Amy’s Garden

Throwing Rocks

The first afternoon at the cabin, I took a walk down to the water with Lydia, Luke, and Poppy.

That hill behind them might look nice, but walk it uphill a few times, and it will whip you into shape.

Lydia didn’t waste any time getting down to the water so she could throw rocks.

Every time a rock made a splash in the water, Luke giggled.

Poppy helped Luke throw some rocks too.

When Luke tried throwing the rock on his own, the rock didn’t make it very far. (Look just under his hand.)

After a while, Luke picked up a rock, handed it to Poppy, and said, “Uh!” Translation: Throw!

Sweet memories.

A Change in Routine

Yesterday Keith worked a career fair at my alma mater, Southwest Baptist University. Nana and Poppy’s cabin, also known as “Poppy’s Lake” is not far from there. So, we headed there for a mini-vacation. I was looking forward to a change in routine.

For example, we had a change in clock shape. Our main clock at home is a boring circle. Not the clock at the cabin.

Soon after arriving, Nana and asked Lydia what she liked about the cabin. Lydia replied, “Nonny, that clock just cracks me up. It’s a square.”

Something else that doesn’t happen at home is eating in front of the TV. In fact, we don’t even have a regular TV. We can watch local channels on Keith’s computer screen, and the kids can watch videos on a portable DVD player. But, this is the cabin. Mommy will ease up a little bit.

Another change in routine that always happens at the cabin is the type of food consumed. Going into the kitchen first thing in the morning usually involves being presented with a plate of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and fried potatoes. Seriously. Yesterday’s evening meal included smoked chicken, ribs, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and cole slaw. Let’s just say my body is currently going through cabin detox.

I actually tried to keep L&L’s diet similar to what they have at home, but Lydia very much enjoyed her first taste of corn on the cob. Yummy.

And how could I fail to mention the change in sleeping routine? This is the hard part about being away from home. I have trained my children to sleep in their own beds at pretty consistent times of day, but it seems like that gets thrown out the window while we are at the cabin. They try, but it’s hard. Luke’s crib was in the bedroom where Keith and I slept, and he was not interested in sleeping in the crib as long as we were in the room. Go ahead and cross cosleeping off the list of things I will never do as a parent. What do you do when he screams his head off in the crib, but instantly falls asleep when he gets in the big bed right between Mommy and Daddy? (I think there might have been some cosleeping going on in the bedroom with Nana, Poppy, and Lydia, too.)

The weather also made a change for the better this weekend, and we got outside some. Stay tuned….

Mortar and Pestle

Keith and I are not really into giving gifts to each other on a regular basis, especially expensive gifts. When Keith does give me a gift, however, it is always something that shows he is paying attention to my interests. For example, for Christmas, he bought me a mortar and pestle. It’s made of marble. I think he said it cost about $15.

Several months ago, I listened to a podcast of The Splendid Table. Lynne Rossetto Kasper was interviewing a woman about using a mortar and pestle to prepare food. The woman had a very interesting accent and spoke romantically about what a pleasure it was to be so connected to your food as you prepare it. I was enamored. Keith remembered.

I hadn’t found an opportunity for using it until today. I was making lentil soup, which called for crushed garlic cloves. Aha! I have just the thing!

Has anyone else received (or given) a very thoughtful gift lately?

Sweetest Boy Ever

Today marks day seven of somebody in the house being under the weather. No one has been horribly sick, but no one has been wonderfully well, either. Today was pretty low-key. I was just chillin’ with my peeps. Luke woke up from his nap early, and Lydia slept most of the afternoon. My boy and I spent a while browsing the internet rather randomly. (Oh! I wonder if there are swimming lessons available at our local aquatic center. Let me check! Stuff like that.)

When at least one cushion is off the couch, Luke can climb onto the couch, which he thinks is pretty awesome. Today I looked over and he was just sitting, chillin’. (I’m into the word “chillin’” lately. Even Lydia has picked it up. Gotta keep things fresh.)

