raisegoodkids

We have a summer of birthdays. Sam and I share the same birthday in July and Max’s birthday is later in the month. I have started to think about birthday party plans. We will have one big party around mid-July. Theme is unknown so far, but considering Sam’s love for dinosaurs, I’m sure they will be included.

I’m also excited for Sam to see 4th of July fireworks. We haven’t brought him to a fireworks celebration yet, so it will be interesting to see if he enjoys them or not. I’m worried about bringing Baby Max, though. He startles easily and doesn’t care for loud noises at all. He may need to stay at home.

We also have plans to view tractor and car shows and even go to a dirt track race. The race is something my husband has been wanting to take Sam to since he was born and he may finally be big enough to enjoy it now. We can’t forget the ear protectors!

I’m sure a trip to the zoo and aquarium will also be in the plans. Along with building a swing set and some kiddie pool time. We have the sunscreen and bug spray readily available by the front door so we can get the most out of our summer fun!

This really bothers me. I am a busy mom of two boys and I still find time to not only write thank you notes, but my oldest (2 years old) often creates his own thank you notes to send out. So, why is it that we never receive any thank you notes from anyone else? We have attended weddings and given nice and expensive gifts, but we never received a thank you. We have attended both bridal and baby showers and again given nice and expensive gifts, but never received a thank you. Honestly, I have to say that because of this I have quit wasting my money and my time and have chosen not to participate in some of these events. Mostly those in which I don’t really know the person very well and don’t see them very often. But why should I spend my time picking out a gift, my money buying a gift, and my time attending an event when the people are so inappreciative that they can’t even send a simple “Thanks” my way?

It sometimes makes me wonder, like at a wedding where they don’t open gifts until later, if they even received the gift. I mean if you received a nice luggage set for your wedding would you forget to send a thank you? Or if you received a DVD player would you not send a thank you? Or how about a baby bath tub complete with toys? These are just a few examples of gifts we have given, but never heard one little thank you from the recipients of these gifts. Strange, though, how I make sure that my toddler colors a picture and I find time to write a thank you for something as small as a tub of playdough or some matchbox cars.

The saying goes, “It’s the thought that counts”, well that can go the other way, too. It’s the thought that the person took to make sure that you know that they appreciated the gift and your attendance at an event.

 While I’m talking about thank you notes, here are some ideas for helping your children create their own thank you notes:

* Have your child paint on one side of a piece of paper, fold paper in half and their art becomes the outside of the card. Then, you (if your child is too young) can write a little note inside and have your child “sign” his name to it.

* My son’s 2nd birthday had a zoo theme, so I had him color & paint various zoo pictures. I cut them out and glued them onto construction paper and then I wrote the note on the back of the picture.

* Stickers make good decorations for cards.

* Take a picture of your child with the gift and simply write “Thanks” on the note.

* Or buy a package of thank you cards at the store and write the note.

It really isn’t that hard and it really is not that time consuming. The lack of appreciation in our society is getting a little ridiculous. Come on people, isn’t it worth it to lift someone’s spirits a little with a simple “thank you”?

1.) Spring collage - cut out magazine pictures of flowers and plants

2.) Coffee filter flowers - color white coffee filter with markers, spray with water, allow to dry then glue to construction paper, draw a stem, and complete picture by drawing more to make a Spring scene

3.) Flower sort - cut out magazine pictures of various flowers of different colors, sort by same colors

4.) Trees - paint hands and part of forearm with brown paint, press onto paper, dot green paint leaves across finger branches

5.) Sun catchers - cut wax paper into Spring shapes (flowers, bunnies, butterflies), you will need two cutouts each, sprinkle crayon shavings onto one shape, press the other shape on top, lay towel on top of wax paper and then iron to melt the crayon shavings

6.) Hand and feet flowers - paint handprints and footprints, press onto paper, draw stems, and finish Spring scene

7.) Cloud pictures - on blue construction paper spread white paint on 1/2 of page, fold paper over, press and open, what does your cloud look like, encourage your child to use his imagination and come up with what the cloud could be

8.) Easter Bunny story - help your child come up with a story about the Easter Bunny, how does he make his Easter Eggs, where does he go, what does he eat, what does he do after he hides all of his Easter Eggs

9.) Tissue paper eggs - spray water on paper egg cutout, press small pieces of tissue paper onto wet paper, spray with water again and allow to dry, remove tissue paper after egg has dried completely

10.) Rhymes:

Springing Up! (to I’m A Little Teapot) - I’m a little seed down in the ground. There’s dirt on top of me and all around. But I want to grow. So I make a sprout: Then I push, and I push - till I spring right out!

Raindrops - The sun peeks out as the clouds drift by. Raindrops falling from the sky. Little puddles can be found dancing on the wet, wet ground.

