San Francisco Zoo

We went to the San Francisco Zoo with our good friends to celebrate their daughter's birthday. We were blessed with some beautiful cool weather and a great day. The kids all had a lot of fun and little Eli got a chance to see some animals he had only previously seen in books. He fell in love with the zebras and giraffes and had a great time getting up close to some farm animals. We took a train ride as well which Eli wasn't too sure about. He enjoyed it until the conductor surprised us with bubbles in the tunnel which for some reason freaked Eli out. Oh well, maybe he'll just stay a car/airplane lover!

The girls consider whether or not to actually touch the goat

Ava the Fearless charges forward

Eli figures he'll use the same defense mechanism he uses at home: hiding

Future zoologists

Finally, animals just his size!

Our train ride

Eli was quite concerned over what was happening

The four of us!

Everyone's favorite part, posing with the "animals"

Going green, with worms!

We decided to try our hand at vermicomposting which in layman's terms means feeding worms rotting vegetables and waiting for them to poop them out to fertilize your gardens. I attended a workshop and brought home our worm bin complete with a pound of red wigglers. While Jon hid far, far away we put together our worm bin and put the little guys in their new home. The girls had a great time and its been fascinating watching the process. Next up is planting our vegetable garden in the new raised garden bed that Jon lovingly made for me!

Sisters! Sisters!

Nothing brings me more joy than seeing my children loving and enjoying one another. Of course they have their moments, but overall these little ones really love each other and love being with each other! And I love watching them love!

Jillian and Ava playing dress up

Really, they're holding hands while watching TV

Ava pushing "the baby" around

Our little tap dancer!

Eli's First Birthday

We celebrated Eli's first birthday with family. Eli had an animal themed party complete with a turtle cake. He enjoyed all the attention and the presents but mostly the attention. I can't believe a year has gone by already. What a wonderful addition to our family. Eli brings us so many smiles and so much joy. Happy birthday, Mr. Man!

Eli's first hot rod!

Ava made a birthday card special for Eli!

Happy First Birthday, Little Man!

Eli's turtle cake

Eli enjoying his dairy-free, egg-free, peanut-free banana cake!

All the cousins enjoying cake...or frosting!

Our little guy, all tuckered out

...and the entertainment arrives!

Eli's first birthday gift

Eli received his first birthday gift in the mail from friends Chris, Tanya and Finn in Portland. He was very excited to rip open the bag and find a...box!

So the sisters get involved to show Eli what a birthday gift is and that there is actually something IN the box!

And he is thrilled with the end result. Thank you Auntie Tanya, Uncle Chris and Finny-Finn!

Eli-12 months

Eli waves hello

Eli and his best buddy, Ava

Eli's favorite part of the day--mealtime!

Hey, everyone needs some morning cartoons!

More fun

Jillian enjoying that she can finally reach the pedals on her trike!

Uncle Andrew and Eli

Uncle Andrew and Soon-to-be-Auntie Nataly enjoying time with the kids

Jillian's 3rd Birthday

We have a tradition of having a clown ice cream cone and opening up family gifts on the birthday child's actual birthday. Here is Jillian enjoying her strawberry ice cream!

Jillian with her siblings and cousins

And this is what it looks like when your friends start having babies. We used to have a handful of little ones who came to our birthdays and then they all had two kids...then three...

And here is her rainbow cake. Happy birthday, Jillian!

Postive Ponderings-Part 3

Tool #3
Act, don't talk

The first concept I took from this rule was that its disrespectful to nag, threaten or lecture. I was thinking about this today as I started to yell out to Ava over something. I began to think on how I would feel if someone came at me like that and realized I would completely turn inward and would, honestly, be crushed. We're working on respectful relationships and those rarely include threats and nagging.

Other concepts related include:
Give up counting to three-ACT!
Ask once, then move
Don't ask, tell them what you want done
Make sure you're in the same room before you make requests of children

In my quest for a mutually respectful relationship, I asked Ava how many times she wanted me to ask her to do something. She told me three and so I countered with twice. Once more than Dr. Nelsen recommends. I'm okay with this since it was previously ten to twenty. Ha! I was just happy to make Ava a part of the process so I could remind her it was her idea, not mine, to be asked only twice.

I have also started re-phrasing my requests. Instead of "Ava would you please go brush your teeth" I offer, "Ava brush your teeth and show me when you're done". Asking assumes there is a choice. I'm not offering a choice.

The last concept, being in the same room when making requests, simply insures that the child has indeed heard you and is moving to get it done.

Postive Ponderings--Part 2

Tool #2
Decide what you'll do and do it.

