Tools are the Most Fun

John has blossomed with the set of real, child-sized tools he received for Christmas. His favorite activity these days is to "go into the woods" (the trees behind our house) and use his tools on fallen logs (always with an adult present when using the sharp tools).

Mary drilled through a piece of bark in order to make what she is calling a Christmas ornament. She plans to draw a cat on it.

It's fascinating to watch how long John will remain focused, for example taking 20 minutes at a stretch over several days doing nothing but hammering on one log to see what a hammer would do to it.

Today he borrowed Daddy's mallet and discovered what fun it is to smash what we call "squirrel nuts" because we don't know what they are, but the squirrels bury them all over our yard. 

Mary's job was to collect the squirrel nuts, John's job was to smash them. He informed me with a serious tone of voice, "Mama, this is the most fun thing I have ever done."

Tools For Small Hands

I have a drawer in my kitchen that contains all child-sized cooking implements. Children like to help more when they can do a better job because the tools fit their hands. Recently I picked up a few more tools at the best source I've found so far: For Small Hands.

This doohickey is a multipurpose tools that grates cheese or vegetables (three sizes of graters), separates eggs, juices citrus, and pours liquid.

John won't drink juice, but he'll make it! (He even cut the oranges in half with a small knife.)

Another tool I was so happy to find was a child-sized mop. We had one before that was more of a toy in construction, so it quickly broke, but this mop is sturdy, made of metal and hard wood. John beamed with pride at mopping the floor, exerting effort to squeeze out the water, learning how to mop in stripes and to walk backwards out of a room. (He said, "Hey, this is like vacuuming!") It really is amazing to me to see my firstborn become competent at helping me with useful duties! (Note his tongue sticking out in concentration.)

And, perhaps it wasn't a fluke: Tonight John again asked me if he could skip his 30 minutes of television in order to cook alongside me. The boy likes to cook, so I'm really trying to take time to explain the procedures now and not just give him busywork tasks.

Bonus Pics!

Margaret (8-1/2 months) now crawls anywhere she pleases with speed and stealth. We need to start keeping bathroom doors closed. Why are babies so attracted to standing at the toilet and banging on it?

I don't know who took this photo, but I found a series of photos on my camera of Mary riding on the tricycle without shoes but with socks on her hands.

Miscellaneous on Saturday

I find that keeping track of shoes for little people who cannot keep track of shoes themselves to be tedious and frustrating. How many times am I walking out the door, trying to shod their little feet, nobody can find the shoes they want, they're running all over the house, looking here, looking there? (This partially accounts for my living in a Bermuda Triangle of Lost Time.) So, I set up a Shoe Area in the garage a couple of months ago, then reorganized it this weekend. Now all family members' shoes are in one place, and I even placed a bin of the big kids' socks in there after several months of knowing where our shoes were but having to send the kids running back upstairs to retrieve socks. Having a shoe area reduces dirt and germs in the house where the baby crawls on the floor. Chris and I each have a pair of Indoor Only Shoes that we wear inside. The Shoe Area used shelving we already had and repurposed, an old chair I wasn't using, a bench I am borrowing from the kids' cute little picnic bench, and an old indoor/outdoor rug so that our feet aren't cold on the cement.

When John found out that Mary got to polish silver (while he and Daddy were gone), he desperately wanted to do it himself. He asked me all day, such that I actually got out all the supplies late in the evening before bedtime just to satisfy him. This time, instead of using the chemically treated polishing cloths, we used a paste of baking soda and water: it worked very well! The pieces (not previously cleaned) polished up almost to a mirror shine! The Montessori method of polishing calls for using a Q-tip and I thought the children would not have the fine motor skills or patience necessary, but I think it was the very smallness of the Q-tip that caused them to furrow their little brows and concentrate quietly. It was amazing!

When I checked in on the kids tonight, I saw John sleeping in his bed but Mary's bed empty. I asked Chris where Mary was: "She's not in her bed?!" I went back and, no, she was not in her bed. That's when I looked closer at John and saw that Mary was snuggled between him and the wall, both children asleep. This mama's heart melted into a puddle! Those two really are best pals. (Note how John sleeps the first half of each night with his knees up. Isn't that funny?)