I couldn’t resist doing a little photo shoot with the sweetest boy ever.

Crafty, Literary, Techy

Last week Lydia went to her first Valentine party. She didn’t know any of the other kids attending, but we had a list of names. Armed with that information, we set out to make a Valentine for each child.

I have lots of scrapbooking supplies left from my days at a Creative Memories consultant. It had been a while since I’d had them out, and it was pretty fun letting Lydia try her hand at some simple card-making. She chose red paper for the boys and pink paper for the girls. I wrote the To/From messages, and she put one paper heart and one sticker on each Valentine.

This activity also provided a chance to work on early literacy skills. Before they can start reading, kids need to understand that words go from left to right and from top to bottom on the page. (In this case, we were working only on top to bottom because of how the Valentines were made.) I showed Lydia how to read the Valentines, pointing at one word at a time as she read. “To: _________ From: Lydia” Since the only thing that changed each time was the recipient’s name, she caught on quickly, and she did a pretty good job of pointing at the correct word as she read.

Since the supplies were out, and since I was feeling mushy, I decided to make Keith a Valentine. Aw. He reciprocated by making one for me, too. It was a crafty, literary, lovey-dovey day.

You might be wondering how the Valentines above are currently being displayed. Well, I’ll tell you. Today I bought a cork board at Walmart. It’s nothing fancy. I think it cost $8.94. I don’t know if it will be there forever, but the wall was very blank and it really needed some help.

It was also good for my overall attitude and self-esteem about decorating the house after a very frustrating month regarding some curtains in the sunroom. (No, I’m not ready to show pictures of said sunroom yet.) This cork board doesn’t have a specific purpose yet, but I’m sure it will find one soon. Until then, it is holding our Valentines and a few daffodil stickers put there by my darling girl-child.

Over the years I have been amused by taglines on products that say exactly the opposite of what the product is actually about. For example,

Freeman skincare products: Beauty is inside. (Then why am I bothering with skin care products?)
Great Value foods (Store brand at Walmart): When quality counts. (Really? I thought it was price.)

And now,

BoardTech cork boards: Technology + Style in Messaging

I like the corkboard and everything, but technology and style are not two words that come to mind when I look at it. Those words make me think of a pink iPhone or maybe a Roomba, but not a nine dollar cork board.

But hey, it’s in print, so it must be true. Techy and stylish. That’s me. Throw on some homemade Valentines, and I’m crafty, too. I’m liking this cork board more and more.

February Happenings

Driving Lessons

Nana and Poppy have a couple of toy cars that their grandkids have enjoyed over the years. Calder and Grant were pretty cute toddlers, and they enjoyed playing with this one at the lake house.

There is another car at Nana and Poppy’s house in town. Lydia enjoyed it at age nine months.

And now, Luke and his cousin Ryan play with the car. One evening we were all over for supper, and both boys were getting sleepy, but we couldn’t resist doing a little photo shoot before heading home. Luke, being the more experienced driver (he’s a whole five months older), gave driving lessons to Ryan.

A Rough Evening

Lydia loves Luke. She really does. But sometimes, she is in a groove with her monkeys or ponies, and Luke gets in her way. He’s just being a normal toddler, interested in what she is doing, but she is NOT in the mood to be bothered or share. She convinces herself that Luke is going to put her toys in his mouth, and she pushes him down. We’re talking about a very intentional, two-handed shove. (These pictures are not related to the post other than they show my lovely offspring.)

I can’t even remember what we did the first few times this happened. I know one time I put her in time out, she laughed, then she had a major tantrum, I tried spanking, and the situation was completey esclated and out of control. I hate hate hate this kind of reactionary discipline, yet I found myself doing it.

It was probably over a year ago that I had Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood: Practical Parenting from Birth to Six Years checked out from the library. I can’t remember all the details, but the basic premise of Love and Logic is that you show sympathy, not anger, when a child misbehaves. The reason you can show sympathy is that the consequence for the behavior has been clearly stated ahead of time. That way, when the offense occurs, you can just say, “Oh, I’m so sorry that _________ (unpleasant consequence) has to happen now.” It keeps the parent cool, calm, and collected. It also makes the child completely responsible for her own actions.