Ah, yes. The infamous "mean what you say and say what you mean". I struggle with this one. I've really tried to focus on what I'm promising is going to happen, good and bad. I've been caught a few times saying things like, "If you don't stop right now you won't get to go to the birthday party!" Really? I'm going to skip a fun time with adults and kids alike because they wouldn't follow through? So I'm getting better about that and creating consequences that I am willing to actually follow through with myself.

This also applies in a positive sense. We use potty rewards, Jelly Belly jelly beans actually. Its so easy for me to postpone the jelly bean distribution but when the kids see that I don't follow through in a positive sense they are more likely to assume I won't follow through in an authoritative sense as well.

This rule also relates to the "mutually respectful relationships" concept Dr. Nelsen speaks of. Its not respectful to promise something (postive or negative) and not follow through. The potential is there for the child to learn that you cannot be relied upon and that your words don't match up with your actions. Children thrive with boundaries and security and what can be more secure than people who follow through?

Homeschooling: 1 point

So I get a kick out of spelling and grammatical errors. You probably wouldn't know it from my blog but hey I'm typing this stream of consciousness with three kids pulling at me...

Anyhow, we were driving by the local elementary school today and there is a HUGE sign on the chain link fence that was probably about 12 feet long by 4 feet wide and it read:

WATCH FOR KID'S PLAYING

There is just a certain irony in the location. Ha!

Can it be climbed? Kicked? Thrown?

Those who argue that there is no difference between the sexes clearly didn't have one of each gender living in their homes. I never would've believed that boys were really that different than girls until Eli entered our lives. This morning was a prime example. Eli climbs. A lot. On everything. Today he climbed onto the top of the kids' chair and then tries to climb the back rungs. I tell him, "Sit on your bottom", and he smiles at me and squats down so that his little cheeks almost touch and then bounces right back up and tries again. He's discovered he can push the kids' chairs against the counter and then climb up the chair and if the drawers are just so can scale those until he reaches his destination. Counter tops, dresser tops and the like are merely plateaus on his journey. He is also starting to walk but the walk isn't as interesting to him as the kicking. I think for him walking is but a means to an end. He wants to kick a ball: soccer balls, baseballs, beach balls. He doesn't care but he wants to kick it and today he discovered batting. He grabbed my kitchen broom and played with it for a while swinging it around, tapping the floor with it. Then he saw his ball. I knew right away by the glimmer in his eye what he was about to do. He picks up the broom and SWINGS it toward the ball making contact and the ball went rolling. Success! Needless to say he was very pleased with himself.

Then Jillian walked in and said, "What is Eli doing with the broom? Can I sweep the playroom?"

Yes. Very different.

Positive Ponderings--Part 1

So I am re-reading "Positive Discipline A-Z" by Dr. Jane Nelsen. This is one of my all time favorite books as it gives a concise overview of positive discipline and helpful steps for addressing specific behaviors. The latter is something missing out of a lot of parenting books. There are 27 steps laid out in Positive Discipline. I thought I'd add this section to the blog as I work through these things and read through the book again. This book and concepts are similar to what I taught in the parenting classes at the YWCA. I would love to hear people comment and perhaps try to implement these things into their homes!

One of the things I love about this book is that it meshes well with a study on discipline I did in scripture. I was growing frustrated at the general idea that somehow spanking is a God-mandated thing for our homes and decided to head to the source myself. Well in my review of scripture I not only found that the spanking conclusion is shaky but I found a fresh perspective on discipline itself. Jane Nelson describes positive discipline as: instructing, educating, preparing, training, regulating, skill building, focusing on solutions, constructive, encouraging, affirming, helpful, loving, optimistic and is focused on mutually respectful relationships. WOW! What a positive perspective, hence the title "Positive Discipline".

The first tool of 27 is:

"Be Kind and Firm"
As Dr. Nelsen points out, parent are often either too controlling or milquetoast or some combination of the two. Instead we should be practicing firmness coupled with kindness. Dr. Nelsen states that being the boss or milquetoast involves the parent reacting instead of being proactive. Waiting until something happens and responding to it in the moment. (Ok all guilty parties raise your hand!) Essentially kind and firm parents would observe before acting, show their children what to do, look for solutions instead of blame and realize the only person they can change is THEMSELVES! Kind and firm parents also let go of the guilt and worry and allow their kids to make mistakes and learn from them.

So one of the biggest things I got out of this relates to one of my biggest frustrations with parenting: I can only control myself. I spend a lot of my time growing frustrated that they just aren't getting it. Don't we all do this? Maybe its a friend, a co-worker, a child. We love to try to change people! Understanding that my child is their own little person whom I cannot control, only guide and teach, releases me of a lot of guilt and anger. I shouldn't bend over (remember kind and FIRM!) but I can let go of the need to control and force them into the child I want them to be. Wow is this ever key when you have a strong-willed child.