New Meal Planning Idea: I am inspired by another mama (and, really, I've heard this suggestion from numerous mamas) to try grocery shopping every two weeks, instead of every week (or, even, multiple times of week like I used to do!). I can waste money on spontaneous purchases only if I step foot into a store (literally or figuratively by shopping online). Don't step into the store, and wasteful spending should go down. Here is my new plan: 1. Continue to receive fresh dairy weekly from milk man. 2. Shop at Costco once monthly. 3. Shop at grocery store every two weeks. Focus on fresh produce the first week of meals, focus on frozen produce the second week.

Obviously, shopping two weeks at a time necessitates meal planning two weeks at a time. I truly hate the chore of meal planning, so perhaps doing it two weeks at a time will be better because I will have to do it less often.

While hunting online for suggestions about meal planning for two weeks at a time, I found a fantastic blog post with some other ideas I am going to try! This mother uses her Gmail calendar for her meal planning! Ingenious, I tell you!

This is what I am trying: I created a Meal Planning sub-calendar in my Gmail calendar. For each evening, I create an event that is my meal plan. In the notes section, I can even paste in the link to an online recipe. I will have a reminder emailed to myself each morning. If I wanted, I could set a meal to repeat (e.g., pizza every Friday night).

I hope that these experiments will continue to improve my meal planning (too bad it doesn't improve my cooking) as well as reduce grocery costs!

Polishing Silver

Polishing her great-grandmother's silver for Thanksgiving: learning to do wholesome work, mother-daughter bonding time, and a Montessori activity all in one!

Wing Haven Plant Sale

Back from focusing on my angst and despair to our regularly scheduled program . . .

Today John and I attended the delightful Wing Haven Gardens plant sale while Daddy was able to watch Mary because she was napping. It was such a lovely sale, full of native plants, and nothing "big box nursery" about it. I have enough loved ones who actually care a lot about plants that I'll share my list and the notes I made. (I come from a family in which, when I was little and would ask my dad the name of a plant, he'd give me the Latin name, and when I'd complain that I wanted the NAME-name, he'd say that was the real name! And now I agree with him.)

For our front lawn island, which we'll be further populating with azaleas over the next few years, I bought six non-native azaleas, plus one native azalea that may go in the front but probably the back.

(3) Azalea 'Hardy Gardenia,' double white blooms

To H2’ x W4’, Blooms once, lasts a month, evergreen

(3) Azalea 'Sunglow' (red blooms)

To H5’, blooms twice?, evergreen

(1) Azalea 'Pinxterbloom' (Rhododendron periclymenoides) in pink (native)

To H10’, deciduous

For the backyard, I bought a bunch of native big boys to fill in some large spaces. I wanted plants that would attract our many song birds as well (since I have no time to maintain bird feeders), so got some with berries that birds love.

(2) Beautyberries (Callicarpa americana) (native)

To H6-8’, spring: lilac flowers, fall: purple berries

(1) Silky dogwood (Cornus ammomum) (native) [Mary now recognizes this shrub and will point it out to us and call it "doggy"]

To H6-10' and same W, deciduous, creamy white flowers May-June, blue drupe fruit, a favorite of birds

(1) Oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quecifolia) (native)

White flowers, four seasons of interest. To H10' x W12'.

(1) Red chokeberry 'Brilliantisima' (Aronia arbutifolia) (native)

6' to 10' tall and 3' to 5' wide, deciduous, brilliant fall color, raspberry to crimson, many clusters of small, white flowers in early May (flowers last a week), red berries in flat clusters; effective from September into December

I am in plant-mama heaven!

Today I introduced John to the Montessori feely bag game. However, it turned out that he was way too good at it, so I realized it was probably more age-appropriate for a two-year-old.

He did really like it though! Maybe it felt good for him to "score" perfectly at a game instead of the usual of being somewhat challenged.

Today is the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary and, after pondering many complex ways to celebrate and teach the rosary, I hit upon my own idea of making a rosary out of gummy candies and toothpicks, because that would be simple, right? Then we'd pray a decade of the rosary, then eat our creation.

