My children had pacifiers when they were smaller. You're given pacifiers at the hospital and you see them in babies mouths all around and even though you think you're not going to resort to them, you do. You cave. Your ears rebel and you find the pacifier and you stick it in the little wailing mouth and then there is silence...blissful silence.
How much do you give in to the pacifier solution though? It works well. It works too well. It works so well that it's easier to give your older, now small child the pacifier than deal with the complaining and screaming and not sleeping and oh yes, still crying, child. So you set boundaries and rules. Pacifiers can be used in the car and in the bed during naps and night time. Nowhere else. Or wait, okay, the stroller too. And there's one in your diaper bag in the case of an emergency. (Trust me, there will be an emergency.)
Which type do you use? Do you use the ones they gave you in the hospital because if they gave them to you there, then they must be the best. But are those bad for tooth development? Are you cursing your child with bad, buck teeth simply from selecting the wrong pacifier? You'd better go buy one of every kind. Then, because babies are master manipulators, you try them all and let your child use the one they like the best, regardless of the merits of that brand or design. Don't forget to buy twelve or twenty of them though and stick them everywhere, just in case you lose one.
Then there is the weaning. That's fun because your child is old enough to disagree with you and do so in the most annoying of ways. They're also smart enough and mobile enough to find where you've hidden them. They haven't been thrown away—oh no—because there is sure to be one of those, "emergency situations" in which you really, really need to get to sleep and you don't feel like another sleepless night of a pacifier-less child trying and failing to sleep.
Eventually, all the pacifiers are gone and the children don't need them at all any more. At this point you look at their little teeth and say, "doesn't look like they came in too crooked." You then pat yourself on the back because by implementing, "operation pacification" (you made up this term, by the way,) you singlehandedly prevented the terrible outcome of a child who sucks their thumb. Removing the thumb is a lot more involved than throwing away some worn-out pacifiers.
In our case, it wasn't that extreme. Well, okay, some days it felt like it was. Overall, our children were mostly easy. Yes, they liked their pacifiers, but we kept it reasonable. They weren't thrilled at having them removed, but they adapted fairly quickly. As we pulled back on pacifier use, I put the pacifiers in a bag in their closet. When they were done I forgot about the bag. That is, until today when my children found it.
They were ecstatic. They remembered their pacifiers, although they could enunciate better now so they asked me how to say the word and then they tried out saying, "pacifier." Then they ran back upstairs with the baby dolls and a bag full of pacifiers they were excited about but didn't really want to use anymore.
The Big Boy Update: My son has taken to calling his father, "dada" suddenly. He's been calling him, "daddy" all along. Both names are still used, but we're not sure where the preference of dada came from.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: When my children found the pacifier stash today, my daughter was very excited. She showed them to me and held them and looked like she was holding a huge bag of candy she was so excited. Tonight when I was getting their beds ready for sleep (removing trucks, books, legos, etc.) I found not one, but six pacifiers in the crack between the wall and the edge of her mattress. This is an entirely different bed, but when she was in her crib, she used to hide her extra pacifiers in the same place. I felt a little bad, taking away all her cleverly hidden treasures.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Saturday, February 28, 2015
The X Befuddlement
At our children's school, they're taught cursive writing instead of print. The teaching of cursive is going away in some educational settings, which some believe is a disservice to the children. For me, I'm glad our children are being taught cursive. I like cursive. Having to write in print is frustratingly slow.
That being said, I realized the other day that my cursive isn't correct cursive. (Nor is my typing for that matter as my fingers don't follow strict typing rules.) When I write, I do a combination of cursive and non-cursive. I thought however, I most likely could write in proper cursive if needed, which it turned out to be not true.
I was substituting at school last week. Knowing that cursive is taught there, I thought I would write two of the student's names on the drawing work they were doing. These were little toddlers, both just two, but they were interested in watching me write out their name. One was Jaxon and the other was Alex. I wrote Alex's name first and ran into a problem: how do you write a cursive x?
I figured it out on the second try, but it didn't come naturally. When I got to the fourth letter as I thought to myself, "how do I flow into an 'x'? Jason's name proved a second challenge, because I had to finish the 'x' and then move on to another letter. I decided I'd need to do more analysis of my poor cursive skills when I got home.
