Potty Training

For two weeks now, I have repeatedly been asked how we have a potty trained two year old boy none the less, well quite simply all four of our kids with the exception of one were all potty trained before age two or right at their second birthday, our child with ASD, was two and a half.  I never have really put a lot of thought into this to be totally honest, we just did it, it took about a week, sometimes (our boys especially usually did not wear clothes), we had accidents, and of course frustration.  I am in no way an expert but here are some of the things we did, and for us, they worked.

I never yelled when cleaning up an accident, we just cleaned it up and moved on a simple uh oh, next time we better get to the potty fast, seemed to work wonders

We never used pull ups, except at night and that was brief, like three months or less

I would take our children potty pretty much every thirty minutes for the first two days, they seemed to start telling me about day three

I never used a "little potty", our children use the big potty, yes that meant I had to be there all the time, every time for a while, but it also meant less work, no cleaning little training potties, and no retraining bigger children to use the real potty

I tried to never leave our children in wet diapers, very expensive, but worth it,  and this seemed to heighten their awareness, all our children but one were telling me when they went potty by about 18 months, so we could change them, this was also around the time, they were all put on the potty to sit and read or just explore it

We have four bathrooms, you might think that privacy would not be an issue, I never recall since having children being alone in the bathroom, I think this has been beneficial, they saw mommy and daddy in the bathroom so there was never any fear associated with the potty

I never went from under wear to diapers, and back and forth, we went to under wear and that was it, no going back, no wavering

Of course every family is different, and therefore these strategies worked for us, not everyone, hope they help!

A Great Teaching Resource

I stumbled across this on Facebook, and it looks great, I just ordered two and am adding the button to the blog, hope that you will check this out and consider a set a for your family.  I will post pictures, as soon as I assemble ours!!! 

Finding the HAPPY medium

This has always been something I struggled with and probably always be, but I am trying daily.  I want to get it all done to every ones expectations, and then more, to every ones satisfaction.  Can you say unreasonable expectations of myself and others???!!! You see I was having one of those days, where I was just being really hard on everyone around me and myself of course and I felt this urging to write a list of all that we had accomplished and realized we were doing great, I have a sixteen year old with 22 college credits, and he is almost a certified locksmith, our eleven year old is almost done with her six grade curriculum, our other daughter is almost done with her first grade curriculum, and Isaac well he is two, but potty trained. This made the light bulb go off in my head, we are actually ahead of schedule, not behind, and not struggling with school. I realized I do not need to be so driven to meet unrealistic goals, much less meet the goals that other people think we need to meet, I am raising pretty great kids overall, and most days, not all,  having fun in the process, so in my opinion, that is a good thing, and really what matters the most to me!

                                            So here are some things that I am finding to help in our home:

Start EVERYDAY in prayer

Get into the word, EVERY DAY, more so when I am feeling frustrated and overwhelmed

Time Out for fun, for all of us, even a walk around the block can change all our attitudes and make for such a better morning, afternoon, yes even evening

Not comparing myself to others and how they are doing and getting it all done, because really they are just like me, and NOT getting it all done





The Question

I was asked three times this weekend alone, why I home school so let me clear this up right away, and I will start with the reasons why I do not.

Reasons I do not Home School:

To keep my kids locked up and under my full control

I think public schools and teachers are failing, granted some are but not all

I want my kids to fail later in life

To have a clean and organized home

I do not want my children to be indoctrinated with pop culture

Reasons why I Home School:

I enjoy having my children, and letting them learn at their own pace, we do not unschool for the record

None of my children learn the same, yet I am expected to think that 25 children in one classroom all learn the exact same way

I want my children to spend time learning Christian Values and Morals, that in my opinion can be lacking in the public school

I want to watch my children grow and learn together, to achieve goals together, to support each other, to work together and to love each other

I want them to learn in action, by doing things, not by sitting at a desk or standing in line, all though home schooling does require us to sit at the table and do the book work too

I do not feel that a standardized test is going to tell you or the educators much about my child, or the wonderful people they are now and will grow to be

I want to be able to raise children who are proud of the people that God made them to be NOT define their worth on their GPA

You see, these four little precious angels are not mine, they belong to Jesus, he is their Father, and I am merely here with them for a short time and I hope and pray that I can teach them all they need so that when they do leave here, they are strong in their faith, and are ready for love, life and happiness, because in the end these really are the important things!