So, I told Lydia that the next time she pushed Luke, Snuggle Bud would spend one night on the top shelf in my closet.

Wow, yes, I really said that.

Well, it happened earlier this week. She pushed Luke, but I didn’t see it, and she denied it. What to do? I was 99% sure she had done it, but I just couldn’t follow through on the consequence without knowing for sure. I decided to let it go. I didn’t even mention Snuggle Bud.

That evening when she was having her bedtime snack, she suddenly said, “Mommy, I don’t want you take Snuggle Bud away!” I wasn’t even thinking about the pushing incident, and I said, “Would I ever take Snuggle Bud away?” Then it occurred to me why she was worried. I thought to myself, “Aha!! So you DID push your brother!”

However, since we had already been through the interrogation, and since I had not seen her do it, she got Snuggle Bud that night, but I knew if I ever witnessed her doing it again, I would HAVE to follow through, since obviously she had not forgotten about my warning.

Well, today we were at Nana and Poppy’s house. I had taken Luke to the doctor to check for and ear infection that wasn’t there. We came in from the appointment, and Lydia was playing with some Valentines she had made with Nana. I put Luke on the floor, he walked over to where Lydia was, and she pushed him down. It wasn’t really a hard push, and if it had been the first time, I might not have said much about it, but given our history, I grabbed her up and took her to the hall. I reminded her that now Snuggle Bud would be spending the night on the top shelf of my closet.

Of course, her reaction was to protest, but we got her going on lunch and made it through without too much hoopla.

Then, bedtime came. Keith and I spoke in hushed tones as the moment drew close. I was pretty nervous, but I was determined to stick to my guns. I told her Snuggle Bud would be spending the night in my closet, but she could choose another toy to sleep with.

We proceeded with our normal bedtime routine. Her mood variated from genuine sobs of grief to perky comments about the book we were reading. I just kept plowing through. She dragged out the story time by adding new, silly elements to the Rudolph story. At the end of the routine, I left the room, and she cried for quite a while, pleading for us to bring back Snuggle Bud.

Finally, Keith and I went back in together, gave her a drink, and took turns telling her one more story and sang one more song together. She snuggled in with her toy puppy, and we haven’t heard from her since.

She’ll get Snuggle Bud back in the morning.

What about the pushing? We’ll see.

What about the parents? It was a rough evening, but I can go to bed knowing I didn’t react in anger, but planned ahead with love.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. ~ Hebrews 12:11

Accident Prone

There is nothing quite a sweet as a one-year-old. Let me rephrase that sentence. There is nothing quite as sweet as this one-year-old. He gives hugs and kisses and snuggles, and he utters one-syllable vowel sounds with great conviction.

A one-year-old, however, is also accident prone. Although walking is old hat by now, his poor little head takes the brunt of most of his falls. In this picture, he had a scrape on his forehead from landing on the track for the sliding glass door, and he had a swollen lip from landing flat on his face on the wood floor in the entryway, which resulted in a large amount of blood going everywhere. (I’m afraid I’m to blame for the busted lip though, since I had him in a very fluffy cloth diaper along with a pair of tight pants. It was a combo that didn’t allow him to get around quite right.) Poor child.

Of course there was also the incident where, since there is simply not enough drama and stress in my life already, I had myself convinced Luke was choking on a fuzzy red reindeer nose. We were at Nana and Poppy’s house. Lydia was wearing her Rudolph antlers and had a red fuzz ball taped to her nose. Luke was carrying around another red fuzz ball. I was 100% certain I saw him put the fuzz ball in his mouth. So, I put my finger in his mouth to fish is out. I was 100% certain I felt it in his throat. He started coughing. I picked him up and held him upside down, hitting his chest. Poppy took him and tried the Heimlich maneuver. Finally we realized Luke was breathing just fine, so we assumed he must have swallowed it.