So anyone want to add anything? Do you find yourself being more controlling or milquetoast? Maybe a combination? Maybe your parenting is a combination?

News Flash!

Eli started waving this week and making an attempt at saying hi. He even blew kisses! It comes out more as "huh" than anything but I pretty much say that counts as his first word aside from Da-da.

He's brilliant, just like the other two. *wink*

Use your words

Ava is fully five. I had someone recommend to me a book titled, "Your Five Year Old: Sunny and Serene". I don't know if she was serious or joking but clearly she never met our five year old. We've been struggling with Ava watching her tone and her words with us. We had a period of time where she would get so angry and yell at us the largest of insults in her five year old world: "You're a little....BABY!" Her and I had a talk about it and about showing respect to her father and I. The very next time she grew angry I waited for the infamous "baby" insult and instead I saw her little mind working overtime as she attempted to use her words and come up with a more appropriate way to express her feelings. This is what came out:

"You're a .... MRS. MOMMY!"

Oh man! I was trying so hard to keep my laughter in. I didn't want to hurt the poor dear's feelings nor do I really want to encourage these types of outbursts from happening more often than they already are. Mrs. Mommy? Well it was certainly respectful of her elders...and she did use my correct title for our home...I let it go. She's trying and she's thinking about her words first which is all I can really ask of her. Baby steps.

Now, Mrs. Mommy is off to wait for the sun and serenity. Maybe it will peek out before she turns six.

Thursday Thoughts

First, does anyone have a better source for blogger layouts? This one drives me absolutely crazy because everything is in one straight column. I'd like it to take up more of the page width. Its just I'm kind of obsessive about symmetry and my page is anything but symmetrical.

Well, I was talking to my friend Tanya last night and she mentioned homeschooling and our cousin, Faith, and her blog. I realized that I've mentioned we're homeschooling but haven't really shared what we're doing aside from our part-time co-op program. So for fellow home-schoolers, future home-schoolers or people who are just curious over whether my kids are going to learn anything, here is what we're doing.

We're using Spell to Write and Read by Wanda Sanseri as our spelling program. This is so far an amazing program but very in depth. The teacher manual itself is a read and a half. For penmanship we're using Cursive First. Ava can already print most of her letters but we're taking a cursive approach which I believe will really help her with her fluidity. She struggles a bit with the stop and start of printing so I think cursive will provide an ease of directionality and a soft fluidity which should really help. Lastly, we are using Math U See Primer for her math work. This is the program I needed. Everything is so visual and we are basically starting out with teaching her that the numbers are 0-9, not 1-10. My engineer husband said, "Yeah. Of course!" and I looked at him and said, "Well *I* was never taught that way!" So we are learning as we go that we both bring very different experiences to the educational table in our home.

Everything else is a bit of a hodge-podge. We're taking a classical approach with some Charlotte Mason influences (how's that for home education speak?) which basically means our kids will be geniuses. Ha! Really, I've read some great books and really feel that this combination provides the kids a fabulous educational foundation and hopefully will establish in these early years a love for learning.

Saying Goodbye

My brother Andrew left for his pre-deployment training prior to deploying out to Iraq. We got together as a family to say goodbye and these are some pictures we got of him and his fiancee and all the kiddos. I've started a second blog to follow his journey and keep everyone up to date. It is sisterofasoldier.blogspot.com Also, if you're interested in getting his address to send him cards or encouragement to him or his unit, drop me a comment and I'll email you privately. We're really going to miss him and pray safety and strength.

Friends and Fondue

Jon took me out for my 30th birthday with our dear friends Walter and Aletha to La Fondue in Saratoga. We've made this a tradition to skip the gifts and take one another out on all our birthdays. We enjoyed some good food and good times as fondue takes FOREVER. This time we skipped the bottles of wine since we discovered last birthday that two bottles of wine between four people equals a whole lot of lightheadedness and a very long birthday dinner. Ha! Just thought I'd throw some adult moments in so I can remind myself that we're not only mom and dad but we're husband and wife and have a life full of good friends.

Ava's first day of kindergarten

Ava celebrated her first day of school today. While we are homeschooling, we are doing a homeschool hybrid of sorts. She'll go to school two days a week and I'll carry her studies at home the other three days. She had a great time today and her only complaint was that they didn't do science. There are six kids total: 3 girls, 3 boys. Her favorite part of the day was recess. Ha! It doesn't matter if you're homeschooled or public-schooled, every kid loves recess!