Pity Party

The last few days have been a real struggle, first I had an ear infection that I did not seek treatment for, so it got very bad and painful so not much got done around the house, of course.  Then Savannah got sick, with what I thought was an ear infection so we took her to the pediatrician right away, she had croup, this caused her iron to drop to very low levels, she has anemia and a very weak and compromised immune system so when she gets sick needless to say, it can be really scary.  I had somehow convinced myself in my mind that we had "cured" her being that she had not been sick in a very long time, but then this hit and guilt and sadness came rushing over me.  I feel so sorry that she has these struggles in life, I wonder could I have done something different, what happened differently in my pregnancy with her that did not happen with our two older children?  Then I have to stop and remind myself it was not us, it was God, he gave her to us this way to help her, to teach her, and to support her through all this.  She is going to be an amazingly strong and brave woman someday, and I will be proud to say that I was a small part of that!

Talk about a new adventure.....

So here goes, our latest adventure, we do not like to sit by watch things at this house.....a new puppy.  Now, first I must say that I have ALWAYS BEEN A CAT PERSON, they are relatively self sufficient, usually do not make messes on the floor, and of course ABSOLUTELY entertaining.  Well, the last time I went to to the animal shelter we went to look.....I came home with the cutest little mix breed healer, who we would name.....HAPPY.  She is a year old, she sheds, digs holes in the grass, chews wooden train tracks, and is not particularly found of the chickens, but she was adorable, about to be put to sleep and she made me happy when I saw her, so the children all too easily talked us into bringing her home, and well she is ours and we love her to pieces.

So I got a call from my friend about a nine week old puppy who was left at the shelter, needed surgery, and of course a home.  I am a sucker for these kinds of stories, they just break my heart into two, and I always to help, so we went to meet him today, to see if they would allow us to adopt him being that his leg was broken by a child, I thought for sure they will say NO, when they see all the children behind mom and dad, nope she said we had a great family, and he would fit right in.  Not quiet the answer I was looking for, as Taylor, who LOVES all animals, really had her heart set on him and I guess secretly I did too, he is adorable you can see for yourself in a few days, he will be home on Wednesday, and then we can take his picture, his name is Eli, not sure if we will keep it or change it to Snowball, family vote for that tomorrow!

16 YEARS HAVE COME AND GONE

Our oldest had his birthday yesterday, he is sixteen, I can hardly believe it!  Where in the world does the time go, I remember hearing that when he was a baby and thinking, it is not going by too fast when you are never sleeping.  Truth is it does, and way too fast in my opinion.  He is a remarkable young man, a planner, a goal setter, a goal reacher, an entrepreneur at the very heart, he is respectful, he cares about people, he loves life, and yes he even loves his family.  I hear all the time that these years are so hard, and I am here to say do not listen, they have been great,  we have had our moments, I will not lie.  I have lost my temper when I shouldn't have, he has rolled his eyes, and yes he has talked back, it is rare here,  I like to think that is because we are close and have been, that he respects me, and of course that he loves me.  Crazy yes, but having a teenager in our home has been great, I would like to say it has been fun, and it has been.  He is amazing and I am so proud that I get to call him son.

What an AMAZING WEEKEND

Sunday morning both our daughters woke up and decided they wanted to "do school", so there they sat at our kitchen table working ever so diligently on school.  The eleven was working hard to get down her fractions, and she did it!  The seven year old was working hard on her handwriting, which surprised me being that she despises handwriting with a passion!  I guess all it takes is an older sibling to set a positive example and the little ones seem to want to have all the "fun" the big kids are.  What a fabulous blessing this was as I had so much to get done and of course so little time, but then that would be the story of my life! Just one more reason why I love to home school, the schedule, the flexibility, and the fact that we can school at our own pace, sometimes even in our pajamas.

