MommyCoddle

I’d be lion if I said I wasn’t tired…

My mother-in-law is in town and I’m tired. She’s the queen of errand running and I’m running a bit ragged. I miss the simplicity and quiet of our mornings–tidying up, laundry, lessons at the kitchen table, being outside. But, this time with her is important too.
Emma probably gets the award for being more worn out than me. She’s got that glassy-eyed look and her lids are a bit droopy and heavy when she looks at me. But she’s my intense one and it’s hard slowing her down, especially when someone she loves is in town.

Here are some random things from the last few days:

1. Thank you to Julie for the really nice blog mention on the babycenter site. Find her here, too.
2. I love this project of courtney’s and the sentiment behind it.
3. And just as stunningly beautiful, but in a completely different way, is this by kristin.
4. The baby sweater is off the needles and sitting in pieces in my bag, ready to be put together. Now I know why people like projects that knit up in one piece.
5. Elizabeth has finally gone full circle–literally–flipping front to back, back to front. She took her grand time on that last one.
6. It’s been hot here today, but all of a sudden the curtains have started floating a bit. The breeze is shifting…
7. Thanks for your comments and ideas on my last post. But just to be safe, I think I’ll leave it up for a few more days and then remove it from my blog. I worry with those kind of words and topics floating around on my blog, I might get some bad search engine traffic, so I’ve decided to take it down in a bit. But it left me with lots to think about.
8. This is on my bedside table. I really need another fix. About twenty more pages in my current book (that I’m only reading because there’s nothing better) and I’m lost in berry-land again.

Here are some random things from the last few days:

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MOTHERHOOD

stranger danger

I hate starting the week with this kind of topic, so I’m going to ease into it by asking a question that was flowing through my head in the wee hours this morning–3am to be exact. I woke up to the sounds of Elizabeth cooing and grunting in her crib, before she fell back to sleep, but it left me up and unable to get back to sleep.

If you have a child in kindergarten do you say she is:
a) a kinder-GART-ner
b)a kinder-GARTEN-er
c)a kinder-GARD-ner
d)a kinder-GARDEN-er

I’m struggling with that one.

Here’s the other thing I’m thinking about. Unfortunately, more serious. Fortunately, not keeping me up in the middle of the night.

Last week, Emma and Mary were playing in the driveway in front of the ‘big house’ here on the farm. And they came inside to tell me that a man in a black truck pulled over, waved at them and took their picture. They thought nothing of it and weren’t at all thrown by the event.

Now, I’m pretty sure it was all innocent. To be honest, without sounding "showy-offy", my grandparents’ house is photo-worthy and they were right in front of it, so the picture may not have been of them. And, to be honest, my kids are pretty good looking, so…..kidding. well no, but yes.

Anyway, this brings up the topic with me of how do you instill in your children a sense of caution without creating a sense of fear? I want them to feel safe and free, especially when they are home. But above all I want them to be safe and protected. I want them to know you can’t get in the car with a stranger and you really shouldn’t even go near the car of a stranger. But I also don’t want them bolting and screaming at the first sight of someone they don’t know. I want them to be brave and strong and polite and safe.

Sometimes I think they could use a little dose of fear. But I’m not exactly sure how to balance that with creating a sense of security.

There have also been times when I’ve gone to a store and they’ve been tired and begged to just stay in the car and play while I run in to get what I need. I can remember doing that all the time when I was younger–playing "Charlie’s Angels" in the back of our orange VW bus with my best friend, Kelly, while mom got groceries. But you can’t do that today. I try to simply tell them "it’s not safe" when they ask to just wait in the car, without getting in to all the details–a bad person might come and snatch you from the car and take you away from mommy and do bad things to you and I’d never see you again. No. I’m not going to tell them that and leave them bug-eyed, speechless and attached to my pant leg for the rest of their young lives.

So, what do you do? How do you balance caution and security, freedom and boundaries? Is there a balance? Is it still possible to have both of these things in today’s world? Is there such a thing as a healthy dose of fear?

For now, I haven’t changed the way I do anything. I’m just doubly sure that my hundred-pound yellow labrador retriever who barks like an attack dog at any hint of a visitor is always on-duty when the girls are outside. Thankfully, when I say, "go find the girls!" he noses open the handle on the front screen door and wanders out to find them.

But I’m not sure all of us are ready to invest in a yellow lab like mine. So what do you do? I can’t seem to find the chapter on this in the parenting manual they give us after our children are born….

If you have a child in kindergarten do you say she is:
a) a kinder-GART-ner
b)a kinder-GARTEN-er
c)a kinder-GARD-ner
d)a kinder-GARDEN-er

I’m struggling with that one.

Here’s the other thing I’m thinking about. Unfortunately, more serious. Fortunately, not keeping me up in the middle of the night.

Sometimes I think they could use a little dose of fear. But I’m not exactly sure how to balance that with creating a sense of security.

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children and nature / crafting with children / IN MY KITCHEN

apples and bananas

waving to the "flying banana" as he’s known in our family. even my grandmother called up, "are your girls outside? the flying banana is here!" He flies this thing around with what looks like a glorified box fan strapped to his back. I’m not sure how he does it….but he does put on quite a show.

I know this is nothing new, but I’ve never done it before and man, was it fun. The girls and I made apple prints yesterday on some scraps of linen. They went crazy when they lifted up that apple to see the first print underneath. (I kinda did, too.) We couldn’t stop ourselves. There are scraps of apple-stamped fabric hanging around all over the house.

We also made some applesauce yesterday, too. It’s hard to make the picture look as good as it tasted. Yum.
Can you tell we just finished up our short vowel sounds? a-a-apple?

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