These Days are the Best

Monday, August 16, 2010

A Wonderful Day

Some days just work out better than others. How this happens exactly I don’t know. Maybe we got more rest. Maybe I got a little me time that made me more patient. Maybe the boys ate their breakfast better and their blood sugar was more stable. Who really knows. Some days are a struggle just to get through without any injuries, other days, everyone seems magically happy and connected. Yesterday was one such day.

I woke up around 6 am from a dream about my oldest starting kindergarten. In reality he has another year, but I’m already having kindergarten anxiety. In the dream, we got lost on the way to school, and when we got there, he had been assigned to another classroom, with a fairly lackluster teacher and a very tiny classroom only big enough for the desks. I was unhappy, ready to pull him out and take him home with me, but he was happy and excited… then I woke up. Lying in bed listening for the sounds of my boys waking up (they are really early risers!), I got the idea to play school for the day. Why not turn my anxiety into a positive, right?

Together The Owl and I made a schedule for the day’s lessons:

Welcome/Circle Time
(we sang a good morning song and did nursery rhymes with The Tiger)

Sentence Writing
(with Dolch flash cards)

Morning Project
(we colored and built a house of cards)

Snack Time
(Tiger got to be snack helper, we had Trader Joe’s cheese crackers)

Recess
(We made a chalk bike track in the driveway inspired by this post)

Field Trip to Water Park
(Played in the slip n’ slide in the backyard)

Lunch

Quiet Time/ Naptime
(took a break b/c The Tiger needed a nap)

Story Time

Music Class
(free play with instruments and a Baby Einstein CD)

Art Class
(painting)

Having a schedule and following it really kept the boys interested through the day, and we didn’t fall into the usual afternoon slump of “What do we do now?” I find most of the times when the boys are difficult, they are simply bored and in need of some activity.

All in all, a great day, and something I should try again sometime. It requires some planning, but is totally worth it.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Water Fun

The other day we decided to make the most of the insane heat and have some fun water play. The day before I had filled up a milk carton and four plastic cups with water and froze them overnight. The milk carton I filled with plain water, and in the three of the four plastic cups I put water with red, yellow and blue food coloring, respectively, along with another of plain water.

The first one we took out was the milk carton. I tore the carton off, revealing a large glistening block of ice. The Owl thought this was really cool. We played around with it and he used a plastic cake server to try to chip away at it, but it remained fairly intact.

The ice blocks in the cups came out really cool- when I added the drops of food coloring to the water, I did not stir it, just swirled it around a bit, and it ended up making it really cool, with areas that were more saturated than others. We filled up the baby pool and added the ice to the water. We found that they began to melt very quickly in the pool, so The Owl took out the blocks and left them in the grass where they melted much more slowly. The large block had been left on the picnic table, and when we went back to it, we found it hadn’t melted much. We carried it over and dropped it into the pool, where it proceeded to melt very very quickly.

All in all, it was a fun and colorful way to observe “reversible change.”

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Our Daily Rhythm

I thought I would do a post on how we structure our days. I think it's important to have some sort of daily structure, but at the same time, I try not to become to heavily scheduled. I've been very influenced by the idea of creating a daily rhythm and this has worked really well for us. I've come up with a "schedule" that is the same every day, with mapped out areas of time for specific types of activities. There's enough structure and repetition to create a nice rhythm that makes it easy for the boys to fall into a routine, but it's open-ended enough that there is still room for choice in our activities.

Please note that the times are merely guides, and I try not to be too rigid about sticking to the exactly. Flow from one block to the next is more important.

7:00-7:15 Wake Up
Lately the boys have been waking up earlier than this. We have some quiet playtime in their rooms for a short time before heading downstairs to begin breakfast.

7:30 Breakfast
Once downstairs, I begin fixing breakfast. I ask L for help with this task. Some days he helps pick out food or set the table, other days he chooses to play. I give him the choice.

8:00-9:30 Free Play
After breakfast, I ask Lucas to help put his dishes in the sink, then we begin free play. This is just open time, but by calling it "free play", L seems so much more excited about it. I ask him what he wants to play with- some days it's something very specific, other days he just floats from toy to toy. I try to interact with them during this time, but I also allow myself some free time in this block, to do some light cleaning, check email, etc.

9:30-11:00 Project or Outing
After free play, we pick up our toys and then we have a dedicated project or an outing. I try to look at this as special time with them, and I try really hard during this time not to get on the computer or clean so as to give them my undivided attention. Sometimes I'll have an idea for a project, but usually I'll let L pick from a few options or leave it completely open-ended. I try to let L make choices as much as possible. J is too little at this point to pick, but he is starting to show interest in doing what we do, and most projects he can do with a little help.

