I have started another new blog :o) You can get there at…www.homeschoolblogger.com/makemydayscount
The Lord blessed us with a day away! 🙂 We traveled a couple of hours and visted the zoo. We like this particular zoo we went to, as with six kids…it was just right to walk thru and in about 3 hours. Even then, we were rushed, but we got there a bit later than we anticipated. All of our kids did well. Our oldest had very few issues. Her main issues were during supper. She was of course, tired, but it all delt with her tummy. Our three year old certainly did display her stubborn streak thru out the day a bit. Oh she was happy enough…she just had selective hearing. But, all in all, the day went well. We were so thankful for G& G’s help as well!! We, of course, took too many pictures. Some really sweet ones 🙂 I will share a few more as I have the time. Here is one of the entire family.
My crew at the zoo!
In my heart and mind…this is what my four year old is dealing with. I’ve been doing research and it fits him. My child of course is unique and doesn’t fit the lists to a T. He matches with somethings…somethings are absent on the lists…meaning he isn’t exhibiting those things. So…here we go! I’ll update as we proceed with our journey! Here is a link….if you scroll down, I am looking at the Preschool “red flags.”
http://spdfoundation.net/redflags.html
And a book I’d like to read!
Happy Belated Mother’s Day! Mine was good. Always crazy. But..good. Let’s see, the kids made me homemade cards (so sweet!), daddy bought me roses (nice!), and we grilled and then headed to the park to feed the ducks and geese. A little stressful with our 3 and 4 year old around water. One of the best things about the weekend, was that my sweet husband let me order a couple of much anticipated things thru The Old Schoolhouse Magazine (my fav!) I NEED the support and I am glad God gave me a husband who is happy to see that I get it :o)
It looks as if the icky sinus bug in our home has hit daddy now. He has swollen glands, sore throat off and on, tired and cranky…oops! I shouldn’t have mentioned that last one. Seriously…this stuff makes a person SO tired and cranky. You don’t want to move once you sit down.
Well, I am off to work on a lapbook for my 7 year old son. I have one all made up! Thanks to a friend who went to a MOMS homeschooling meeting with me a while back. The theme was ‘lapbooks.’ My friend ended up finishing mine for me while I nursed my baby ;o)
Funny to say…I love this rainy day! For the first time in days, my sinuses aren’t acting up nearly as bad. I didn’t wake up feeling like there is a brick in my head or feeling so crabby and like I could could hardly utter two words as my children utter a million words a second (or so it seems!) Yesterday my sinus issues were so bad I was sick to my stomach. Last week my glands were sore and swollen, my tongue had a sore waaaay back on the right side that was swollen too. I was so tired last week and even more tired than that the week before. I knew it had to be something. I do think we’ve had some icky little viral thing floating around our home, but I am thinking allergies too. I’ve been hearing all over, people say, “Well, my doctor just told me that people are coming in with allergies, who’ve never had allergies.” This seems true to me.
Our oldest daughter also went thru a bout of exhaustion as well, along with tummy issues. But, I am fairly certain the tummy issues were due to too much sugar free food. Sugar free pudding (and probably SF ice cream) seems to be a bit of a trouble maker for her. She has always had a sensitive stomach. But, when you get a child who needs to eat everything pureed or soft, sometimes you can get stuck in a rut. The good news is…that she has increased her liking now for almost ALL things we eat as long as I can puree them. The other good news is that after about a week, she isn’t so tired. When she was going thru the week of tiredness, she would actually walk to her bed and sometimes even bring me her pj’s. She just needed to rest. But, now she’s hopped back into her routine of wanting to come into the basement in the afternoons and run around listening to Cedarmont kids music, playing with toys, chewing on her favorite hats with bonnet strings (lol), and running in and out of the tv room as her siblings have a bit of tv time. Oh wait…I forget to mention…she also likes to throw her chewed up hat into the pack and play repeatedly and then pulls on my arm to have me retrive it. I’m okay with it too! Because, instead of yelling, she is doing exactly what I asked her to do…pulling on my arm, and sometimes she even says mommy when she wants it 🙂
Our four year old son is getting much more interested in hotwheels. I’ve been laying out our play car mat for him during the day and he plays so well. He has a lot of outbursts thru out the day, especially with his 3 year old sister. It’s all over toys and what not. I have found that when I give our son things to do, he does great! I can’t always guarantee how long the greatness with last…but I get to seem him doing really good things, and I can praise him. I know by now, kids don’t like to be bored, but our four year old son has never really latched onto any one particular toy. He’s always been our music child. LOVES music. But, a toy…not-so-much. Anyway, the nice thing about the car mat, is that when his 3 year old sister does come over to try and play with him, he tends to be more calm about it when I need to try and help him share his toys. Maybe it’s because he is just so focused on that one play thing. He’s not running around the house like mad. Once I get thru to him, he is more than happy to share a car with his sister. It is so sweet. I also have to say that his sister loves to tease, and I know that I probably don’t see half of what she does to him. He is more physical and verbal in his aggression than she is. His screaming isn’t right, but I see the naughtiness in our daughter’s face at times. Boy…a mommy’s work is *never* done! :o) But, this is a toy I’ve had my eyes on that I really think our son with enjoy right now. His birthday isn’t for another several months though.
