In honour of Canada Day...I am going to share a song that we wrote about Pamela...which is sung to the tune "O Canada!". For anyone who has a 10 month old, has ever had a 10 month old, or has simply seen a 10 month old...you will relate to this song. Oh...and it is best experienced if sung out loud! Are you ready? Here it is...as inspired by my 11 year old.
**********************************************
Oh Pamela!
What are you eating now?
Toothpaste or lint? Or Livy's plastic cow?
With sticky hands you climb the stairs,
And pull out underwear!
But coming down,
Oh Pamela, you give us quite a scare!
Don't eat the tacks, OUCH that must have hurt!
Oh Pamela, put down that clump of dirt!
Oh Pamela, put down that clump of dirt!!!!!!
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HAPPY CANADA DAY!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
The First "Tidy Time"
In a previous post I talked about having house zones that my children are responsible to keep clean during the summer. Today...being the first day of summer...I pulled out my pretty purple sheet revealing the rotation schedule! Fun fun!
Thankfully, my girls all tidied up their zones without a single complaint! No whining...no arguing... just simple compliance. It was quite wonderful and of course I began wondering why I hadn't started this months earlier when I first got the idea!
Then I announced it was "Tidy Time" again just before supper. I should have predicted this one particular daughter would announce "But we cleaned them this morning!"
Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha! She said this while standing in the room with toys strewn about.
Classic.
Thankfully, my girls all tidied up their zones without a single complaint! No whining...no arguing... just simple compliance. It was quite wonderful and of course I began wondering why I hadn't started this months earlier when I first got the idea!
Then I announced it was "Tidy Time" again just before supper. I should have predicted this one particular daughter would announce "But we cleaned them this morning!"
Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha! She said this while standing in the room with toys strewn about.
Classic.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
The "Other" Room
Our house is a 4 level split. The bottom level, although it has two semi-finished rooms, has no windows. One room is our food storage room, and the other is our VCR&TV, Photos & Scrap booking Supplies, games, and storage room. Sounds pretty doesn't it?
Every once in a while I clean up down there, and I announce to the girls that it is NOT a playroom. That means don't take any toys down there. It also means DON'T PLAY DOWN THERE! It seems this request always falls on deaf ears. I admit I don't go down there very often...but this morning I did.
You know what I found? A tent that takes up 3/4 of the room.
Do you know how many blankets that requires? Four.
You know what I did? Turned around and walked away.
I have to admit though, Natasha's stuffed bunny looking out from an opening in the tent was awfully cute.
Every once in a while I clean up down there, and I announce to the girls that it is NOT a playroom. That means don't take any toys down there. It also means DON'T PLAY DOWN THERE! It seems this request always falls on deaf ears. I admit I don't go down there very often...but this morning I did.
You know what I found? A tent that takes up 3/4 of the room.
Do you know how many blankets that requires? Four.
You know what I did? Turned around and walked away.
I have to admit though, Natasha's stuffed bunny looking out from an opening in the tent was awfully cute.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Child Slave Labour...My Favorite Part of Summer!
Training my kids to be consistently involved in doing chores has been a struggle for me. However, about a year ago we learned the value of simplicity. The girls kept leaving our upright freezer door open...which is REALLY bad! So in a fit of frustration, I said to the girls, "The next one who leaves the freezer door open will do dishes FOR A WEEK!" At that point...I really hadn't required them to do ANY dishes...so this was a big deal. Well...only a day or two later...one of my darling daughters left the door open. Turned out to be such a blessing! For one week she had to unload the dishwasher...whenever it needed it. And because it was just expected...she never complained! Our first successful chore for the 2 oldest girls was born! They now alternate weeks and have become so proficient at it!
