While Daddy was on his Man-cation

 Elias discovered how to make bow and arrows out of legos and hangers

 Then he would shoot the generals

 Taking aim, concentration, and focus

 Addie protected herself with a shield

 And Josiah erupted into peals of laughter when the shootings took place.  Is that a BOY thing?

Here's Daddy enjoying the snow before the strom truly hit

Take Your Daughter to Work

Adelaide has been asking to come to my work and paint with me.  She thinks I  paint there because I purchased some paints one day in her presence for the youth program.  This Sunday, I decided to take her with me.  She was so good.  We got there in time for her to help me set-up for the 9am liturgy.  She carried the gospel book for me and put it away.  Then when I was all set I walked her over to the Parish House for Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, which is a similar program to Godly Play.  Children her age do not attend church and instead attend Good Shepherd for the whole time.  When that was over, she got to take part in a brunch that was held for the families of Good Shepherd Children.  She was accompanied by one of the nursery caregivers and made a plethora of crafts for all of us.  When I picked her up she told me she would like to come to my church again some day.  It was a really nice time for the both of us as we chatted in the car both ways. I must say, everyone enjoyed meeting my little girl.

All Done and Amen!

This week has been battered and bruised for poor Josiah.  Somebody, who shall remain nameless, left him unattended on our bed for a short time.  Although that same somebody claimed that Eli was watching the baby.  In any case, Josiah crawled off the bed and kissed a lamp and hardwood floor.  He has bruises under both eyes.  Tonight, under my watch as I was sitting right there, he slipped in the tub and banged his head.  So, now he has a goose egg, too.  One tough boy!

On a more positive note, he definitely said "All done" tonight as I was finishing up the meal.  Adam heard him say it, too and he then repeated it. Also, at the end of prayers he said "Amen."  He already puts his hands up in the air and waves them a bit like a Pentecostal when we start to sing grace.  His other two words are Mama and Dada.  He is a love.

You Know You're the Third Child When...

Your mother takes pictures of you while playing with electrical outlets. (But she got the idea from her great friend, Jocelyn.)

Great Wolf

After we rang in the New Year, we all went up to the Poconos to the Great Wolf Lodge.  We got to go to Great Wolf back when we lived in Madison and had just two kiddos.  The day we went that time it was the coldest day of the year and the schools were closed.  There were only six families at the whole resort.

When we went two weeks ago, there were plenty of people there, but we still had  a wonderful time.  Elias took to the fastest water rides he could.  Adelaide loved the wave pool, and Josiah loved getting his feet wet.  Bibi and Josiah also enjoyed cuddling skin to skin in the warm air!  Lots of good napping went on.  We are had a wonderful time and we thank Bibi for being the proud sponsor of another Great Wolf Adventure.

On the 8th Day of Christmas

Waiting for Bibi to arrive

Our new aprons

Nothing says Christmas like Hannas

Happy 90th Birthday, Mee Mee

My grandmother turns 90 today.  She is amazing and we wish her many happy returns from Media.  We hope your day is filled with phonecalls, emails, and blog posts!

                                                                  We love you!

The Lost World of Play

Another article in the NYTimes confirmed my growing fears and frustrations about public education.  The increased use of standardized tests is robbing our children of the most important part of early childhood education--that is play.  Unfortunately, some people do not understand that it is through play that children learn.  Play engages children's creativity, imagination, problem-solving, and psycho, social and emotional skills.  Play develops habits of language that are complex and encourage dialogue and recall.  Play, in its most active forms, encourages gross motor skills and physical health.  Play is not a superfluous option for young children.  Play is an ontological part of early childhood education.

Yet, in our school district children are slotted two and a half hours for kindergarten.  There are no toys in the classroom.  There is no recess.  And, horrors of horrors, there is homework.  The homework the children are given mimics the mindless rote work they do in the classroom.  They participate in a "wheel" and move from phonics, to math, to reading.  They are tested as son as kindergarten starts and then grouped accordingly.  They are timed with stopwatches under the table as to how fast they can recognize letters, numbers, and sounds.  The saddest piece of this education is that all research says that children don't "read to learn" until after third grade.  Until then, reading is an acquiring skill, but it usually does not open new worlds for kids.  Instead, though, these children become tested and pushed until they get what they need to know for standardized tests.  In that process my friend's child expereinces frustration as the teacher reprimands him for not sitting on his bottom.  He comes  home and says, "Mom, I'm just a kid."

And we wonder why so many boys are put on Ritalin these days?  Perhaps it is because they are being forced to sit at desks and not move around.  We wonder why kids suffer from emotional difficulties. Perhaps, it's because the poor kindergarten teacher said she didn't know how the child's social and emotional growth was.  She said all we see at school are the "work skills."  It used to be that the report cards for kids reported on the whole child, not a series of acquisitive skills.  If you check out Rose Tree Media's kindergarten report card, you will be horrified at its academic nature.

Now I have one child who I know will struggle greatly with this system and I'm already grieving that he has to go to school.  We are working hard to see that his first year in real school will be just as positive as his preschool experience.  In preschool, he has had so much play that one afternoon we came to pick him up and found him directing his class in a Christmas pageant.  He had assigned everyone parts, made them scripts, and dressed them in costumes.  Isn't this learning?  Kids co-operating, role-playing, using rich language, being creative, using raw materials, and art.  No, he still can't read, but he can direct 10 other kids in an hour long pageant.  

My second child, I imagine, will handle anything Kindergarten throws her with grace.  However, not just for her, but for all kids, I am hoping to form a "Bring Back Play" to our schools group.  I think our first job is to gather and air our concerns.  Then we need to come up with a plan to at least re institute recess, abolish mindless busy work, and support the teachers who decry the loss of their kindergartens.  Most of the teachers are seasoned kindergarten teachers who do remember the days when kids came to school to play with blocks, dress-up in costumes, and narrate stories.  We, as parents, can do our best to support them.

Downward Dog

A few snippets

The New Year has been ushered in by a few memorable comments.

Adelaide, upon being told by her grandmother to keep her eyes peeled, said "I'm already blinking them open."

Elias, upon waking up after a night at Great Wolf Lodge, " I used to be a problem sleeper, but now I seem to have the hang of it."

And most memorable that I can't put the pictures on the blog, but they will be displayed at the rehearsal dinner:

Elias coming downstairs in just a pair of underpants, declaring himself Captain Underpants, and then proceeding to pull out 7 or 8 pairs of underwear from inside his underpants--and flex his muscles at the same time.

                  Some pictures of the kids preparing the Christmas trifle.