Something fun just recently happened to me! Yesterday I was hanging on Facebook. I had posted that one of my top gift ideas for my birthday was something called, The Bullet. It’s just a nicely decked out food processor. It comes with many pieces. I want one as I want to start preparing more pureed food for oldest daughter. It is pricey. But, I received a message from one of my FB friends (another homeschooling mom), and she has a basically brand new Bullet that she is going to send us. All we have to do is pay for shipping! She sent me a picture of it and all of it’s pieces. Wow…so caring of this sweet lady! Thanks Lord!
We made Resurrection buns last week. A little late in the game 😉 But, as our pastor reminded us…”He is risen, everyday of your life!” Here are a few pictures. Sweets for the sweet!
The kids have been having lots of play outside! Outdoor play is a part of our homeschooling :o) And no one can tell me any different…hehe. I watched a show last year on education in the state of California. I believe it was teachers who were pushing for funding for, get this….more recess! Play is so good for our kids brain development, motor skills…and just plain ol’ imagination. So, when it’s a beautiful sunny day, or I’ll take a dry day…I try to get at least a few or all of my kids out for a while.
It seems that my 6 year old daughter really likes math. She doesn’t seem to be having that hard of a time jumping into first grade math. Her reading is coming along. I’ve actually started to skip some of my 7 year old’s math lessons. We do Rod and Staff math, but we’ve gotten to the point where it’s kind of like we’re beating a dead horse. So much repetition. It’s even driving me a little bonkers. So, now that he’s mastered some things, I am skipping onto newer things…yay! We’ll finish up this current book, and move onto a new book I already have. I found a new math book in our garage, while I was trading out some books from our house. I love when that happens.
Things are still going better with our oldest daughter. She and I haven’t felt the best. It must’ve been something viral. I am feeling better and she seems to be as well. It stinks when mommy is soooo tired. Our daughter loves our morning routine of prayer, alphabet song, alphabet sounds, ASL alphabet, Bible verses, and then reading from our story Bible. Then she likes me to go thru her own personal homeschooling routine. She likes to talk about herself….a lot. 🙂 Oh, that and her family! I have two preschool books we’re going thru concerning these topics. Also, our daughter LOVES sticker books. She actually tries to put them on the page in right place when I ask her to.
Funny story though! Our oldest daughter was working on touching her siblings when I asked her too. They sat beside her the other day and she did a pretty good job. But, when it came to her 4 year old brother….sigh. Instead of touching him…she elbowed him and made her “irritated” sounds. She just wanted him away from her. Now, I am glad my little boy doesn’t understand at this point. It would probably hurt his feelings…or maybe not. I don’t want to make light of it and just laugh it off. But, ya know…it’s a little bit funny. Our son is constantly loud and making noises. He throws quite a few fits thru out our days. It’s hard to deal with at times. And it just makes our daughter crazy cakes. I pray that maturity on both ends (daughter and son) will help this!
My 7 year old son and and I are reading thru a Christian Liberty Press Nature Reader together. He takes one paragraph…I take another. He seems to enjoy it. He and my 6 year old daughter also liking ‘Billy and Blaze’ books. Today we read thru three books together. My son could’ve gotten thru them just fine…but he likes mommy to read. All of the other children really like the book, ‘Love You Forever.’ I know it will become a favorite. It’s all such a joy!
Baby has now been thru 3 veggies. Carrots, peas and (currently) sweet potatoes. Peas do not go thru her system all that well. Carrots and sweet potatoes…fine. I guess our next veggie will be green beans. I am sure she’ll do fine with squash. I am excited to feed her fruits. She is such a sweetie…I could eat her up.
Princess Cake
Enjoying her day!
