Thursday, November 27, 2008
Thanksgiving Day!
The morning started with cooking by the adults and Papa producing a play directed by Aaron about Thanksgiving. The children made costumes, set pictures taped to the closet door, and completed the stage with a curtain. The play started with the children being turkeys singing "Gobble, Gobble," then the Native Americans came and sang and song, and lastly the Pilgrims enjoyed their Thanksgiving dinner. We then enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner with short rest followed by a trip to the movies. The boys saw the new James Bond movie and the girls and children saw "Bolt." The evening finally ended with dessert.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Papa's Birthday
My sister's family and my parents came to visit for the Thanksgiving week. While they visited Papa had his birthday. We spent the day at Science Center and then our famous Market. Here are some pictures of the Birthday celebration in the evening.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Preschool Parent Competition
I find it very different being a preschool parent than a teacher. For one thing, I kind of feel like I am involved in a competitive environment against my will. Benjamin's preschool is fantastic. I love the teacher, and I love the fact that I get to be very involved in the classroom. I get to be a "Mom teacher" about twice a month. It is a great environment for him. He loves to go and asks everyday whether it is a preschool day or not. Now for the parent competition, I can for sure live without that.
We have parent education credits that mean we have attend in order to attend the school. The other morning there was a meeting about power struggles. I casually in the discussion talked about things that I do at home like create time together to do projects. I shared some simple ones that I do and that they are really child centered. There were only a few mothers in attendance at that meeting. I also talked about tricks that I had learned from others to conquer things such as getting up to early, defiance in cleaning up toys, etc.
To continue the story, every morning at preschool there is an opening time where the children can bring something to share. Everyone can bring something every day that revolves around the theme, this month's is fall, brown, or the shape of a square. So the sharing time is very short. Benjamin loves to bring sharing and has usually planned his sharing way in advanced. We make sure that it is in his backpack to take. Moms can stay for this first fifteen minutes of sharing and I usually do. Sometimes we do bring things that we have created in project time together so our sharings are sometimes a bit more elaborate and often child created like a collage, the halloween bat we made, etc. Another mother who was in that meeting also has started having her daughter bring more things that were child created like a brown apple seed taped to a paper and labeled "apple seed." I was actually thinking hooray for her. Well on Wednesday, I overheard another mother talking about Benjamin's mom and this other little girl's mom and that we are just trying to "show every one up."
At first, I wondered if I had at all portrayed the things that we were doing at home in a way that was offensive or inappropriate. I questioned letting him take anything that we make at home anymore. Then, I was offended that she would make a comment like that loud enough for us to hear. But that feeling soon dissipated, and I just felt bad for her. I have been at a place in life where I thought that because someone else was doing something and I was not, that I was getting shown how lousy I was as a person.
I realize that everyone might not have the knowledge that I have gained from formal education, but there are ways to spend time doing things with your children. I have made spending time with Benjamin during project time a priority. Our projects are sometimes fancy, like this past October's projects, but others are certainly not. In fact, all of the Halloween projects wore me out a bit, and we have focused on simple ones like stapling and taping paper scrapers (which my son has loved having an almost endless supply of tape.) I view this not as something exclusively mine, but a choice that anyone can make. Priorities seem to dictate life. Where are priorities lie is where our time and energy goes. I think that we all make choices everyday. I don't think that mother is probably at a place to hear this, but if she were, I would like her to know that I will continue to choose to make spending time with Benjamin a priority in my life and that this privilege isn't exclusively mine.
We have parent education credits that mean we have attend in order to attend the school. The other morning there was a meeting about power struggles. I casually in the discussion talked about things that I do at home like create time together to do projects. I shared some simple ones that I do and that they are really child centered. There were only a few mothers in attendance at that meeting. I also talked about tricks that I had learned from others to conquer things such as getting up to early, defiance in cleaning up toys, etc.