I am now ready to take this to the next level!!! This summer, my 3 oldest will each have "zones" of the house they are responsible for. Their job will be to keep it tidy for a week. This will likely require a couple of "tidy sessions" during the day, and I have NO PROBLEM telling them when it is "Tidy Time". Zone #1 is unloading the dishwasher and the Front Hall area. Zone #2 is the Living/Dining Room Area. And Zone #3 is the Playroom.
Can I just say that I am so freakin' excited to have a clean up schedule that the girls can't argue over?!?! No more (Insert whiney voice.) "But I want to do the front entrance!"
This is going to be a GREAT summer!!!!!
I am now ready to take this to the next level!!! This summer, my 3 oldest will each have "zones" of the house they are responsible for. Their job will be to keep it tidy for a week. This will likely require a couple of "tidy sessions" during the day, and I have NO PROBLEM telling them when it is "Tidy Time". Zone #1 is unloading the dishwasher and the Front Hall area. Zone #2 is the Living/Dining Room Area. And Zone #3 is the Playroom.
Can I just say that I am so freakin' excited to have a clean up schedule that the girls can't argue over?!?! No more (Insert whiney voice.) "But I want to do the front entrance!"
This is going to be a GREAT summer!!!!!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Summer Ideas!
This summer is the first summer in a few years that I am not pregnant and I don't have an infant! Woohoo! What that means is I actually have a little bit of energy and motivation to PLAN for the summer and what I am going to do with the kids. Now, I don't have my whole summer mapped out...but I am coming up with a few ideas that I really like.
First of all...I am anticipating a cold and rainy summer. The month of June has been AWFUL and to prevent myself from being overly disappointed...I am just going to anticipate that it is going to be a summer full of lousy weather. The worst part of rainy weather is all of the kids being cooped up in the house...so I've decided to pre-plan a variety of rainy day activities that I can pull out when the kids are stuck inside, and they start getting bored, and they are on the verge of becoming miserable. The key here is that they are pre-planned, pre-bought, and ready to pull out at a moments notice. I know myself...and know that this is the only way to make it work for me!
So here are a few of my Rainy Day Activities that I've started putting together:
1. Build a City - I am collecting boxes and containers of all shapes and sizes and am going to have the girls build a city in our living room. I have no idea if they are going to like this idea or not... but it has the potential to entertain them for HOURS!!!!!!!! And I love the sound of that! So they will take a cereal box, undo it at it's seams and turn it inside out and re-tape it...and then they can draw windows...cut out doors...and do what they want with it. The idea sounds great in my head...but not sure how the implementation is going to pan out.
2. Summer Scrapbooks - This one requires a little pre-thought from me throughout the summer...but I am going to take pictures of all the things they are doing throughout the summer, and on the rainy days they can pull out their scrapbooks (I bought inexpensive ones for this purpose) they they can journal/draw/paste pictures about what they are doind throughout the summer. As long as I have the pictures printed...all other resources are easily accessible. It's just getting the pictures printed that will be key!!!
3. Wii Tournament - My girls would go ga-ga if I let them play the Wii for more than 60 minutes in a day! And to have ME suggest we play some games together would probably make their rainy day a lot brighter!
4. Lego Projects - I haven't looked this up yet, but I remember seeing the Lego website has fun Family Game ideas to do with Lego...so I am going to have some of those up my sleeve. We have a huge bin of lego that we got for Christmas...and this would be a great way to utilize it!
5. Make Puppets and put on a Show - I am going to buy a bunch of tube socks...and then the girls can make sock puppets! This can also be done with paper bags. With the help of felts, crafting supplies, and their extensive imaginations...I can't wait to see what they come up with! And a natural place for them to go after making the puppets is to practice and put on a puppet show! Can you say HOURS OF ENTERTAINMENT?!?!?
6. Paint a Masterpiece - I am going to buy those painters canvas items they have at Dollarama (so much more fun than just paper) and have the girls paint masterpieces! Then find a place to display them in our home.
