Browsing Tag

milestones

Growing Up

Thinking of Others: Making Birthdays Special

Thinking of Others, making birthdays special.

Thinking of others is not something that comes natural to us.  We tend to be pretty self-focused.  This is proven true by examining little ones.  They have to learn empathy.  They have to learn to relate to others with kindness and self-lessness.  And they have to be taught to be caring.

I can think of almost no other place where this self-focus can be seen in kids than when it comes time to give a gift.

You know the drill:

You walk into Target and you lay out the game plan for your shopping trip: purchase a gift for Johnnny’s birthday.

Immediately upon entering the toy aisle, your little one starts shopping.  But not for Johnny.

Suddenly she finds toys she NEEDS!  RIGHT NOW!

She forgets the purpose of the shopping trip.  So she needs a little refocus.

Once you get her all refocused on the purpose of the trip to Target, she starts to have her own ideas for what Johnny might want.  And what Johnny might want looks eerily like what she might want.  I assure you, sweet girl, that Johnny does not want a pretty princess dress for his birthday.   Continue Reading

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Growing Up

First Foods and First Messes

first foods and first messes - cleaned up with super soft WaterWipes
This entry is part 1 of 33 in the series Baby Days

This post was sponsored by WaterWipes as part of an Ambassador Program for Influence Central. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review.  As always, all opinions are mine.

Baby skin is SO soft and so sweet.  I am not sure exactly when it loses that special baby-soft quality, but I know it disappears.  I have had friends want to smell my children, touch their whisper soft cheeks and soak in the sweet baby-ness that only lasts an instant.  Our sweet little man (AG) still has it – he is 8 months old – and I am soaking it up while I can.

Soon the snakes and snails and puppy dog tails will take over.  Our sweet little cuddle-bug  will be running around jumping in mud puddles.   Those milestone first foods will become first messes!  For now the messes are staying quite contained. Continue Reading

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Growing Up

Encouraging Independent Sitting

encouraging independent sitting - help baby learn to sit independent of you without using a Bumbo seat
This entry is part 27 of 33 in the series Baby Days

We have an independent sitter!  He doesn’t always remember that he is an independent sitter, but we are to the stage where he can sit on his own for over a minute!  I love this stage for kids!  It is so much fun to see them wobble and catch their balance.  And watching them get a new perspective on the world is neat.

I think we tend to forget just how much WORK it is for a baby to start sitting independently.  The muscles and balance involved is nothing short of herculean for these little five and six month old babies!  And I think there are a LOT of “helpers” on the market that don’t necessarily help baby to work out the core and find balance any faster than they would on their own.

We had a Bumbo seat with our first two babies.  And then I did the purge of 2015, weeks before I got pregnant with our third.  In that purge I got rid of almost everything baby related, including the Bumbo seat.  And when we found out we were pregnant, I had the opportunity to select the things that we would really use to purchase or put on our registry.

The Bumbo seat didn’t make the cut.  And it is not for the reason you would think.  I didn’t add it to our registry and I didn’t purchase one myself this time around; not because I don’t think they “help.”  But because I couldn’t believe how expensive they were!  I did not remember spending as much on our first one and I just couldn’t bring myself to part with the money.

So, we tried the independent sitting “training” a different way this time around.  Unaided by any baby sitting devices, our little one still reached the milestone of independently sitting at the exact same time as his older sisters (who had the benefit of the Bumbo).  And what was wonderful about this process is that I discovered some tips and tricks for encouraging independent sitting with our baby that I wanted to share with you. Continue Reading

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Growing Up

Grandparent’s Day Craft for Preschoolers

Grandparent's Day craft and poem for preschoolers

We have not always been good about getting things in the mail.  And when I say “we,” I mean I have not been good about it.  But we are in the midst of our first preschool unit on mailmen and I took the opportunity to challenge ourselves to get something in the mail in time for Grandparent’s Day.  So I came up with a cute, simple Grandparent’s Day craft for our girls to do. Hopefully they will get to the grandparents some time before the end of the week!

I was doing a little research on crafty things we could make for our 3 sets of grandparents and I came across this cute poem and craft from Joyfully Thriving for Valentine’s Day that I really liked.  I thought it would really work for the grandparents that live in Texas (and for the local ones, too!).  

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Nest Building

Shuffling the Deck

This entry is part 22 of 33 in the series Baby Days

We started to make some changes in our home last year…wait, 2 years ago (how time flies) and we worked through the planning stages of remodeling two rooms of our home.  Then it started to snowball and we started thinking through each of the rooms in our house and how they were being used and how they could be used.  And then, we waited…me, less patiently than my husband.

It took well over a year to get the living room “done.”  The downstairs bath has been in the stage of “almost done” for months (and months, and months).  The laundry room got finished, by the grace of God somewhere in there.  And each of the other rooms are in the planning stages again for what they will someday become.

And in the midst of all this patience and impatience, I have gone about my way as a homemaker, trying to push where I can and be patient where I ought to be.  I learned to work on what I, personally could accomplish and keep (mostly) quiet about the things I couldn’t. Continue Reading

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Growing Up

Simple Toddler Birthday Shirt

Our youngest daughter just celebrated her second birthday a couple of weeks ago!  I can’t believe how she has grown from such a tiny thing to an active toddler!  And what a blessing she is to our family; she is so sweet!

As we were getting ready to celebrate her birthday, I was in the midst of one of the busiest seasons of my year.  I was teaching Bible study, making costumes for our annual visit to Mickey’s Halloween Party, working on a major contributor post for another blog, and keeping this family close to on-track.  And we found out that another one of our friends was having a birthday party for her son on W’s actual birthday.  Instead of thinking of that as a headache, I thought it was a blessing, because I just didn’t have the time to plan a full-blown party. Continue Reading

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