Saturday, July 11, 2009

Artists and Musicians

Yesterday Leah and Samuel sat at the coffee table and colored in their own coloring books quietly and peacefully for fourty-five minutes. That's unheard of. And Samuel didn't even eat more than two crayons!




























Leah and Samuel drumming while I made dinner one night. Give them the right tools and they will be entertained for a half hour. And this is why my wooden spoons are broken. It's a small price to pay for peace in the kitchen. (Okay, not quiet peace)














Leah is great at faces:


Translations

Samuel is now 18 months old. Did Leah say this many words at that age? I can't remember.

Here are some of his favorites. Context is everything.

pa-bee (potty)
bah-bee (baby)
gog (dog)
djee (cheese)
baba (blastoff)
baow (ball)
nigh-nigh (night night)
bubye (bye bye)
bap (bath)
beej (please)
gae-goo (thank you)
waa-je (water)

Here's a little something from Leah.

Yesterday I was examing my toenail that got squashed by a mattress when we moved. Its gross. I'll spare you the details, but I was kind of picking at it. Leah asked what I was doing and I explained in a way she could understand, that my toenail was broken. She was very concerned and near tears, begged me not to do it. Is this some kind of phobia of nasty nail syndrome? I asked her why and this is what she said:

"Because God gave you toes!"

And here's a picture. The kids are watching The Incredibles on the PSP in their pajamas before bed while I cleaned up dinner. Leah has her arm around Samuel, which is super cute and uncommon.

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Out of the mouths of babes

Here's a quickie for you.

Mom: "Samuel, Ready, Set..."
Samuel: "Go!"
Mom: "One, Two.."
Samuel: "Go!"

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Supermoms! Unite for Sunday sanity!

Kids in sacrament meeting. How do you do it? We have a few rules, like no snacks or activities until after the Sacrament, and they must sit on our laps or on the bench quietly during hymns and prayers. Then they can color or play quietly. We downsized from a big bag of Sunday toys to one toy per kid because it was just getting out of hand. One week was so bad, we actually practiced 10 minutes of reverent time and pretended we were waiting for the sacrament at home a couple nights throughout the week--the following Sunday showed marked improvment. But after that, we were back to our old, crazy, impossible Sacrament struggle. (Do you like my alliteration?)

Here is my latest One-Hour project. It is a one player bing0 board and the task will be for Leah to listen in the meeting and put a Sunbeam on the image when she hears the word mentioned: music, Holy Ghost, Missionaries, prieshthood, etc. You get the idea.
If she were older, I would have used more pictures with more complex principles.

The project consisted of sleuthing out some photos that represent concepts simple enough for a three year old to understand and putting them on a grid chart I made in Word. Then I printed it and laminated it and adhered a sticky velcro dot to each square. Then I did the same with sunbeams, and voila! It took me about an hour, so I made two. I even made a little pocket on the back to store all the little sunbeams in. Tomorrow will be the true test of its effectiveness.
Project break down:
  • 10' roll of adhesive laminate: $20 (I'm so glad I didn't buy that $60 laminator, because this stuff works just fine for my purposes)
  • 75 sets of adhesive velcro dots: $8.
  • Of course, it helps that we already have a really good printer.

I have lots of laminate and velcro left, of course, so I want to make one for you! Here's how to get one. I want to hear how you keep your kids occupied during Sacrament Meeting. What are the rules you have? Do you allow snacks and activities? What kinds? If not, why not, and what do you do instead to keep order?

I'll report back after we've tried my new Bing0 game for two Sundays (So, July 12), and then I will pick a random winner among the commentors and I will make you your own bing0 game (and I will even put your family picture on it instead of mine!).

Happy commenting!

Friday, July 03, 2009

You know it's bedtime when...

This is what happens when you ask Leah to try to put her pajamas on by herself.

A cookie in each hand, but still the tears pour down like rain.
But don't put it past this little guy to brighten up as soon as the camera comes out. He even said "Geee!"