faith, for both me and Cooper

Humpty Dumpty

Each week Cooper brings home one assignment to work on for the next seven days. Last week the assignment sheet explained that he would, with help, need to fashion a container that would keep an egg unbroken while it was thrown off the roof of the school. Yup, all the Kindergartners participated in an old fashioned egg drop.

I had two thoughts right after reading the instructions, "Wow, isn't Kindergarten a little young for this assignment?" and, "This sounds like a good project for Bryan." So I handed it over to him.

He did some research and some brainstorming. And he asked Cooper questions about what he wanted to do. Last night while I supervised the other two getting ready for bed, Bryan and Cooper worked. In the end, almost the whole design was Cooper's. He wanted to put the egg in a box and we didn't have one the right size. Bryan had the idea to cut up and use the milk jug, but that's it. Lucky for us, Bryan made a movie of Cooper loading the contraption. It's long, and in two parts, but pretty darn cute.





Oh, and his egg survived all three tests and the drop off the school!

Magical

Today we used the extra time from getting out of school early (as we do on Wednesdays) to go to the library. I'm pleased that my children have inherited my love of not just books, but libraries as well. We gathered new books, played games, learned about looking titles up in the catalog, and were asked to be quiet because we (and I really just mean the two smallest) were too loud.

Most of the afternoon and evening were spent reading. According to instructions in his homework folder, Peter is supposed to read for fifteen minutes per day. Today he clocked at least an hour, I stopped keeping track at that point. I read to the kids before dinner. I read to them after dinner. I grabbed a few more to read at bedtime and headed upstairs.

Phoebe likes books about princesses, ballerinas, and fairies. Today she saw this one

and snatched it up. We didn't open it at all, just dropped it in the bag. This was one that I read at bedtime.

I turned to the first page and read the opening line, "It was Phoebe's birthday, and she was fizzing with excitement in her new fairy costume." I looked at Phoebe to see her reaction. Her eyes got big and she started giggling. Imagine her delight at picking a book where the main character shares her name and her love of all things girly. The story was sweet and the pictures had splashes of glitter.

Guess what we're ordering from Amazon for Christmas...

Art House

This weekend of Conference was the most successful we've had. We spent way less time telling the kids to sit down and be quiet than usual. And that was lovely.

We ask that our kids watch General Conference with us. Our hope is that they'll pick up some of what is being said. Maybe that's wishful thinking on our part, but we believe they're capable of learning from the talks. In the past this has resulted in lots of frustration for us and not much enjoyment for the kids. We keep doing it anyway.

For the last several Conferences I've printed out activity packets for the kids. They contain Bingo cards and coloring sheets, among other things. I did that again this time. Additionally, I picked up an inexpensive spiral-bound notebook and a small box of crayons for each child. I kept these purchases under wraps until the first session was starting when I pulled them out and told the kids that I had a special gift for each of them. Then I presented the notebook, the packet, and the crayons. I told them that they could take notes or draw pictures of what the speakers were saying, but they could only use the books while they were watching sessions of Conference.

My kids love to draw. There are many mornings that I wake to discover them already elbow-deep in crayons and scratch paper. Perhaps this is why the books worked so well. They were thrilled to spend many hours this weekend in art mode. Even Phoebe got in on the action. Her pictures required more explanation than the boys', but she still enjoyed the process.

It wasn't until the last twenty minutes of the last session that things broke down and I was yelling, "Everybody be quiet! The Prophet is speaking!" Considering we watched all five sessions, I think that's pretty good. Of course, in a perfect world we would have all paid attention the whole time. But we live in the real world, and for the real world, I'm calling this weekend a win.

Love At Home

You've heard of people who watch General Conference and say of a specific talk, "This was written for me." This time I was that person. Before Conference began I prayed that I would hear and recognize something that could help our family.

For those that read my talk from last week, you know that we've been working on having a more Christ centered home. We are beginning to see the fruits of this, but we still have a long way to go. The talk that I heard that felt like it was just for me was on this topic.

President Eyring spoke about loving our family members, regardless of what they do. His talk was spot on for us. Tonight for Family Home Evening we talked about what it meant to love others and to have a heart full of love. I've just finished re-listening to the talk and next week we'll discuss another facet of showing love for each other.

Happy Feet

Phoebe was so excited to go to dance this last week that she asked every morning, "Is tap today?" On Monday we got her into her dance gear and gave her an appropriate hairstyle. Of course, she had to wear something over the dance clothes to go into the cold rain we had that day. I asked if I should take a picture of her before we left for dance and she obliged.

She loved tap almost as much as she loved ballet.

Going the Distance

Our family has been fighting a cold for the last two weeks. Phoebe ran a fever right at the beginning, the rest of us have traded off on sniffles and coughs. I thought we were all finally getting over it.

Yesterday, after a week of rain, it cleared enough that we could walk the boys to school. The temperatures were chilly (high 40s) but it felt good to be outside. So good, in fact, that we decided to walk again today. Then after taking them to school we walked to a friend's house to play, then walked home. Afterward we went grocery shopping, got the boys from school, then headed to martial arts. That might not sound like much, but it was a full day for me and Phoebe and we were home very little.

You know, when you've been healing from a cold and are six months pregnant, maybe it's not such a good idea to walk several miles a day. Turns out I may not be recovering as much as I thought, cause now I have sniffles and it's hard to breathe and when I cough I sound more like a seal than a person. Or maybe I'm just extra tired. Whatever the reason, I've already been asleep for more than an hour tonight. The only reason I got up was to eat something so I could continue to sleep. Now, if I can just make it up the stairs, I'll zonk out earlier than I have in a while. Of course, I'm a little (a lot) sore from the walking and stroller/shopping cart pushing.

Maybe I'll scoot up the stairs...

Bakerman

Several weeks ago Peter found a recipe for apple pie in one of his kid cookbooks. He's been asking ever since if he could make it. We bought the apples, but for various reasons the actual cooking hadn't happened. Wednesday is early out day in our district, so we took advantage of the extra time and Peter made his pie today.

He peeled the apples, then I chopped them. He measured and added all the ingredients and I manned the stove while they cooked. He rolled out the pie crust (we bought one for his first try, we'll add making the crust to a future attempt) and I filled it with the sweet, hot apples. It was a joint effort.

The first thing Bryan said when he walked in the door tonight was, "We should eat that pie right now." I hadn't told him we'd made one, he'd smelled it when he got home. It was delicious.

Peter announced that he'll be making a peach pie next. I think we're all looking forward to it.

Roughly the Size of a Barge

It only took me 27 weeks, but I finally got around to taking a pregnancy picture. Yes, I do look farther along than 27 weeks, thank you for noticing. I'm measuring a week ahead and at the ultrasound she was measuring two weeks ahead. I'm having another ultrasound at my next appointment (they didn't get a good picture of her face last time), so they'll check how far along I'm measuring then.

Good news on the headache front: magnesium works pretty well. I still have migraines, but not as many as I was having. Granted, I'm still waking up in the middle of the night to eat, so maybe it's combination of the two.

I've lost the extra energy and bending ability that came with the second trimester. But I have gained the special magical power of the third trimester: nesting. Yes, this still requires energy, but it's a different kind of energy. I'm trying to use it well.

Phoebe now spends time everyday "snuggling with baby sister." She'll hug my belly and giggle and say how much she loves her baby sister. It's quite sweet.