Life returning to Normal......Whatever that is

We took last week off from school and just did stuff....played in the snow, went to the park, made crafts, stayed in our jammies and watched movies. Wow we are an exciting bunch of six!  This week we are getting back to normal, which means school and the joys and trials that come with home schooling!  I just love these four little people more than anyone will ever now, even them, but I do have my moments and this year I am not going to make silly resolutions that I can not keep instead I am going to go with some simple goal setting, or efforts to change in some areas so here goes.....

I will stop and smell flowers, or look at "scary bugs", and even watch the cars pass us by on our walks, more often than I do now just so that we can enjoy the moments and make more memories.

I will try and keep calm when those maddening things arise, and remember the quote THIS TO SHALL PASS, it always does and when it does I feel awful for making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Read scripture daily with the children, NOT SKIP ONE DAY in our devotionals and if some crisis makes us skip a day we WILL DO THE WORK TO CATCH UP, no excuse.

Stop being so hard on myself, this is going to be the tough one.  I know this about myself: I love order, I love for things to run smoothly, I love to be ahead, I love to plan, I love to know exactly what is going to happen and then make it happen.  So I will be working on letting go and LETTING GOD.

What I learned from my mother's death is that tomorrow is not promised to us, and I want to rediscover in myself the little things that make me a wonderful mother and most importantly a beautiful daughter of Our Lord!  I want to please Him in everything that I do and I know if that remains my focus, the rest will just fall into place!

10 Tips to a Stress Free 2012 Holiday Season

So here goes, some of the things that I do in advance so that I can really reflect on Christ's Birth and of course enjoy my friends and family and NOT be swamped by all the last minute things, even though they still come up, hey I am just a mother not a perfect one.

1.  Start with a list, I love lists, who are you giving gifts to and come up with some fun ideas.

2. I start baking the Christmas goodies, as soon as Thanksgiving over and freeze them, taking them out a few days before I need to start packaging them for the recipients.

3. Start making home made gifts now, grandparents love these, we always make something with photographs; calendars, coasters, wall hangings, quilts with pictures, and even sometimes art from the kids.

4. Keep a closet, tub, bin, shelf or whatever you have room for filled with fun things that you can make baskets or stockings for children you may know, stamps, tablets, stickers, puzzles, bubbles, hair bows, airplane gliders, the list can go forever.  These items packaged in a pretty little package are a big hit!

5.  Stock up on school supplies when they go on sale.  We home school and our children love to create things so markers, tablets, folders, binders, crayons, pencils, sharpeners, fun erasers, colored pencils, rulers, construction paper, glue, you name it these all make such fun gifts.

6.  Stock up on journals these make great gifts for the special girls and women in your life and some pens and tie it off with a pretty bow and viola great gift.

7.  My teenager and preteen love clothes, so I buy a size larger when there is a great sale and save them for the holidays, in my closet.

8. Nightstand books are always great, I love the Chicken Soup Series, and you can usually find some great deals at Borders and Barnes and Noble.  There is always a small book, that will remind you of someone special in your life.

9. Gift cards seem to be the rage, so buy one when you can and just keep adding to your pile, it will grow quickly.

10.  Homemade Gifts I like to make.....advent calendars, gift baskets, notepad holders, speciality frames, book marks, photo calendars, planners, soap, candles, bath salts, sugar scrubs, salt scrubs the list goes on and on as I just like to create. 

Doing a little work over the course of the year means no shopping with the crowds at the last minute, and most importantly more time for the best stuff, your friends and family!

Please share your tips with us, we would love to learn from you too!

Well I am a little behind.....

I had planned to post great money and sanity saving tips for the Holidays, but I became overwhelmed with grief, while celebrating them, so I took a little break.  This is the first year we have not been blessed to have my mother with us, she passed away unexpectedly at age 50, on Mothers Day.  So for me this time of year has been a little harder than I had previously anticipated it being. So I will get to work really soon with some tips so that you can start planning for the Holidays and enjoy them in 2012.