Easter Bunny - Easter bunny wiggle nose. Easter bunny touch your toes. Easter bunny stretch up tall. Easter bunny go down small. Easter bunny hop around. Easter bunny pat the ground. Easter bunny jump up high. Easter bunny wave good-bye.

I have started a new adventure. This morning I started some volunteer work for a local animal shelter. I will be working with them on fundraising and promotional ideas, as well as, assisting with maintenance and feeding of the animals and working in their thrift store. I am excited.

This morning I was shown around the shelter and I helped feed and clean the cat houses. It was very sad to hear all the stories about pets being given up for various reasons: owner is in the hospital or nursing home, family lost their home, or the dog was “too jumpy”. Seriously, the dog was too jumpy. Later in the week, I will be shown around the thrift store and learn the ins and outs of it’s operation.

My hope is that when Sam gets to be a little bit bigger and Max gets much bigger, they can help me work at the shelter. They can help put food in the kitty bowls and possibly draw attention to the store with their cuteness. Instead of “How much is the doggy in the window?” it could be “How much are the little boys in the window?”

It is important to not always think about yourself and I hope that my children will learn that also. If it is true that children learn by example, then I hope they will learn to take care of others just by watching us.

We awoke this morning to find a beautiful day waiting for us. Sam got dressed and was outside to play at 8:00 this morning. He did not return inside until I called him for lunch.

He ran in the yard, dug in the dirt, and pointed out the birds in the sky. One of his favorite activities, though, was doggie torture. He would start at the top driveway, call the dogs, and pet them a little bit. Then, he would run around the front of the house to the lower driveway and call the dogs down there. He would pet them a bit and then run back to the top driveway. He repeated this activity off and on all morning long. I call this doggie torture because they actually had to move and couldn’t just lay in the yard sunning themselves. Sam also enjoyed going down to the basement entrance, where my Grandmother lives, knocking on her door and then hiding in hopes of trying to scare her when she opened the door. He really found this rather hilarious! I’m not sure if she was as amused, though.

I had to call Sam in for lunch and then we fought over taking a nap. He cried. He said, “No, I sit on couch.” I responded by saying that he really needed to take a nap. He responded with, “No, I get up.” I tried explaining to him that he could not get up when he never went to sleep. He didn’t understand that concept. I finally did get him into his bed and he’s now having a good rest. I wonder what sorts of fun he has in store for us this afternoon.

Part I

One month after my husband and I were married, I had my annual OB/GYN appointment. Since we were not preventing a pregnancy from occurring, I decided that I would take a pregnancy test that morning. Not really thinking anything about it, just more of a “What if”. I woke up early that morning, took the test, read the results as negative, and went back to bed. Oh well, I wasn’t really expecting it to happen that quickly. About an hour later, my husband woke up and went to the bathroom. He immediately came back to the bedroom, laid down next to me, started kissing me and rubbing my belly. I woke up and immediately asked him what he was doing. He said that he was just happy because we were going to have a baby. Half asleep and very confused, I responded with a big, “What?” He repeated that we were going to have a baby. I immediately corrected him and told him that the test was negative. He followed by correcting me and saying that it was positive. So, we got up together and went to the bathroom. We both looked at the test stick and saw one line and one very, very, very faint second line. What does that mean? So, we read the directions. Yes, it is positive even if the second line is very faint. We’re going to have a baby!!

Later that day, I went to the doctor and told the nurse that I had taken a pregnancy test that morning and it was positive. We were off to the bathroom again to take a confirmation test. Yes, again the second line was very faint, but it was there. I was pregnant. However, upon examining me, the doctor could not pick up on any physical signs of pregnancy. She figured that I was no more than two weeks along and most likely only about a week along. She expressed her shock and amazement in the fact that the pregnancy test even gave a positive result at that point.

We scheduled another appointment for six weeks later. This appointment gave me the first clear confirmation, other than the nausea and complete exhaustion, that I was actually pregnant. We had our first ultrasound on this day and saw our little baby, gender unknown, for the first time. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.

To be continued….

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We enjoyed some time at the local high school this morning. The FFA (future farmers of america) sponsored a barnyard day. Students brought in their farm animals and shared stories on how to take care of the animals and what they can be used for. There was a calf and ponies, chickens, goats, pigs, bunnies, and horses. I cannot forget that there was also a big green tractor.

 We invited my father (Gramps) along with us and he took Sam around to see all the animals, while I hung back with Baby Max in the stroller. Sam did like to look at the animals, but he kept his distance. He had offers to sit on the ponies back, but he refused. He would not even touch or pet any of the animals. He liked the chickens the best. Well, he actually liked the tractor the best. He took two trips to see the tractor. He waited in line so patiently and held Gramps’s hand while they waited. He seemed ready to just take off in the tractor and go for a quick cruise around town, all he needed were the keys!