The next day I got out a notepad and just started writing random sentences in cursive. It didn't come naturally. It was hard. And I had bad habits. I pulled up a cursive alphabet on my phone to verify some letter connection issues I was having. I also had problems with some specific letters. It turns out I don't like waiting to cross the t's and dot the i's. I had mid-word, t-crossing strategies worked into my poor penmanship with decades of bad habit reinforcement.
I've always said I have poor penmanship. Maybe it's because I have technically poor penmanship. I'm going to have to go back to school and re-learn cursive. Perhaps as my children learn, they'll teach me too.
The Big Boy Update: Minecraft. Have you heard of the Minecraft craze? It was a few years back but it's still a big thing. Adults loved it and then children loved it. My husband made a Minecraft cake for one of our friends on the occasion of his sixth birthday. The other day during a "happy hour snow-in" impromptu party our neighbors had, a five-year-old introduced my son to Minecraft on his father's phone. My son loved it. I had been given it as a gift from Uncle Jonathan for Christmas a few years back so when we got home I downloaded it on the iPad and let my son have a go. He chopped down trees, dug holes, killed prey for food and set fire to a lot of things. He loved it—especially the setting fire to the forest part.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: "Yay, I love X!" This is a common saying of late with my daughter. She loves lots of things. If you say, "we're having chicken for dinner," she'll exclaim that she loves chicken. If you say it's time for a bath she might tell you she loves baths. It's very charming. She's a very happy child.
Fitness Update: I ran eleven miles today. It was so easy. I haven't exercised in, what, two weeks now? We did the trial marathon run and then things happened, mostly weather things, and I haven't done more than a workout or two since. The first of our marathons is in two weeks. I suppose all that rest had my body ready to exercise. More runs are in plan, hopefully long runs.
That being said, I realized the other day that my cursive isn't correct cursive. (Nor is my typing for that matter as my fingers don't follow strict typing rules.) When I write, I do a combination of cursive and non-cursive. I thought however, I most likely could write in proper cursive if needed, which it turned out to be not true.
I was substituting at school last week. Knowing that cursive is taught there, I thought I would write two of the student's names on the drawing work they were doing. These were little toddlers, both just two, but they were interested in watching me write out their name. One was Jaxon and the other was Alex. I wrote Alex's name first and ran into a problem: how do you write a cursive x?
I figured it out on the second try, but it didn't come naturally. When I got to the fourth letter as I thought to myself, "how do I flow into an 'x'? Jason's name proved a second challenge, because I had to finish the 'x' and then move on to another letter. I decided I'd need to do more analysis of my poor cursive skills when I got home.
The next day I got out a notepad and just started writing random sentences in cursive. It didn't come naturally. It was hard. And I had bad habits. I pulled up a cursive alphabet on my phone to verify some letter connection issues I was having. I also had problems with some specific letters. It turns out I don't like waiting to cross the t's and dot the i's. I had mid-word, t-crossing strategies worked into my poor penmanship with decades of bad habit reinforcement.
I've always said I have poor penmanship. Maybe it's because I have technically poor penmanship. I'm going to have to go back to school and re-learn cursive. Perhaps as my children learn, they'll teach me too.
The Big Boy Update: Minecraft. Have you heard of the Minecraft craze? It was a few years back but it's still a big thing. Adults loved it and then children loved it. My husband made a Minecraft cake for one of our friends on the occasion of his sixth birthday. The other day during a "happy hour snow-in" impromptu party our neighbors had, a five-year-old introduced my son to Minecraft on his father's phone. My son loved it. I had been given it as a gift from Uncle Jonathan for Christmas a few years back so when we got home I downloaded it on the iPad and let my son have a go. He chopped down trees, dug holes, killed prey for food and set fire to a lot of things. He loved it—especially the setting fire to the forest part.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: "Yay, I love X!" This is a common saying of late with my daughter. She loves lots of things. If you say, "we're having chicken for dinner," she'll exclaim that she loves chicken. If you say it's time for a bath she might tell you she loves baths. It's very charming. She's a very happy child.
