Skip to main content

Favorites

1. This week, we got our tax return and decided to spend it.  That was really exciting.  We don't buy new things very often, just food.  (Lots of good food.)  So dreaming and shopping was super fun.
2. My friends Megan and Michelle got back from LTUE and we spent a lot of time together talking about their writing.  They have inspired me to write and I have been doing a lot of that lately.  I'm writing a novel about Steampunk Vikings!  It's really hard work (not as much fun as I thought it would be).  But I am still going strong, I think because I know that anything worth doing takes a lot of hard work.  So I am proud of myself about that.
3. There were a few days of temperate weather at the beginning of the week.  I knew that it was only false spring but I really enjoyed it.  I went outside without a coat on!  Scott rode his motorcycle to work!  The kids ran around the yard for hours in the afternoons!  It was lovely.
4. Sven has becoming increasingly stable standing on his own two feet.  I clap for him whenever I see him doing it, which delights him.  He still doesn't want to walk at all (not even while holding my hands) but I'm not in a hurry.  Watching him grow up and learn new tricks is awesome.
5. I designed a new system for motivating myself to accomplish my goals.  It's like a game; whenever I accomplish certain designated tasks, I attain a higher level in the game.  (For example, to reach Level 1, I have to read my scriptures.  To reach Level 2, I have to do my housework and then study my Mandarin flashcards for the day.)  At the end of the day, I write on my calendar what level I attained that day.  This was a record-breaking week and, as a result, I got a lot of creative work done.  Including work on my novel.
6. Our walk to the library on Thursday was very pleasant.  There was no whining and we made record time.  I made baby backpacks for the boys' bunnies out of our playsilks and so the bunnies came with us.  Then, they came to baby storytime.  It was fun to see Soren helping Peter to do the actions to the songs and rhymes.
7.  I got a book of lullabies from the library and I've had quite a few of the new ditties in my head.  Now they are in the boys' heads.
8.  We went to dinner at our neighbor's house tonight.  She made an *amazing* leek pie.  Soren and I went scavenging to eat any leftover pieces from the plates of less appreciative children.  Then, after all the kids went to bed, we adults stayed up playing "Space Alert".
9.  I exercised with Michelle 3 times this week.  I am so sore but it feels productive.
10.  This was my very favorite moment with the kids this week: I overheard Carl and his friend Ethan talking to each other.  Carl had been drawing lots of pictures for Ethan of his favorite Disney princess.  Ethan confided in Carl, "Emma was my best friend but now we are married so you are my best friend."  And Carl said, "Of course I am!  I drew you all those Elsas!"

Comments

Oozaroo said…
I really want to see Carl's princess pictures!

Popular posts from this blog

Our Potty Training Journey

February 2010 GOAL:  My initial goal was to introduce Soren to the toilet and make it a fun place to sit.  I have to admit that I also hoped that we would have some fortunate "accidents" that would lead to potty training success. STRATEGY:  My plan was to sit Soren on the toilet once a day and read him a couple of stories.  If he peed, I was planning to give him a candy. THE BAD NEWS:  The candy totally backfired.  The one time that he peed on the toilet, I gave him a candy and he had a full-on tantrum begging for more.  If I ever told him "When you pee on the potty, you can have a candy", he would begin screaming for the treat and be unable to focus on the toilet training. THE GOOD NEWS:  Soren was not afraid of sitting on the big toilet.  He actually really enjoyed it (when I was reading stories and not pimping rewards) and started asking to sit there any time his butt was bare. J June 2010 GOAL:  My goal was to potty train S...

What Works for Us: Room Time

I've decided to do a new series of posts on how I make parenting work for us. Every parent does it differently--which is great!--but I have a hard time keeping my discoveries to myself. The things I do may not work for anyone else but I want to record them and remember them. Hopefully, it will also help me vent my soap-box-y-ness so that I'm not always imposing my ideas on other people. That will be what "What-Works-for-Us Posts" are about. One of the things that we have always done, but has made a HUGE difference in the move from one to two children, is Room Time . When Soren was 6 months old, I started having him play alone (in a safe place) every day for a few minutes. At first it was only five minutes in the port-a-crib but we quickly worked up to fifteen, then thirty. At that time, I used those precious minutes to do housework or relax on the couch. When I was pregnant with Carl, Soren would play alone for about an hour in his room and I would usually tak...

Just Enough is More

They say that later-born children have skinny photo albums.  While parents lavish attention on the firstborn (making certain to record every milestone and in both print and pixels), later children are forgotten and neglected.  So the common wisdom goes. Maybe its true.  There are certainly fewer posts on this blog about the younger boys than there were about the older ones.  And there's no doubt about it: fewer photos are taken now-a-days.  I don't even want to talk about videos.  Poor neglected Leif.  According to the records, he's hardly even a presence in this house. Except that's not true. The paucity of posts and pictures does not reflect an absence of affection.  It does not speak to my feelings about living with children at all.  I find them no less delightful and amazing than I did eight years ago when I first began my mothering journey.  If anything, the little ones delight me even more now.  I know better how to enjo...