Sweetness
It seemed just not too long ago that I have birth to this amazingly sweet little girl. She is a bouncing three year old, who loves to hang out with mommy and daddy. My favorite thing about her is how she tells me several times a day that she “loves me.” 🙂 She’s also a *wonderful* helper around the home. But, of course, she’s still a typical three year old ;o)
I made her a few laminated paper dolls for her cake (hey…you can use a laminator for anything!!) The dresses actually come off of the dolls. I used velcro tabs to make them stick. I thought the doll with the pink dress looked as if she was wading thru the cake. 🙂
Our three year old had a great day! 🙂
Don’t you just love the originality of my titles? ;o) I truly cannot think of anything witty or catchy it seems. My brain just doesn’t go there! Anyway…it seems that the changes that we’ve been making with our special needs child…eliminating sugar in her diet, digestive enzymes, Diflucan, have continued to prove to be positive! It’s been much easier for me to tell what is going on with her as well. Instead of everything being a jumbled up emotional mess. Think about it, when you have a massive headache or the flu, and you’re still expected to function in life…how well does that go over??? That is exactly what our daughter has been trying to do for months and months…years now. She still has her issues. She’s nonverbal and she has a strong personality. Put those two things together and you’ll get a child that will yell at times and do “naughty” things just to get mom’s attention. Because in a house with 5 other chatty kids…it’s hard to get anyone’s attention unless you do something a tad bit drastic 🙂 Our daughter also has a hard time with her routine coming undone. She loves our weekdays. It’s more structured and she gets her schooling in. Weekends are harder for her. She very much needs reassurance that we love her and that we know she is there on the weekends. When daddy is home…he is typically more a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants type of person. Things can get challenging then. Our daughter also has a hard time when company comes and her siblings hoard the attention. We’re still learning how to handle this. Feel free to share any of your kid challenges with me! ;o)
Oh, but the good things! Our days have been much more peaceful! Our daughter hasn’t been as tired…not even wanting her afternoon quiet times. That means mommy’s downtime consists of Cedarmont Kids music (not dvd’s…I won’t allow those during quiet time.) It’s not too bad. It’s fun seeing my daughter being able follow thru with simple commands when I am teaching her. This is big for us. Our daughter can touch her feet when I ask her to. She’s been learning more about the concept of ‘self.’ She loves our hand mirror. She likes to admire herself and touch her head when I ask her to. Today she told herself, “hiiiiii!” in the mirror. That is something she’s also been saying more. I’m teaching our daughter the concepts of ‘tall’ and ‘small.’ Today, she lifted her arms up above her head for ‘tall.’ She’s been really stubborn about wanting to do this. I think our daughter would do well now with trying a few communication devices. Wow, when a person feels well, LIFE can begin to happen more!
So, I am currently reading a book on the stomach, enzymes, and how it affects people with autism and neuroligical conditions. I am LOVING it. I am also wanting to read another book that looks at how enzymes impact the gut even more. PLEASE keep praying for us! It is God’s doing and wisdom making this difference. How I would love to be able to keep sharing with all of you about God’s goodness and answered prayer in our daughter’s life.
And not to leave out my other kids! There are never, every any favorites in our family. I’d love to post more about them. But, when certain kids tend to have more issues…they tend to get talked about more. You moms know exactly what I mean! We have a birthday coming up at the end of this week. We’re all excited! I’ll post pictures of the cake and birthday girl. Cannot believe my ‘Bug’ is going to be 3!
It’s amazing how big my boys are getting. The youngest boy gets-hand-me-downs. The oldest gets shopped for. This evening I went shopping and God was SO good to me! 🙂 Everything fits my son really well and he LOVES getting clothes. Again, it almost takes my breath away to see how big he’s gotten. I really think my oldest boy is going to be a mirror of his daddy. 🙂
And I was surprised to find that we have NO sandals that fit our nearly 3 year old girl. I found some inexpensive ones this evening that fit her sweet feet just fine. She was thrilled with that as well. I love successful shopping!
I’ve been enjoying the sunshine, and enjoying my oldest daughter’s good mood over the last two days. I’m not going to say that the handful of changes we’re trying with her is doing anything BIG. I am really just enjoying the moment. The truth is…it is almost painful for me to imagine what it would be like if she could be like this long term. I’ve longed for that and prayed for it for years now. Yes, I can say years, because it’s been that long. But, I know better (at least in this situation to put my hope into anything, but Christ.) I don’t draw my source of strength from anything in this world. My hope is eternal. BUT! 🙂 How wonderful it would be to see my daughter feeling better. Oh how that would affect her and how that would affect the rest of our family. Sigh…but I shouldn’t let my thoughts linger here too long.
Make My Days Count 