Fitness Update: I ran eleven miles today. It was so easy. I haven't exercised in, what, two weeks now? We did the trial marathon run and then things happened, mostly weather things, and I haven't done more than a workout or two since. The first of our marathons is in two weeks. I suppose all that rest had my body ready to exercise. More runs are in plan, hopefully long runs.
Friday, February 27, 2015
When They're Hungry...
...they eat. My children (and I've heard children in general) are sometimes very hungry and sometimes not hungry at all. We decided to let hungry children eat and if they're not hungry, that that's okay too.
Tonight my daughter sat at the bar with her bowl of rice and Chinese food and quietly ate a full bowl, working hard to get the last bits of rice on her spoon. That was some time ago. My son hasn't even wanted us to serve his food. He may eat very little tonight or possibly none at all because he ate a big lunch.
Tomorrow my son will be hungry at breakfast; my daughter may take a few bites and then wander off to play with toys. It balances out.
They still have to eat the food choices we offer (or let them select.) They don't get to throw a tantrum and pick something unhealthy, but they don't have to finish their plates if they're full.
The Big Boy Update: My husband, watching my son wiggle in a telling way, asked: "do you have to go potty?" My son said, "no, I'm dancing to my own music."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter has this little peep sound she makes when she's happy. Sometimes in the morning I'll hear her make that sound as she's coming down the stairs and I'll know it's her and not her brother that's woken up first.
Tonight my daughter sat at the bar with her bowl of rice and Chinese food and quietly ate a full bowl, working hard to get the last bits of rice on her spoon. That was some time ago. My son hasn't even wanted us to serve his food. He may eat very little tonight or possibly none at all because he ate a big lunch.
Tomorrow my son will be hungry at breakfast; my daughter may take a few bites and then wander off to play with toys. It balances out.
They still have to eat the food choices we offer (or let them select.) They don't get to throw a tantrum and pick something unhealthy, but they don't have to finish their plates if they're full.
The Big Boy Update: My husband, watching my son wiggle in a telling way, asked: "do you have to go potty?" My son said, "no, I'm dancing to my own music."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter has this little peep sound she makes when she's happy. Sometimes in the morning I'll hear her make that sound as she's coming down the stairs and I'll know it's her and not her brother that's woken up first.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Snice and Row
First we had the snow that wasn't really snow. It was like ice that masqueraded as snow. My children were excited because it looked like snow and they thought it was snow, but I knew it was something altogether less fun and more hazardous. It was like snow plus ice or, "snice."
That hazardous ice from last week turned out to be a lot of fun from a sledding perspective. When it did melt, it was quick and done with. It wasn't too long until another weather front promised not only snow, but lots of it. There was to be the teaser the night before of a little more or less than an inch. It came and it was the real deal. It was soft and fluffy and fun to play with and we made snow cream and it was everything fun snow should be, only there wasn't much of it.
This too, melted, but the next day there was the promise of up to twelve inches (in some forecasts.) Forecasts of twelve inches in the south is almost always wishful thinking and the actual depth we got by morning was more like three inches. Only it was a messy three inches.
The first several hours the temperature was above freezing so the snow was more like rain plus snow or, "row." It fell down fast in big snow flake clumps and thudded into the ground. It stuck to everything and covered things with a slurpy layer of white stuff. This went on until close to midnight. I would look out the window and see how fast the precipitation was falling only to see snow descending at almost rain-like speeds. But eventually there was snow.
About that time I went to sleep. It wasn't all snow though because as I rolled over in the night I would hear precipitation hitting the house. Snow doesn't make sounds. At any rate, in the morning we had a nice covering of sticky, almost melting snow. We also had no power. Lots of people had no power and it didn't look like we were going to have power for some time so we got dressed and went out into the snow.
The sticky snow made snowballs and snowman mounds exceptionally easy. It rolled up so well it took some of the grass with it because snow that sticky just adheres to everything. We went outside and had fun playing in it.
We came inside to warm up in front of the gas fireplace because the power wasn't back on yet. Then we got a call from my running friend that they were sledding in their back yard and we should come over. We did and we sledded and made a huge snow fort/igloo thing with the crazy snow that loved nothing more than to pile together into large globs and connect to other piles of snow.