It turned out not to be such a success for ages one and three. The kids had the dexterity but not the patience to assemble the rosary. And they really couldn't control themselves to refrain from eating the candy. So then I decided simply to assemble it myself while Chris led us in our decade of the family rosary because that would be an efficient use of time. Can you imagine any difficulties that might arise by asking little children to pray the rosary and sit still around a table covered in candy? Yes, well, now I can imagine the problems as well. But, really, the kids did beautifully because they were desperate to finish the prayers and eat. I built two decades of the rosary before giving up and letting the kids dive in for a sugar fest.

Tired Musings on Service

I cooked a meal this morning for a new mom, and the kids fell asleep in the car on the drive back, so that meant no naptime at home for Mary and no simultaneous quiet time for John. So, no break for Mama either! John suggested we make a picnic for lunch and eat it in the back yard.

So, I made a picnic and we took it in the back yard, but John was too excited by the whole idea that he wouldn't eat any of it, which means he got an opportunity later to go hungry since Mama is not a short-order cook and his previously prepared PB&J sandwiches had been placed in the dirt for the ants to eat them by a certain three-year-old boy.

John asked if we could do an art project and I was bored of the same old-same old, so I got the idea to do a nature study of sorts. We went outside and clipped various leaves and flowers from our yard.

We taped the foliage to a piece of butcher paper and labeled the items before hanging it on the kitchen window for all of us to enjoy. John often asks me the specific names of plants, birds, animals, insects, and clouds, so I'm trying to learn all those names so I can give him the accurate information.

Mary's drawings are becoming more interesting to me: little, tight purposeful scribbles instead of broad scrawl.

The kids entertained themselves at length today with the Montessori geometric shapes. John said this was "the towering tower of the Holy Father, the Pope, surrounded by towering cliffs."

Today was an average day that has left me meditating much on the concept of service, serving with love versus with resentment, and wondering what is the purpose of it all. The day wasn't especially challenging, just as challenging as are most days at home with children. Chris is coming home tonight from his second business trip in as many weeks. It was just another long day of making meals, sweeping, washing dishes, disciplining to form the children's characters, mending clothing, taking children outdoors for fresh air play, doing an art project, kissing boo-boos, washing three loads of laundry, reading stories, directing the kids to pick up toys, and so forth. (And on that note, I asked today if John wanted to put away his toys yet and reiterated no thank you, he wants to give them away to poor children. I'm becoming increasingly tempted to do that!) I led the children in a family Rosary and they were beastly, so they lost the special treat of a television show they were going to watch afterwards (which is how I was planning to mop the kitchen floor in peace), and it really would have been much easier for me to throw up my hands and turn on the tube, but I simply couldn't allow myself to teach them (mainly: John) that such bad behavior results in a special treat. How To Raise a Spoiled Brat: 101!

So then I had to endure Mary wailing "Mama! Mama! Mama!" the entire time just to mop the disgusting floor for all of ten minutes. (And, yes, I have tried letting my kids mop with me--we even own a children's mop--but they are too young to follow directions to stay on the dry part of the floor, so mopping with Mama always results in numerous slips and falls . . . and more wailing.)

Anyway, I have nothing profound to say except that life has me tired and thinking about service today. I end a day like today without leaving anything visibly accomplished behind. The floors are clean, but will be a disaster by about 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. The sink will be full of dishes by that time tomorrow too. I feel like a hamster running on a wheel to nowhere (and I have only two kids, I am hardly a hero!). Yet, then I think how Biblical teaching is that we are to serve with love, that is the point. And maybe the mundane things I do over and over again, or making hard (exhausting) choices for the sake of my children's characters and souls, are creating something more permanent than I can see while in this earthly life.

I don't know. Not profound, just tired. Not depressed, just a bit weary and thoughtful, but mostly happy. Deep thoughts by Katherine are not quite as funny as Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey.

Montessori Color Matching

Montessori manipulatives are expensive. Some of them are worth purchasing (like the sandpaper letters I just bought) for those of us who aren't highly skilled at crafts and woodworking, but others are so easy to make. Today I introduced the color matching activity, having collected free paint chip samples while at Wal-Mart this morning instead of buying Montessori color tablets.