When it was time to leave, of course there were cries of “no”. But we waved good-bye to all the animals and we saved a special good-bye to the tractor. All the way home, Sam talked about the animals and continued to say, “Bye-bye tractor. Bye-bye chickies.”

By the way, I should mention since we had some flirting issues earlier this week, that Sam was well behaved and did not torture any little girls with scary monster noises!

Last night’s Ash Wednesday service began around the same time we would have eaten dinner and lasted through all of the normal bedtime rituals and preparation. I offered my two-year-old dinner before we left, but he just wasn’t hungry. Plus, we had been playing outside and he wasn’t ready to be done with his outdoor adventures. So, I gave up on dinner and concentrated on getting him to use the potty before we left. It was a struggle to get him inside and to the bathroom. He is a boy, maybe I should have just let him pee on a bush. We probably would not have had all the drama and conflict! Finally, he did go to the bathroom and then we were off to mass.

We entered the church plenty early and within just a few minutes Sam started acting up. Now, he is normally very well-behaved in church. He enjoys looking at the song books and around at all the people and pictures. But this evening, whether it be from hunger and low blood sugar or just out of being tired, he was horrible. He started jumping on the kneeler and for some reason decided that he was a monkey. He would laugh and make the monkey “ooh-ooh, ahh-ahh” sound and then laugh some more. Verbal reminders to be quiet and threatening to remove him from church did not work. The little-boy-turned-monkey behavior continued until people in front of us started to turn around to see who was the culprit of the strange noises. My husband finally removed him from church, took him outside, and reminded him to sit and listen and be quiet. After a few minutes, they returned and so did the monkey. Again, he was reminded to be quiet. Did he listen? Of course not. My husband whispered in his ear that if he didn’t sit quietly and listen he was just going to take him home. The monkey continued and, once again, Sam was removed from church. This time my husband actually took him to the car and proceeded to strap him into the car seat. Afterall, he was told that he had to go home and go to bed if he continued to act up. Sam screamed and screamed, “No, mom-mom. No, I want mom-mom.” After a few minutes, he settled down and once again it was explained to him that if he went back into the building he would sit quietly, listen, and behave. They returned. I could tell that Sam had been crying - his eyes and cheeks were red and watery. However, he sat in the pew and did not move. He stood when everyone else stood. He sang when the music played. It was a miracle! I witnessed a miracle! The monkey had been removed from my son’s body and his sweet personality returned. The rest of the service was uneventful, but as we walked out we had several people ask us about the monkey which had taken over my son’s body. It was kind of embarassing, but at least the possession was over!

I know, you’re probably thinking, “Idiot. Of course your son is a boy. What else would he be?” So, let me explain.

Today we participated in a playgroup sponsored by our Parents As Teachers organization. Sam is one of the few boys in the playgroup, I think there may have been two other boys, among a sea of girls. Well, let me say, he loves girls. Not just any girl, but older girls. Oh my, what troubles this may bring in the future! Now, I personally think that my son is adorable and one of the most handsome boys around, plus he is oozing charm. He has the ability to wrap anyone around his little finger and he knows this, too. I guess being one of the only boys in the group assists him on his mission to melt women’s hearts. It’s funny how I can see him as being a complete terrorizer while other women and girls see him as a cute and humorous little boy.

Sam started out by “assisting” the girls while they cooked in the play kitchen. Sam’s idea of help is really about the complete opposite of what the actual definition of help is. He helped by taking the food and dishes and banging them together - typical boy style. After he was bored with this and the girls quit squealing and laughing at him he moved onto better things. An older girl was writing her ABC’s on the chalkboard and, once again, Sam decided he would “assist” her in her writing. He grabbed a piece of chalk and started drawing lines and circles around her letters and the more that she protested to him being there, the more drawing he did until he had actually pretty much taken over the entire chalkboard. His closing act, which I must say that he saved the best for last, involved a piece of pretend bacon from the kitchen. You’re probably wondering what he could possibly do with a piece of bacon. Well, he turned one simple and innocent piece of bacon into a Bacon Monster. He started chasing girls with this piece of bacon, all the while making a growly monster noise. He soon discovered that he could also do this to moms. He would shake his Bacon Monster in front of their faces, growl, and then laugh. The other moms couldn’t get enough. They would gasp and say, “Oh, my” and this would just make Sam laugh more and more.

Like I said, I saw a terrorizer, but everyone else just laughed and played along with these little boy games he had created. I’ve seen this boy come out before, and I continue to catch more and more glimpses of exactly what I’m in store for in the future. It scares me a little. What am I going to do? Especially when his little brother gets a little bit bigger and his boyness comes out, too. I will be outnumbered and very well could lose complete control. Is it too soon to call for help? HELP!!