Then we found the fuzz ball. It was in his hand.

It was dry.

Ahem. Let’s move on. Although Lydia is firmly out of the toddler stage, she certainly has her share of bruises most of the time. The worst one happened just the other day. She ran into her room to get her bedding set. (She drags her pillow, blanket, comforter, and Snuggle Bud all over the house.) On her way out, she ran into her door and acquired a huge lump on her forehead.

I took this picture of her when she was waking up from her nap, so her half-closed eyes are because of her sleepy state, not because of her injury. Notice, though, the bruise on her forehead from the door crash.

By the way, that is exactly how she was sleeping, with her hands behind her head. We’ve seen her do this before. I find this pretty endearing. I think it’s because neither Keith nor I sleep that way. It’s her thing. She is her own person.

Speaking of being her own person, that girl engages in pretend play from the moment she gets up in the morning until the moment her eyes can’t stay open one moment longer at the end of the day. She is probably 10 different characters throughout the day, and the rest of us play along. She tells us who to be and what to say. She runs around with excitement as she figures it all out. Her brain is in gear constantly.

No wonder she ran into the door. She was probably busy planning what story to act out next.

My goodness, I love my little people.

Beating the 4:00 Slump

Most people wish for more hours in the day. Not me. In fact, I would gladly take a 22-hour day if 4-6 pm could be elimitated. I would like to say it is because my children are whiny and cranky at this time, but actually, it’s me. Four o’clock hits, and I simply have trouble dealing with life.

This has recently become such a problem that I’ve made some changes in my afternoon to try and battle the 4:00 slump. One of the main issues is that I was always trying to make supper at this time. Even if Lydia and Luke were relatively well-behaved and entertaining themselves, I struggled to stay sane while working in the kitchen. So, most days I’ve been making supper earlier in the afternoon and putting it in the fridge. This might seem like a no-brainer, but it is a major shift for me. You see, ever since I became pregnant with Luke (and he’s now 14 months old), I’ve been taking a nap in the afternoons along with my little people, which doesn’t leave time for cooking. Now, however, I’ve been using this time to (gasp!) stay awake, do my Bible study and then make supper before people wake up. It’s not a perfect system, but the shift in approach has allowed most days to be free of cooking during the 4:00 hour. I realized that I need peace at 4:00 more than I need sleep at 2:00. Of course I haven’t given up naps completely. In fact, I took one today. But, not being a slave to sleeping at that time has been rather freeing.

Okay, on to my next strategy: Eating a significant snack at 3:00. In fact, I eat what some people would consider a meal. Instead of just eating apple slices, I’ve added an entire can of tuna with mayo and crackers. I make myself take the time to sit down and eat. I feel like kind of a wimp because I have to eat so often, but I do what I have to do, you know? Whoever is awake at 3:00 joins me for my snack. Today it was Luke. He eats little tiny pieces of apple and crunches them between his front teeth. Quite endearing.

Okay, the last thing is the hardest to pull off. If at all possible, we try to go outside at 4:00. Obviously, some days, the weather does not allow this to happen. But even if it is pretty cold, we try to go outside, even if it is just for about 10 or 15 minutes. Earlier this week I think the process of getting everyone dressed and out the door literally took three times longer than we spent outside, but it was worth it. The fresh air is invigorating, and we are able to catch the last bit of daylight that eludes us when we stay inside.

This picture was taken on a day that was very warm for January (hence our lack of jackets) and Keith was home early. Lydia and I are doing some jogging around the cul de sac. Getting some exercise is another benefit of the outside time. It’s good for all of us, even Luke, who walks around, throwing his hands up in the air, saying “Eh!”

When the clock approaches 5:00, we go inside to get some supper from the refrigerator. Daddy is usually home around 5:30.

So, there you have it. It’s not a fool-proof system. I still feel down in the late afternoon on lots of days, especially cloudy days, but I’m doing better. I’m curious to hear if anyone else has a “hard” time of day. If so, how do you battle it?