To continue the story, every morning at preschool there is an opening time where the children can bring something to share. Everyone can bring something every day that revolves around the theme, this month's is fall, brown, or the shape of a square. So the sharing time is very short. Benjamin loves to bring sharing and has usually planned his sharing way in advanced. We make sure that it is in his backpack to take. Moms can stay for this first fifteen minutes of sharing and I usually do. Sometimes we do bring things that we have created in project time together so our sharings are sometimes a bit more elaborate and often child created like a collage, the halloween bat we made, etc. Another mother who was in that meeting also has started having her daughter bring more things that were child created like a brown apple seed taped to a paper and labeled "apple seed." I was actually thinking hooray for her. Well on Wednesday, I overheard another mother talking about Benjamin's mom and this other little girl's mom and that we are just trying to "show every one up."
At first, I wondered if I had at all portrayed the things that we were doing at home in a way that was offensive or inappropriate. I questioned letting him take anything that we make at home anymore. Then, I was offended that she would make a comment like that loud enough for us to hear. But that feeling soon dissipated, and I just felt bad for her. I have been at a place in life where I thought that because someone else was doing something and I was not, that I was getting shown how lousy I was as a person.
I realize that everyone might not have the knowledge that I have gained from formal education, but there are ways to spend time doing things with your children. I have made spending time with Benjamin during project time a priority. Our projects are sometimes fancy, like this past October's projects, but others are certainly not. In fact, all of the Halloween projects wore me out a bit, and we have focused on simple ones like stapling and taping paper scrapers (which my son has loved having an almost endless supply of tape.) I view this not as something exclusively mine, but a choice that anyone can make. Priorities seem to dictate life. Where are priorities lie is where our time and energy goes. I think that we all make choices everyday. I don't think that mother is probably at a place to hear this, but if she were, I would like her to know that I will continue to choose to make spending time with Benjamin a priority in my life and that this privilege isn't exclusively mine.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Letter to Santa
I know it is a bit early to be thinking about letters to Santa, but the following happened at our house this week. Benjamin and I were shopping together, and we found some Halloween costumes on clearance. Included in the costumes was one lonely, purple lightsaber. Benjamin immediately fell in love. I told him that if he really wanted it that he could ask Santa for it for Christmas. Upon returning to car, Benjamin immediately wanted to write a letter to Santa. We started talking about how to spell lightsaber and that it started with an "l." We came home and Benjamin wrote this letter. 
He wanted to send it in the mailbox, but I told him how Santa's elves are always watching and if we leave it by the fireplace then they will pick it up and deliver it to Santa at the North Pole. He went to bed that night with great anticipation and the first thing out of his mouth the next morning was "let's go see if my letter to Santa is gone." I think it took a few days to get to Santa, but Benjamin opened a letter from Santa this morning that he found next to the fireplace.
The pictures down below are of his reaction. He was very impressed with the gold inside the envelope. He has now been talking about Santa coming all day. The wait is going to long for this three year old!
Here is Benjamin's version of the story. "It was by the fireplace and then I came and got it. I opened the gold star letter. Santa said if you are a good boy, I will do the lightsaber for you. I was feeling happy."
He wanted to send it in the mailbox, but I told him how Santa's elves are always watching and if we leave it by the fireplace then they will pick it up and deliver it to Santa at the North Pole. He went to bed that night with great anticipation and the first thing out of his mouth the next morning was "let's go see if my letter to Santa is gone." I think it took a few days to get to Santa, but Benjamin opened a letter from Santa this morning that he found next to the fireplace.
The pictures down below are of his reaction. He was very impressed with the gold inside the envelope. He has now been talking about Santa coming all day. The wait is going to long for this three year old!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Blogging Security
Here is a KSL story (after a commercial) about blogging security. We have heard some scary stories from friends about the potential dangers of blogging. There are probably some things that we could do to be better, but we have done a few things to be safe. We don't put our last name on our blog or mention the city that we live in. We have also asked friends to not put our last name on their blog if they link here. You can also make it so your blog doesn't show up on search engines. With so many blogs, there probably isn't a huge probability of something happening to anyone in particular but better safe than sorry.
Video Courtesy of KSL.com
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Happy Birthday Dad!
"Dear Daddy,
I love you so much. We love you. We love your office. You are so nice. I like to do somethings with Dad. I like to spend time with nights reading books. We love you. I like to cook pizza with you. I like to get the mail with you. I like when you are a robot. When your playing, you are fun. I'm so glad your my daddy. I love you.
Love,
Benjamin"
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