11:00 - 12:00 Lunch

12:00 - 2:00 Quiet Time
This time fluctuates a bit depending on J's napping needs, sometimes he needs to go down sooner and so we cut lunch short or have a big snack or something to allow us to get upstairs sooner, but slowly we're getting closer to a noon-ish naptime. I get J to sleep and L gets quiet time. I would like for him to read in his room, but right now he's taking his quiet time playing on the computer. He does very well, but some days J will take a 2 hour nap and so L will spend 2 hours on the computer, which is a bit longer than I'd like. This is an area I need to work on. I either do my work on the computer during this time or close my eyes and take a little nap with J.

2:00 - 4:00 Free Play
More free play, same as above. When the weather cools off, I'd like this to be our regular out-of-doors time, but for now it's more time spent inside.

4:00 Begin dinner
This may seem early, but in order for me to keep it together, I usually start dinner around this time, while the boys continue to play.

5:00 Dinner
Boys eat, I usually eat with them, sometimes I wait and eat when M gets home from work.

6:00 Bath

6:30 Stories, Off to Bed
Both boys are usually asleep by 7.

This is how it's been going for us. Some days it works, some days we have a doctor's appointment or errand and it gets thrown off. I think we'd hit a good rhythm if we could just stay home for a few weeks, but the boys get bored and I get stir-crazy, so we have to keep resetting every few days. Still, having this as the goal means that most of the time we're fairly consistent, and that's what matters most. Also, for us it's really helped to emphasize the transitions- such as, "ok, let's clean up our breakfast dishes and then we can start free play!" It also allows me to have designated time for email/Facebook, designated offline time, etc.

We try to maintain this on the weekends as well. L goes back to school in a few weeks, so I'm not sure what our days will look like that. I'll have to alter the rhythm somewhat, but hopefully I can maintain the general idea.

Tomorrow I'll talk about our bedtime routine and sleeping arrangements.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Bedtime Stories

Tonight we read....

Blue's Clues My Pet Turtle (Ready-to-Read) by Deborah Reber

If You Find a Rock by Peggy Christian

Honey... Honey... Lion! by Jan Brett

The Honey Cake Mix-Up by Ann Braybrooks

Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin

Bad Cat by Tracy-Lee McGuinness-Kelly

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Bedtime Stories

Tonight we read:

Tiny Dinosaurs by Steve Lindblom

Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss

Hand Rhymes by March Brown

Magical let-down

Some days I find it hard to get through the long, meandering days of summer. I want to spend every moment of it engaged in play and exploration with the boys, but the reality of it is I end up spending most of my time cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, or simply vegging online to get some much-needed mental space. I have these great visions of exciting times, of making the most of the days of summer, and then what happens?

Today I had great intentions, as always. After knocking out some weekend projects, I took the boys outside. L and I gathered up some pots and pans from the play kitchen and we ventured out to make dirt and mud cakes and pies. After a few minutes, L declared that it wasn't working, got frustrated with the consistency of the mud, and gave up. So we got out the hose and tackled play equipment, which was covered in spider webs. Then the mosquitoes starting biting with a vengeance, and so we headed back inside, defeated. I know this is the reality for most moms, but lately I'm feeling pretty inadaquate in the "creating magical moments" category.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Summer Fun

We have just about 5 weeks before L returns to school 4 mornings a week. Last summer, I went all super-Mom and made theme weeks, with fun and educational activities planned to fill the summer. I made it about halfway before running out of steam, but at least I gave it a hearty try. This summer got off to a rough start. My Grandmother was sick and we spent an unexpected 2 weeks away from home, dealing with the stresses of her illness, and ultimately her death. It was stressful on me, stressful on the boys, and very tiring. I feel like it took me a couple weeks to recover from the time away from home, and I don't think our summer really got started until after the July 4th holiday.

In an attempt to make a fun and memorable summer for the boys, and to enjoy my time with L before he goes back to preschool, I began a list of ideas and inspiration for activities, with the notion that together we would choose 1 or 2 each day. So far, we haven't gotten through much on the list, but I'm trying to look ahead rather than behind. The list is full of ideas, and hopefully I can add to the list over time, making it my go-to resource for great ideas for fun, in any season.

Here is the list, should you be interested:

Summer Activities & Ideas

*CLICK FOR LINKS TO TUTORIALS*

OUTDOOR FUN

Nature walk / scavenger hunt

Garden

Make a raft & sail it in the pool

Make bark boats or paper boats

Build a fort

Water balloon fight

Outdoor play “cooking”

Compost

Go on a bug hunt