These are just some of my ideas so far. My plan is to have a great list of things to do on HOT days, COOL day,s and RAINY days so that I'm not constantly trying to "think" of ideas (which I am horrible at doing on the spot). I feel that this would help make summer a little more special and eventful for my girls...especially since we aren't going anywhere grand this year!
If you have any great ideas of how to make the summer for fun PLEASE let me know!
First of all...I am anticipating a cold and rainy summer. The month of June has been AWFUL and to prevent myself from being overly disappointed...I am just going to anticipate that it is going to be a summer full of lousy weather. The worst part of rainy weather is all of the kids being cooped up in the house...so I've decided to pre-plan a variety of rainy day activities that I can pull out when the kids are stuck inside, and they start getting bored, and they are on the verge of becoming miserable. The key here is that they are pre-planned, pre-bought, and ready to pull out at a moments notice. I know myself...and know that this is the only way to make it work for me!
So here are a few of my Rainy Day Activities that I've started putting together:
1. Build a City - I am collecting boxes and containers of all shapes and sizes and am going to have the girls build a city in our living room. I have no idea if they are going to like this idea or not... but it has the potential to entertain them for HOURS!!!!!!!! And I love the sound of that! So they will take a cereal box, undo it at it's seams and turn it inside out and re-tape it...and then they can draw windows...cut out doors...and do what they want with it. The idea sounds great in my head...but not sure how the implementation is going to pan out.
2. Summer Scrapbooks - This one requires a little pre-thought from me throughout the summer...but I am going to take pictures of all the things they are doing throughout the summer, and on the rainy days they can pull out their scrapbooks (I bought inexpensive ones for this purpose) they they can journal/draw/paste pictures about what they are doind throughout the summer. As long as I have the pictures printed...all other resources are easily accessible. It's just getting the pictures printed that will be key!!!
3. Wii Tournament - My girls would go ga-ga if I let them play the Wii for more than 60 minutes in a day! And to have ME suggest we play some games together would probably make their rainy day a lot brighter!
4. Lego Projects - I haven't looked this up yet, but I remember seeing the Lego website has fun Family Game ideas to do with Lego...so I am going to have some of those up my sleeve. We have a huge bin of lego that we got for Christmas...and this would be a great way to utilize it!
5. Make Puppets and put on a Show - I am going to buy a bunch of tube socks...and then the girls can make sock puppets! This can also be done with paper bags. With the help of felts, crafting supplies, and their extensive imaginations...I can't wait to see what they come up with! And a natural place for them to go after making the puppets is to practice and put on a puppet show! Can you say HOURS OF ENTERTAINMENT?!?!?
6. Paint a Masterpiece - I am going to buy those painters canvas items they have at Dollarama (so much more fun than just paper) and have the girls paint masterpieces! Then find a place to display them in our home.
These are just some of my ideas so far. My plan is to have a great list of things to do on HOT days, COOL day,s and RAINY days so that I'm not constantly trying to "think" of ideas (which I am horrible at doing on the spot). I feel that this would help make summer a little more special and eventful for my girls...especially since we aren't going anywhere grand this year!
If you have any great ideas of how to make the summer for fun PLEASE let me know!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Band Concerts
Laura had her band concert tonight. She was soooooooooooooo excited about it and insisted the whole family attend...EVEN her sick toddler sister. I admit I was resistant because Olivia has had a fever and has been fussy all day. I am SO GLAD that Laura convinced me to take her anyway! Olivia was thrilled to see Laura in the band on the stage, and a couple of times yelled out while waving "Hi Wauwa!" It was SO FREAKIN' ADORABLE!
Sometimes I think that my attendance at a child's function is enough. I am learning that it's not. Having both parents and as many siblings as possible celebrating a child's accomplishment is so much better than just mom!
(PS - Please remind me of this post the next time I need to haul all four of my children to go watch the 5th perform in some way.)
Sometimes I think that my attendance at a child's function is enough. I am learning that it's not. Having both parents and as many siblings as possible celebrating a child's accomplishment is so much better than just mom!
