Finger Puppets

When Benjamin was a toddler and we lived in a different state, I was very conscious about the toys that I had for him and how they were kept. With my degree in Early Childhood I wanted to find him good quality toys that were developmental and appropriate. After building a collection, I liked to keep the toys in good organization and order. The pieces were all together so that they could be played with. Because to me what fun is a toy with missing pieces. Back then a puzzle with missing pieces just put me over the edge. Something is just . . . just missing.

One Sunday in church I had a set of finger puppets out for Benjamin to play with. There was another little boy a few months older who toddled over to play with them as well. I handed him two puppets for his chubby fingers to hold. He soon became restless and the father swooped in to take him out of the room before his screams turned siren-like. When they never reappeared for the rest of the meeting, I just knew that my finger puppets would never be seen by me again. This family had a lot on their plate. Sure enough I was right. Bye, bye finger puppets. Bye, bye complete set. I am ashamed to admit that I held a grudge over those little puppets but never said a thing to the family.

On the drive home from church today my thoughts turned to this story. Keeping Jacob contained and quiet is quite the feat. I compare it to the ocean waves, sometimes calm and quiet but sometimes wild and sporadic. I know every mother that has had to corral a little one for three hours of church has felt the frustration. Today wasn't even a difficult day, last Sunday was much worse. Jacob even went to others today willingly! And thanks to Joy, Janette, Amy, and Laura (which I still owe Laura a new book because two weeks ago Jacob ripped it), we made it through.

As I thought about my little struggles of the day, I felt in my heart a wave of compassion. Compassion that I held animosity in my heart about silly little finger puppets for far to long. Compassion for those have young children and are doing their best. Compassion for how hard Sundays can be for some, especially parents who have a child with disability. Compassion for people who are trying to do their best and inadvertently may take a finger puppet home with them. May I be blessed to feel more compassion and give far less thought to finger puppets.

What am I going to do with . . .

Jacob? He is so CRAZY and the use of bold and capitals is very appropriate for that word. Multiple times everyday he is on the kitchen table running around saying "owie fall," but it doesn't deter him. He has fallen off several times but is like the Energizer bunny on repeat. He is also a huge dumper of toys, drawers, cabinets, etc. I had a huge overhaul and reorganization of the playroom over Christmas break because I couldn't stand the mess of toys everywhere. I used to think this was messy (this picture is from when Emma was younger- February 2010).Now I look back and think seriously ~are you kidding me that you thought that was messy! I have no pictures now of the messes that Jacob can make, but trust me it is fifty times the mess that picture above shows.

So after the Christmas break organization/new system implementation things had definitely improved. Our new system looks like this with locks on two of the three toy storage cupboards that we have in the playroom.

Then the inside looks like this with bins of individual toys.

The cabinet below is open all the time so that Emma and Jacob do have some free access to toys ~ although just this week Jacob has decided that the baskets make a great ladder for getting things above his head so this cabinet might get a lock on it as well.
It has been perfect because Benjamin can open them and get what he needs out. The little ones can ask for toys, get out one bin, play with it, and pick it up before getting something new out. There are more bins of toys stored in the storage closet, and we rotate what is in the toy cabinets every few weeks/days depending on how things are going.

The tiny kitchen also got a lock because I was tired of the dumping of the pretend food every chance Jacob could get. He used to run for the tiny kitchen first thing in the morning, swing the doors open with vigor, and dump every piece of food out until it finally oozed like an oil spill to cover every carpet fiber. The new system has been to unlock it if the kids wanted to play and then it would get cleaned up and locked when not actively in use to prevent the toy chaos. The system has been so beneficial for my sanity. There are still toys on the floor a majority of the day but just not the dumping of toys so that an inch of carpet couldn't be seen. Our new system had been working so well . . . until today!

Jacob decided that he wanted to play with something that he didn't have access to and so he took matters into in own hands. Over went the kitchen exposing the back that is open so he could get what he needed. This is just so typical of Jacob. He has so much energy, smarts, and initiative that he is constantly solving his own problems with very creative solutions, and I have to add that his solutions are almost always dangerous and make a mess. [As an aside and further example to Jacob's solutions to his own problems, he really wanted to open the bottom of our gas fireplace when he saw all the cool wires exposed one day. His solution? Use the old school popper vacuum toy to bang it really hard until it pops open so he can play in all the wiring. It is taped shut with packing tape right now but that might not be strong enough for long.] I really don't know what to do with him . . . I keep saying "it's just a phase and this too shall pass." May it pass quickly so that I will still have enough patience and persistence to outwit his next moves!