We came home and put our wet clothes in front of the fireplace because we still didn't have power. Then we got another message just before dinner saying our other neighbor was having a get together at their fire pit and to come on over. We went and had pizza and marshmallows roasted over the fire. It grew dark and we wondered if we would have power before tomorrow and then suddenly, all the houses were lit again. We all cheered, packed up and headed home.
Tomorrow most of the snow will melt, but today we made the most of the weather with friends outdoors.
The Big Boy Update: My son wet his pants for the first time in a long time today. He was so focused on the lego model he didn't take time to go. My husband said to him, "you need to practice listening to your body." My son replied, "but my body doesn't want to listen to me."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter told me, "I need carrots to make me happy." I told her by all means, she should go to the refrigerator and get some carrots in that case.
That hazardous ice from last week turned out to be a lot of fun from a sledding perspective. When it did melt, it was quick and done with. It wasn't too long until another weather front promised not only snow, but lots of it. There was to be the teaser the night before of a little more or less than an inch. It came and it was the real deal. It was soft and fluffy and fun to play with and we made snow cream and it was everything fun snow should be, only there wasn't much of it.
This too, melted, but the next day there was the promise of up to twelve inches (in some forecasts.) Forecasts of twelve inches in the south is almost always wishful thinking and the actual depth we got by morning was more like three inches. Only it was a messy three inches.
The first several hours the temperature was above freezing so the snow was more like rain plus snow or, "row." It fell down fast in big snow flake clumps and thudded into the ground. It stuck to everything and covered things with a slurpy layer of white stuff. This went on until close to midnight. I would look out the window and see how fast the precipitation was falling only to see snow descending at almost rain-like speeds. But eventually there was snow.
About that time I went to sleep. It wasn't all snow though because as I rolled over in the night I would hear precipitation hitting the house. Snow doesn't make sounds. At any rate, in the morning we had a nice covering of sticky, almost melting snow. We also had no power. Lots of people had no power and it didn't look like we were going to have power for some time so we got dressed and went out into the snow.
The sticky snow made snowballs and snowman mounds exceptionally easy. It rolled up so well it took some of the grass with it because snow that sticky just adheres to everything. We went outside and had fun playing in it.
We came inside to warm up in front of the gas fireplace because the power wasn't back on yet. Then we got a call from my running friend that they were sledding in their back yard and we should come over. We did and we sledded and made a huge snow fort/igloo thing with the crazy snow that loved nothing more than to pile together into large globs and connect to other piles of snow.
We came home and put our wet clothes in front of the fireplace because we still didn't have power. Then we got another message just before dinner saying our other neighbor was having a get together at their fire pit and to come on over. We went and had pizza and marshmallows roasted over the fire. It grew dark and we wondered if we would have power before tomorrow and then suddenly, all the houses were lit again. We all cheered, packed up and headed home.
Tomorrow most of the snow will melt, but today we made the most of the weather with friends outdoors.
The Big Boy Update: My son wet his pants for the first time in a long time today. He was so focused on the lego model he didn't take time to go. My husband said to him, "you need to practice listening to your body." My son replied, "but my body doesn't want to listen to me."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter told me, "I need carrots to make me happy." I told her by all means, she should go to the refrigerator and get some carrots in that case.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
The Piles of Paper
My husband doesn't like to do paperwork. He likes to take all the papers and pile them into a pile. Sometimes, when that pile gets tall enough and he still doesn't want to do paperwork, he starts a second pile. Eventually, the piles have to be dealt with and when those times come around, he does this spreading out, pile after pile process that eventually ends up with all the papers getting to the location they need to be file, trashed, mailed, paid, shared or shredded.
I came downstairs the other day to see the entire table covered with piles with overflowing piles on the floor and I had a flashback to being at home growing up. My father collected articles, cartoons, mail, manuals, magazines and other things and made pile after pile in our basement. Then, after the piles had gotten big enough or some tolerance level for clutter had been exceeded (or perhaps he just needed to find something,) he'd go through it all, making piles all over the desks and floor, and eventually it would all be put up somewhere in file cabinets or other locations.
As I looked at my husband doing the very same thing, I thought, "I think I've married my father."
