I love reading these posts at other blogs because it makes me feel “normal” or at least like I’m not the only crazy one out there.  Head over to MckMama’s blog to read more.  Happy Laughing!

If you lived in my house, you may hear me saying…

“If you need to poop, please get back on the potty.  If you get down and poop in your pants, there will be a consequence.  Please do not dip your bottom in the toilet water.”

“Please don’t sit on my head.  That would be fabulous.”

“Mommy’s sleeping right now.  Give me 4 more minutes.  Then I’ll help you.”

“Mia, we cannot be emotionally attached to bows.”

“The toilet rim is not a drum. Please stop and go wash your hands.”

“No, we cannot go to the rainforest right now. Because it’s too far away…that’s why.”

What have you caught coming out of your mouth lately?

I love Legos and all the educational opportunities they provide.  I love the creativity they inspire.  I love that they don’t need batteries.  I get paid to play with Legos.  Robotic Legos.  (Don’t hate me too much).  So I often have Legos on the brain.

PJ needs things to keep his brain busy.  I adapted an idea from www.legoeducation.com and came up with his new favorite brain game.

Gather the following Lego bricks…

Whites
1–1×6
2–2×2
1–2×4
1–2×8

Reds
2–1×2
5–2×2
4–2×4
1–2×10

Yellows
4–2×4
1–2×3
2–2×2
3–1×2

Greens
1–1×2
3–2×2

Blues
1–2×2
5–2×4
1–2×10

Grays
2–1×2
1–1×8

Print out this picture.

See how long it takes your child to arrange the Legos to match the picture.

Notes:

1. There are probably more than one solution.  Contact me if you want a picture of my solution.
2.  This is probably best for children 6 and older.
3. PJ has a flat 16×16 base that he works on.  That’s how big the above picture is.
4. If you don’t have all the bricks I listed, just make up your own.  I used excel to make my diagram.  
5. To make it easier, print out the gridlines or make it smaller.  That way younger siblings can play, too.
6. Ignore the misalignment of the blue block with the reds in the bottom right.  That’s my pdf printer acting funny.

When I say, “Move!” it really means, “Get up and get out of my way, now!”  It does not mean scooch two inches or just wiggle your body.

When I say, “Dinneris ready,” it means, “Stop what you are doing, wash your hands, and report to the table.”  It does not mean continue playing and report when you feel like it.

Just so we’re clear.

When Garmin and TomTom made GPS technology available to the general population, they simply thought they were helping people find their way.  Little did they know that the palm-sized, 8 oz. electronic device would change family vacations forever.  With large, easy-to-read displays that update estimated arrival time and time to destination, parents can now defer whining children to the LCD display hanging from the windshield. 

Now the big question is how long before we start telling stories that go something like this…

“When I was a kid, we drove to places without any idea where we were going.  Sometimes we used these paper things called maps and we always had to ask, ‘Are we there yet?’”

I’ve found there’s a common thread in my childrearing philosophy…start early.

Here are some examples:

You travel a lot with your kids.  Any advice?
Start early.  Our kids started travelling (4-6 hour car rides) at age 2-4 weeks.  We travel frequently, and they don’t know any other way.  Sure they ask “Are we there yet?” from time to time but generally they are good sports about it.

How did you potty train your kids?
First, you should know that I define potty trained as being able to wear underwear during the day.  For my kids (all three) that meant when they could tell me they needed to poop and could hold their bladder for at least an hour.  The older two were out of diapers by 2 1/2 but it took about a year before I didn’t have to remind them to go pee every so often. 
So back to the advice.  Start early before your child hits “terrible twos” and has an opinion about the potty.  We started at around 18 months with storytime on the potty after dinner.  We reserved the favorite book for potty time.  If he peed during that time, it was great and we made a big deal about it.  If not, we moved on with the rest of the bedtime routine.  For us, the key is getting the kids to be able to pee-on-demand.

You’re doing what with your kids!?!? My kids would never sit still at a restaurant.
We did not adjust our life much when our kids came.  Mostly we kept doing what we loved and made small adjustments so we could do it with our kids.  They don’t eat out at 5 stars or anything but they all know (or are learning) how to look at a server in the eye and politely order their meal and how to behave when eating in public.  We try to stick to places with timely service, kids menus with crayons, and already noisy atmospheres.  I keep a couple tricks in the backpack as well…McDonalds toys, extra paper and crayons, etc.

I love how helpful your kids are. 
They have their good and bad moments but generally they are excited to help.  It may be a personality thing but it also might be because we have always made helping seem like a privilege instead of a chore from an early age.  I think it’s a reverse psychology thing.  They start asking if they can help do whatever I’m doing (dusting, emptying the dishwashing, vacuuming, mopping, etc.) and I pretend they’re too young.  Then “give in” telling them they have to follow directions to keep their cleaning privilege.  Having cool gadgets for cleaning helps too.

Would you come to my house and teach my 16 year old how to like sushi?
Ummmm…no.  My kids like vegetable rolls because it’s been part of their diet since they could chew (and we dip in a lot of soy sauce).  Generally speaking, the earlier you introduce a variety of food (age-appropriate, of course) the more likely you’ll raise a child who likes a variety and is more willing to try new stuff.  This has not been as true for our oldest (but he still eats sushi).  I also am not in the habit of cooking separate “kid meals” at our house.  I’ve been known to make some adjustments for the kids (like turning baked potatoes into Irish Nachos or chili into loaded nachos) but not completely separate meals.