At first I set out too many colors. John took one look and said, "I just can't do it!" I quickly took away the basket and set out only six colors. John proceeded without hesitation. Mama's lesson learned.

"I did it!"

Increasing Attention Span

Yesterday, my Montessori sandpaper letters arrived. I am so excited! John saw them on the counter top and wanted to play with them (use them to build a house and as stepping stones across the kitchen floor), misusing them as they're not toys. Finally I had to ask that he put them away, saying I'd show them to him the next day when we did some school time. So this morning he woke up before six a.m. and within about three minutes asked me, "Is it school time yet?" I didn't know what he was talking about until I realized that he wanted to be introduced to those sandpaper letters! I introduced two different sounding letters ('s' and 't'), plus I spelled his name for him (j-o-h-n). I asked him why we want to know the sounds of letters and he didn't know: "If you know the sound of a letter, you can know the sound of a word, and then you can read your own books." This idea thrilled the boy and then I offered to read to him from a new big boy book I had purchased: James Herriot's "Treasury for Children."

I have been purchasing some classic children's works in the last few weeks, but when this one arrived in the mail I thought to myself that it was too advanced for a boy three-and-one-quarter years. The chapters are long, the language at an adult level, and the dialect foreign (British).

Boy, was I wrong!

Ultimately, John sat riveted through two-and-a-half stories, for a total of forty-five minutes of reading time. I saw that after half an hour, John was becoming fidgety. He would leap up from the couch and do a few somersaults, so I'd ask cheerfully, "Do you want me to keep reading or are we all done?" He'd say, "Still reading!" and jump back onto the couch. I've learned that method because, of course, I (perfectionist melancholic) want him to sit still "properly" and listen to a whole story, but sometimes (usually) he can't. So rather than try to scold him into lasting longer than he can last at any given age, I just quietly close the book and ask if he's all done. And in my heart I force myself for it to be okay for him to be all done, to be uninterested in this story that I think is so wonderful and edifying. But, most of the time, John does want to keep reading, or he wants to run in circles around the room a few times, then keep reading.

It was during this reading session that, for the first time, John asked me to point to the words as I was reading them. "Which word are you reading now?" I think it was a direct result of his new understanding from working with the sandpaper letters.

A bookworm like me, raised on beautiful literature, is in rhapsody to realize that John's attention span and interest level are now such that I can read him classics and true children's literature. I will be enjoying the things I read to him! No more dross and prattle! Below are two examples of the lovely paragraphs I read in James Herriot this morning:

"I had driven about ten miles from home, thinking all the time that the Dales always looked their coldest, not when they were covered with snow, but as now, when the first sprinkling streaked the bare flanks of the fells in bars of black and white like the ribs of a crouching beast."

"I had driven through and, streaming-eyed, was about to get back into the car when I noticed something unusual. There was a frozen pond just off the path and among the rime-covered rushes which fringed the dead opacity of the surface a small object stood out, shiny black."

John has already put in an order to listen to "Peter and the Wolf" again today (after listening to it three times yesterday) and to have me read him the Treasure Box books again (we own only numbers one through four, so now I'm an eager beaver to buy five through twenty!).

I promise I won't detail future children's learning development in this level of detail. It is simply so delightful for me this first go-round!

Polishing Shoes

It's not child labor, it's a Montessori practical life activity!

Clothes Pins and Containers

This morning was supposed to be the first time I led a La Leche League meeting, but motherhood called me away and gave me another opportunity to choose my vocation. The kids and I are still sick, almost three weeks later. John's renewed conjunctivitis has not improved despite five days so far of antibiotics and now Mary's conjunctivitis is back after clearing completely following seven days of antibiotics. And we're all still sick with cold symptoms. Chris would have watched the kids for me this morning, but I decided to let my co-leaders fill in for me. My little satchel was packed with my reference books; handouts, agenda, and discussion topics were printed; my I'm-a-new-LLL-leader pin was ready; and brownies were baked to celebrate my and my co-leader's upcoming birthdays (which fall on the same day). Yes, I'm disappointed, but I think it was a good decision to stay home.

