Mom Remembers

One of my greatest worries about having four children was that I would not be able to welcome and love my new baby as well as I had the others.  Now that he is here, I feel that he is perhaps the most welcomed and best loved of all my sons.  More on that in a moment. I struggled to bond with Leif in utero, in part because pregnancy was old hat to me and in part because life was busy with too many other things.  The new miracle  growing inside of me was the most normal thing about my life.  There were a few good moments that helped me prepare mentally: doing guided meditations during Christmas vacation, my blessingway on January 6th, and a really good conversation I had with Scott about my hopes and worries.  But mostly, my mind was elsewhere. And then there was the birth.  I should have known that it would be a totally unique experience and that it would prepare me for this totally unique child. Needless to say, I'm crazy about the little guy. ...

So ... two big changes this month that have rocked our little homeschooling world. Firstly, Carl started going to public preschool. Wild, I know.  I'm as surprised as you are.  Totally flummoxed, actually. Here's what happened: A friend in our ward has a son about two months older than Carl.  In some ways, he is really developmentally delayed but in others, he's a normal 5-year-old boy.  His name is Owen; I used to do daycare for him a few years back so he and Carl are good friends.  Anyways, Owen's mom asked me if I would consider putting Carl in Owen's preschool class.  She said that there were only eight kids in the class and that they didn't really play together well.  Owen was often left out.  She thought that Carl could "fix" the class, seeing as how he was such a team player. Well now, as flattered as I was to have another mom telling me she thought my son could "fix" the class's social problems, I didn't want Carl to g...

SVEN:  I want more water. ME:  OK.   [I get him some water.]   SVEN:  There. ME:  The polite thing to say is "thank you". SVEN:  You're welcome, Mommy.

Leif Solomon Duede January 10, 2015 at 10:00 pm 6 pounds, 1 ounce and 19 inches

This Christmas found me eight months pregnant and closing fast on my due date.  And with the break in normal activities afforded by our vacation in Illinois, I finally found time to prepare for my fourth son's impending birth.  It seemed like an appropriate focus for my own inner work during the season.  After all, Christmas is about the birth of a very special child. In my pondering, Mary's story became a potent allegory for my own situation.  Although she was unique among women, we have much in common.  The baby she carried was the Son of God, Himself a diety, with a sacred mission to perform.  The baby I carry is also a son of God with divine potential, one who has also been sent to earth with a purpose.  Is it sacrilege to compare my experience with that of the virgin Mary?  To feel like the birth of my son will, in some lesser way, grant our family the gift of " god with us "?   I am sure that, like me, Mary anticipated the good w...

I just wanted to make a quick update about potty training: we are still doing it! I wasn't sure how I wanted to handle potty training on our long car trip to Illinois and during our stay with my in-laws.  But Sven obviously wanted to keep at it.  Even though I put him in a diaper for the trip, he kept it dry and used the big toilets at every rest stop we made.  I really wasn't expecting that but it gave me the confidence to keep working on it during our vacation. He did have quite a few accidents while at me in-laws house, and he really has no idea how to take care of #2.  He also had a couple of days of telling me he wanted to pee every 5 minutes and then not actually needing to go. So this is where things stand, now that we are home: If i take Sven to the bathroom every hour or so, he does a pretty good job staying dry.  He will usually have an accident a day, though, and he still needs to wear a diaper for naps.  I feel that I can trust him to stay...

December!  It's been a busy month and it's not over yet!  But we have put homeschool away to enjoy our Christmas vacation.  I will probably do a few read-alouds to catch up for the crazy days in October but other than that, we are off the hook!  So I thought I would update early, to record what we did with our fraction of a month of school. This month I started something new with Sven, in an effort to make special time for him, prepare him for school someday, and keep him from interrupting our homeschool time.  I have instituted Circle Time again.  Before he starts Room Time (and I start school), we take five or ten minutes to be together.  I sit on the rocking chair with Sven in my lap.  We start by singing "Happy Family".  Then I tell him a nursery rhyme (preferably one with actions).  After that, he gets a book, which I read to him.  Then we are done and he goes to get his toys for Room Time.  It is very short but sweet a...