The Big Boy and Tiny Girl Imaginary Friend Update: Ghi Ghi and Gah Gah are big friends of my children. They like to play games and the people they're rescuing or helping or going to see or playing with are commonly these two imaginary people. They don't point to them and say they're, "right over there," and they've never tried to talk to them directly or introduce them to us, but they do factor in to their playing.
The other character that's not as big, but hasn't gone away, is Pahmer. He's for some reason separate from Ghi Ghi and Gah Gah. Whereas they seem to need help or to be rescued, Pahmer seems to be one of the helpers or experts. Now that I think of it, I'm not sure Pahmer has ever met Ghi Ghi and Gah Gah, now that I think of it.
I came downstairs the other day to see the entire table covered with piles with overflowing piles on the floor and I had a flashback to being at home growing up. My father collected articles, cartoons, mail, manuals, magazines and other things and made pile after pile in our basement. Then, after the piles had gotten big enough or some tolerance level for clutter had been exceeded (or perhaps he just needed to find something,) he'd go through it all, making piles all over the desks and floor, and eventually it would all be put up somewhere in file cabinets or other locations.
As I looked at my husband doing the very same thing, I thought, "I think I've married my father."
The Big Boy and Tiny Girl Imaginary Friend Update: Ghi Ghi and Gah Gah are big friends of my children. They like to play games and the people they're rescuing or helping or going to see or playing with are commonly these two imaginary people. They don't point to them and say they're, "right over there," and they've never tried to talk to them directly or introduce them to us, but they do factor in to their playing.
The other character that's not as big, but hasn't gone away, is Pahmer. He's for some reason separate from Ghi Ghi and Gah Gah. Whereas they seem to need help or to be rescued, Pahmer seems to be one of the helpers or experts. Now that I think of it, I'm not sure Pahmer has ever met Ghi Ghi and Gah Gah, now that I think of it.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Snow Angles and Snow Cream
School was cancelled early today due to snow. We didn't get that much snow, but we got enough light, fluffy snow to go outside and have fun playing in it.
My children spent lots of time outside today with some of their friends that live in nearby houses. We have a friend staying with us who joined in the fun and took some good pictures of the children playing in the snow and making snow angles. This is the first year I think my daughter has had any fun at all in the snow; in the past I think she's been more cold than anything. I'm not sure if my son has met cold yet, because he doesn't ever seem to suffer from it.
I went out earlier in the season and bought snow gear for both children because, darn it, I wanted to get some snow and when it arrived I wanted to be prepared. We haven't had a lot of bad weather, but the snow jumpers and boots have made a big difference. The children can get dressed quickly and stay warm while they're outside. I got gear that will hopefully last for two years, which may mean a total of four inches of snow fun across the two winters given the average accumulation we get in these parts. Still, snow fun was had today, even if it wasn't very deep.
Tonight after dinner we made snow cream. It is dead easy to make and even my three-year-old and four-year-old couldn't mess it up. Scoop fluffy snow into a bowl. Add milk. Add sugar. Add vanilla. Aside from the vanilla, the proportions of everything else are very flexible. Oh, and you have to stir. I think the children liked stirring the most. Well, aside from the eating part.
The Big Boy Update: My son curls up on his chair at meals a lot lately in the fetal position. I'm not sure why he does this, but he sits back up in a minute or two and then carries on with his meal. Tonight he told us he was in, "rock mode." This may be an newly discovered Transformers transformation my son has made up.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: While my son likes to curl up in a ball at the table on his chair, my daughter likes to get up and bounce around. Or dance. I remember being a child thinking how hard it was to sit in a chair and sit still.
My children spent lots of time outside today with some of their friends that live in nearby houses. We have a friend staying with us who joined in the fun and took some good pictures of the children playing in the snow and making snow angles. This is the first year I think my daughter has had any fun at all in the snow; in the past I think she's been more cold than anything. I'm not sure if my son has met cold yet, because he doesn't ever seem to suffer from it.
I went out earlier in the season and bought snow gear for both children because, darn it, I wanted to get some snow and when it arrived I wanted to be prepared. We haven't had a lot of bad weather, but the snow jumpers and boots have made a big difference. The children can get dressed quickly and stay warm while they're outside. I got gear that will hopefully last for two years, which may mean a total of four inches of snow fun across the two winters given the average accumulation we get in these parts. Still, snow fun was had today, even if it wasn't very deep.