After all our holiday chaos, I've been trying to get back to doing some preschool activities for John. Now that John is in such a strong "I can do it all by myself!" phase, I understand more the aptness of the title of this Montessori book: "Teach Me To Do It Myself." Today we first did a little life skills activity with clothes pins. This teaches fine motor skills, strengthens finger muscles for writing, shows how springs works, and generally kids become absorbed in it. John loved it in all its simplicity and it occupied him for a good 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, I kept Mary busy by covering her clothing in pins, which she'd then yank off before I'd stick more on her.

John called this creation his "farm hat."

Our second life skills activity was opening and closing objects. This provided slight challenge for John so he didn't want me to take any photographs. It's really interesting to watch how he has performance anxiety, just like I did as a child (still do now). I spread out a bunch of containers with their lids separately arranged on the table, so John matched them correctly, then worked on learning how to put them together and to screw things righty tighty.

In another domestic matter for friends on the hunt for new recipes, Chris rates this new recipe I tried last night as "you could make that eight nights in a row and I'd be happy." I bought a huge pack of pork chops on sale at Costco and we usually have Granny Smith apples on the counter, so it's a meal that doesn't require much planning. I served it with simple egg noodles and a frozen green vegetable chosen at random from the freezer.

Lastly, but not least: Happy fourth wedding anniversary to Chris!

The Mass Kit

Our gift to John for his birthday was a child's Mass kit--everything the priest uses in miniature! It goes without saying that this is a big gift for a three-year-old, but it is something we want in the home to foster vocations and John is old enough to start being exposed to it.

When John was opening his other gifts with the family around, the scene became chaotic and exuberant, so Chris and I made a fast decision to have him open this gift alone the next day when he could focus. This kit comes with a Montessori-style teacher's guide for how to introduce each piece, so I'll need to study that and do some exercises with John. They're supposed to be enjoyable and essentially child-led, when the child is ready. I believe this is the same kind of kit used by Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.

We examined different Mass kits and chose this one made of real materials (brass, glass) rather than the plastic or cloth ones. It will require greater supervision, but we think it teaches important lessons. And, yes, each piece is available for purchase individually if (when) it becomes broken!

Two of John's favorite pieces so far are the bell and candle snuffer, the latter of which he got to use for real when we lit our Advent candles for the Second Sunday of Advent.

He also enjoys lifting the thurifer and the thingy (I don't know my vocabulary yet!) that holds the altar light. He told me this morning that his hands were shaking while holding it suspended in the air and I said that we has to grow strong muscles for God, so now he's talking about his big muscles for God. John greatly admires the altar boys at church, which is how it should be.

Washing Dishes

John's learning to wash dishes provided Mama with two 30-minute sessions of peace today.

Budding Photographer

Today we had brilliant sunshine and temperatures in the 70s after a week of cold rain, so I got the kids out in the backyard to play.

I was walking around doing some yard work when I saw that John had found my camera lying on the bench, taken it out of its case, and was handling it. I walked over to him and got not much more than "John . . ." out of my mouth when the boy asked, "Can I have permission?" I've been working on the concept of his getting my permission, so I was tickled to have him actually ask me for it this time. I paused and remembered that I just watched a documentary about a photographer who taught ghetto children the art of photography and I remembered my general Montessori principles, so I decided that I would grant my permission.

We started with a lesson on how John should never set down the camera on its viewfinder because that would damage it. Our second lesson was on how to hold the camera. Our third lesson was on how not to push down on the flash. ("What's a flash?" Explanation followed.) Then I showed him the on/off button, how he needed to have the camera's cord wrapped twice around his wrist and why (so it wouldn't fall on the ground), and lastly the button to push to take a photo. Honestly, I had John's rapt interest. He was not jumping around like a wild preschooler boy. Then he set off about the yard taking photographs and they were really quite good! He kept talking for the rest of the day about how he got to take pictures. Below are some of his more striking shots.

(That dark dot is a bit of leaf stuck beneath Mary's nose, nothing more icky.)