(PS - Please remind me of this post the next time I need to haul all four of my children to go watch the 5th perform in some way.)
Friday, June 10, 2011
The Soother Fairy
When my oldest daughter (who is now 11) was 3 years old, we needed to wean her from her soother. By that time she only ever used it in bed, but the time had come to get rid of it for good. I do not know where I had gotten the idea from, but we decided to arrange a visit from the Soother Fairy. We talked it up nice and good for a week or so, and then one night the Soother Fairy magically transformed her soother into a movie! Surprisingly...it worked! She didn't need it after that!
My second daughter had a different story. One night she lost her soother behind her bed, and I was too tired/lazy to look for it, so I told her we'd look for it in the morning. She said "Okay." Then she woke up in the morning and we forgot about it until it was bedtime again...and so I told her we'd look in the morning again...and she said "Okay." We did this for a few nights, and voila, soother habit was gone!
Daughter #3 didn't even use a soother. She sucked her fingers. Luckily she only ever sucked her fingers if she was holding her blanket...so all we had to do was convince her to go without her blanket for a couple of weeks. That is a post all on it's own. But it worked!
Child #4 has just begun the weaning process. Thanks to the dental hygienist taking a quick look in her mouth, she struck fear into my heart that Olivia's teeth will be RUINED if I don't wean her off her soother IMMEDIATELY! Luckily, I came to my senses and realized she will need extensive orthodontic work no matter what she does...so I resisted the urge to go cold turkey with the soother. I did, however, decide it was time to limit the soother to just her bed. If she is sad, and wants her soother, all she has to do is go to her bed until she feels better. As expected, the first half of the day was filled with tears, tantrums, screaming, and kicking...and repeatedly taking her soother back to her room. I felt like a broken record, "The soother stays IN your bed. You can have it as long as you are IN your bed. However, you have to leave it IN your bed when you come out." I was shocked when, after her nap, she left her soother AND her blanket in her bed...on the same day I started the process! Woohoo! Now we have no issues with her asking for her soother unless it is nap time or bedtime, and she even went the entire day of church WITHOUT asking for it! I love it when training goes this smoothly!
Now...if only I could convince Pamela to leave her thumb in her bed.
My second daughter had a different story. One night she lost her soother behind her bed, and I was too tired/lazy to look for it, so I told her we'd look for it in the morning. She said "Okay." Then she woke up in the morning and we forgot about it until it was bedtime again...and so I told her we'd look in the morning again...and she said "Okay." We did this for a few nights, and voila, soother habit was gone!
Daughter #3 didn't even use a soother. She sucked her fingers. Luckily she only ever sucked her fingers if she was holding her blanket...so all we had to do was convince her to go without her blanket for a couple of weeks. That is a post all on it's own. But it worked!
Child #4 has just begun the weaning process. Thanks to the dental hygienist taking a quick look in her mouth, she struck fear into my heart that Olivia's teeth will be RUINED if I don't wean her off her soother IMMEDIATELY! Luckily, I came to my senses and realized she will need extensive orthodontic work no matter what she does...so I resisted the urge to go cold turkey with the soother. I did, however, decide it was time to limit the soother to just her bed. If she is sad, and wants her soother, all she has to do is go to her bed until she feels better. As expected, the first half of the day was filled with tears, tantrums, screaming, and kicking...and repeatedly taking her soother back to her room. I felt like a broken record, "The soother stays IN your bed. You can have it as long as you are IN your bed. However, you have to leave it IN your bed when you come out." I was shocked when, after her nap, she left her soother AND her blanket in her bed...on the same day I started the process! Woohoo! Now we have no issues with her asking for her soother unless it is nap time or bedtime, and she even went the entire day of church WITHOUT asking for it! I love it when training goes this smoothly!
Now...if only I could convince Pamela to leave her thumb in her bed.
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