Weather Woes

We have had some crazy weather here. First a snow storm and now an ice storm. The worst part for sure has been the ice. 250,000 people have been without power just in three counties of Western Washington (our county, the one south, and the one north). It has been a blessing that we have power because many in the neighboring town are still without with most going on 36 hours. We have lost our home phone, internet, and cable which could take days to come back on. The problem is all the heavy ice is weighing down trees which are snapping and downing lines everywhere.

It is funny because there has been news reports about how "wimpy" everyone here in the NW is about the storm. In a small way I do agree with it, but in many ways it is so false. I agree because people took this storm very seriously and cancelled school on Tuesday even though there was absolutely nothing. But I disagree because even growing up in Chicago and then living in Upstate New York for two years, I know snow and this snow/ice combination is dangerous. The dangerous part is that the temperature can't make up its mind and so the freezing/thawing craziness is wreaking havoc. When the roads are frozen and then slick wet snow falls on top it makes the conditions pretty dangerous. Then at night is freezes again and forms another layer of ice. The forecast kept predicting that it would warm up and the snow would turn to rain, but instead yesterday it turned to freezing rain and then made a nice combination of frozen snow, ice, refrozen slush, and then ice. It was nasty and the infrastructure here just wasn't designed to deal with harsh elements and so many are without power.

But the thing that I am most proud of is that even in the conditions most people from Washington make do. I headed to the store yesterday (it didn't have power and was running generators to keep a limited store open- no produce, dairy, frozen food, deli, or cold sections) and many people were just making do. They were buying wood to keep fireplaces going, fuel to cook outside, and charcoal briquets. I was surprised at the resiliency. I would have thought that most people would head to hotels but most are staying put and making do in their own homes. It is amazing to see.

Our freezing rain is now just rain, and we are hoping that things will get better for all those without power quickly. But I am going to stand up for the NW with all the naysayers who are calling us "wimpy." There are no wimps here~ just good people with resiliency making the best of a nasty situation!

Real Snow!

We got some snow on Sunday and Monday but it was all just a dusting and then melted off. Then yesterday school was cancelled (totally crazy) and there wasn't snow at all just some slush up on the hill by the school and nothing down by us. Everyone was going crazy with preparations for the biggest snow forecast in a decade which hit last night and today. I don't think that we got nearly what they predicted, but we did get 4 or 5 inches which is a blizzard for us. We all headed out to play in it this morning.

By the time I got the camera out (we were all busy building our snowmen), Jacob was cold and ready to go in. He did have fun but could barely walk and mostly just stood around and pulled off his mitten.

This is what Emma did for a good 30 minutes or so. She swept up the snow!

Here is Benjamin rolling a snow ball for a snowman's head.

Proof that I was there. Benjamin took this for me.

Our snow family (snowman dad, mom, kid, and a snow cat) they are kind of hard to see but we had a blast making them!

Our snow cat

Snow!

MLK Assembly at School

12 for 12 January

Top Left to Bottom Right: Emma~ crafting in the morning ~ early out day for Benjamin so we headed the park after the little kids naps ~ Benjamin's snowman that he brought home from school ~ cute hat with the chappy red face ~ Emma's favorite book this week from the library "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" ~ my menu for the week which I am pretty proud of because we ate a variety of yummy food and I was planned out with food in the fridge for nine days ~ Emma at the park ~ getting filthy dirty in the wet muddy woodchips at the park ~ climbing up all by himself (yikes!) ~ hanging from the monkey bars ~ it is amazing to how many sippies are in the dishwasher each night so I had to document one because next month they will be gone for Emma ~

Benjamin's 7th Birthday

There was a soccer theme for his birthday this year. He woke up to find the dining room decorated like this.

He got to open his presents in the morning. He got two legos set and some money from grandparents. He also got a cool bug book from the Scheidts later on in the day.

birthday pancake breakfast

Benjamin decided that he wanted to bring a "donut cake" to school so I found an some pictures online and made one. (Note: I made it about 3 hours before deliver, and it totally smashed the bottom row~ next time I would make it right before serving.)

At school ready to pass out his birthday treat . . .

and celebrate with another friend in class.

After school we headed to the bowling alley with a friend from school. We got the bumpers put up and had a fun time!


After bowling Benjamin and I and the friend and his mom headed to get frozen yogurt while Stephen headed to pick up take out from Benjamin's favorite Japanese restaurant for dinner. By the time we got back home Benjamin was bit sick from all the sugar and saved his dinner for the next day. We also saved our own smaller donut cake for the next morning for breakfast as well.
We ended up celebrating all weekend long as we had another celebration on Sunday as well along with cupcakes for dessert. A wonderful sugar-filled birthday weekend!

Happy 7th Birthday Benjamin!