I can’t believe how well behaved your children were in church this morning.  My kids could never do that.
I beg to differ.  Again, have you met Ty?  Anyway, we decided when PJ was little that Sunday morning worship was going to be a family activity.  It is important to us that the kids see us worshipping and see it as a family activity.  Sitting through church is the only thing they’ve ever known.  Just a note–we’re not necessarily against Sunday School and have used it when there was a Bible Study during another service we wanted to attend.  Does it take effort? Yup.  Are they distracting sometimes? Yup.  But overall they do a great job and I believe it’s because we started early.

I’m sure I could think of more examples but you get the idea.  Anything you started early?

I talked to a friend today who was feeling guilty for constantly asking for child rearing advice like she lacked an instinct that everyone else had inherently.  She’s actually a nanny for a little boy.  I reassured her that the only way she was going to learn was to ask and that parenting was a learned skill not an instinctive one.  It is isn’t it?

I figure it’s kind of like cooking.  While some folks seemed born to create culinary masterpieces, everyone can learn to cook at least the basics.  Similar to parenting, cooking is best learned apprentice-style.  (Actually most things are probably best learned that way.)  But when was the last time you heard of a sous parent or a parent de partie?  I think the closest to apprenticeships in parenting are babysitters and nannies. 

Actually that’s wrong.  We’ve all served parenting apprenticeships under our own parents (or whoever raised us).  We observed and experienced years of parenting as it was played out in our lives and the lives of our siblings.  I happened to be fortunate enough to admire my parents greatly and gleaned a lot of my parenting wisdom from them.  But learning our parenting from our parents can be a risky thing.  If a parent without a great parenting “toolbox” raises a bunch of kids, those kids leave home with less-than-adequate toolboxes, and so the cycle continues.

Probably we (parents) should all be perpetual students when it comes to parenting–seeking out advice from and surrounding ourselves with parents we admire and being proactive about educating ourselves through books, radio programs, and other media.  Otherwise we become victims of the parenting cycle–good or bad.

I think it’s important to decide how you want to parent rather than parenting by habit or because “that’s the way I was raised.”  The great thing?  You can always decide to parent differently if what you’re doing isn’t working.  So no pressure.

What about you? Have you (and your spouse) made a conscious decision on how to parent?  Is it different than how you were parented?  Where do you seek parenting resources (since it’s obviously not the local college)?

Back in February, we had a couple chances to celebrate the Asian New Year with other adoptive families.  At one celebration the kids had a chance to make a simple version of Yut-nori. 

It’s a great activity because
{one} it’s fun to make
and
{two} it’s fun to play.

You can find the directions for making and playing here.

Here’s what Mia’s looks like.

PJ’s was much more complicated with a chutes and ladders type feel. Shocker, huh?

He was adamant that he wanted to lose this tooth in school because then he would get a special sticker and a tooth necklace.  During spring break and every weekend, we were adamant that he was going to swallow it in his sleep if he didn’t pull it out soon.

But lo and behold, he pulled it off out (pun intended) at school on Monday. 

If we believed in the Tooth Fairy, this is the letter she may have left Tuesday night.

Dear PJ,

I saw your note last night. 

Since I didn’t have your other teeth to return, I decided to come back tonight with the whole package (teeth and money).
Actually, that would be a lie.  I simply forgot to come.  As you may be aware, I am a very busy woman.  The rate of tooth loss this spring has been astronomical and you just fell off my radar.  Please forgive me. 
While I’m being honest, I must confess I have no idea where those other two teeth you requested are.  If I come across them, I’ll let you know.

Love,

The Tooth Fairy

When I signed Mia up, I envisioned her wearing her Barbie Island Princess costume since it is really the only character princess outfit she has.  When it came time to get dolled up for the party, she informed me that the sleeves on that dress bothered her.  While we deliberated over whether she should choose another, non-character dress or I should try to fix the sleeves on the Barbie costume, Nana presented Mia with an early birthday present–a Tinkerbell costume. 

Perfect.

She proceeded to ready herself and even got a princess updo.

—————————————

Fast forward 15 minutes and we’re driving to the library.

Me: Wow, Nana really saved the day.

Mia: No she didn’t.

Me:  Well, she had that Tinkerbell outfit for you to wear.

Mia: I know, but she didn’t save the day.

Me: Well I think that was pretty kind of her to give that to you.  [At this point, I'm getting a little annoyed that she seems less than appreciative of Nana's gesture.]

Mia:  I know, but there are still other people with problems, Mom.

It’s dawning on me that I don’t give my kids nearly enough credit.

Me: You’re absolutely right.  That’s thoughtful of you to think of others.  Let’s just say Nana saved your day.

Mia: Okay.

Yesterday I was beyond excited when Patrick discovered last year’s dill had seeded and was popping up all over the garden.  I’m hoping to make refrigerator pickles again (which call for a lot of dill) and it will be one less herb plant I have to buy!  Who knew little green sprouts could be the source of so much joy?

I also get excited when I eye up a pot of leftovers and come out of the tupperware drawer with not only a matching top and bottom but a container that’s the perfect size for said leftovers.  Is it sad that I consider that one of my talents?

Yup, sometimes it’s the simple things.

What are your simple pleasures?