Tonight after dinner we made snow cream. It is dead easy to make and even my three-year-old and four-year-old couldn't mess it up. Scoop fluffy snow into a bowl. Add milk. Add sugar. Add vanilla. Aside from the vanilla, the proportions of everything else are very flexible. Oh, and you have to stir. I think the children liked stirring the most. Well, aside from the eating part.
The Big Boy Update: My son curls up on his chair at meals a lot lately in the fetal position. I'm not sure why he does this, but he sits back up in a minute or two and then carries on with his meal. Tonight he told us he was in, "rock mode." This may be an newly discovered Transformers transformation my son has made up.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: While my son likes to curl up in a ball at the table on his chair, my daughter likes to get up and bounce around. Or dance. I remember being a child thinking how hard it was to sit in a chair and sit still.
Monday, February 23, 2015
The Strange Teeth
Did I mention I got my implants put in? It's been a very long journey from losing the first tooth, #15, several years ago and then had all that fun with it's neighbor, #14, with the crown, root canal, second root canal, third root canal, root amputation and then extraction. Then there was four months of waiting to put the implant screws in and then another six months of waiting until the appliance component (the teeth) could be put on. All in all, it's been a long time since I've really been able to chew on the left side well.
Now I have a full set of teeth (or the high-tech equivalent) and it's been nice to chew all over my mouth again. But the implants feel different.
I asked my dentist about it the other night over a game of pinball. Remember the new pinball machine? My neighbor (who is also my dentist) is a pinball enthusiast so at night he, my husband and I have been seeing who can beat the other's high scores.
I asked him about the different feel. He said that a tooth with a root canal doesn't have feeling inside the tooth, but the nerves surrounding the tooth and the connective tissues that hold the tooth in place do give sensations to us when we chew. An implant has none of that so it does feel different when you chew on it.
He told me I'd get used to it. My father told me the same thing. Every day I'm noticing it a bit less. Regardless of how it feels, it is just so nice to have teeth back in spots where there was a big gap for a long time.
The Big Boy Update: My son has a Sound Book at school. It represents the letters he has "mastered" in the Montessori school work. This is more than just recognizing and saying the letter. It's a process they go through to understand the lower-case cursive version of the letter and the sound the letter makes (not the name of the letter.) His sound book contains M, A and S. When he gets further along he'll have not only letters but sound combinations of two letters.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter loves the footie pajamas. She loves to put them on and wear them before bed. Then she gets in bed and wants to take them off because, "momma, I'm so hot." We've had to change her out into non-footed sleep-wear almost every time, but it hasn't stopped her from loving the footed pajamas.
Now I have a full set of teeth (or the high-tech equivalent) and it's been nice to chew all over my mouth again. But the implants feel different.
I asked my dentist about it the other night over a game of pinball. Remember the new pinball machine? My neighbor (who is also my dentist) is a pinball enthusiast so at night he, my husband and I have been seeing who can beat the other's high scores.
I asked him about the different feel. He said that a tooth with a root canal doesn't have feeling inside the tooth, but the nerves surrounding the tooth and the connective tissues that hold the tooth in place do give sensations to us when we chew. An implant has none of that so it does feel different when you chew on it.
He told me I'd get used to it. My father told me the same thing. Every day I'm noticing it a bit less. Regardless of how it feels, it is just so nice to have teeth back in spots where there was a big gap for a long time.
The Big Boy Update: My son has a Sound Book at school. It represents the letters he has "mastered" in the Montessori school work. This is more than just recognizing and saying the letter. It's a process they go through to understand the lower-case cursive version of the letter and the sound the letter makes (not the name of the letter.) His sound book contains M, A and S. When he gets further along he'll have not only letters but sound combinations of two letters.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter loves the footie pajamas. She loves to put them on and wear them before bed. Then she gets in bed and wants to take them off because, "momma, I'm so hot." We've had to change her out into non-footed sleep-wear almost every time, but it hasn't stopped her from loving the footed pajamas.
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