Parenting Thursday: Where to Put the Kid's Stuff??

So I am going to assume if you have children sooner than later your house becomes over run with their stuff.  Ours has.  A long time ago the kid's stuff began to out number our stuff and it's slowly but quickly taking over the place!!

When you open the coat closet and things are falling out at you or so jammed packed in there you can't get a thing out, well then you've reached enough.  Here's a look at how I unburied our coat closet that well still holds more kids stuff than coats.  It's a start.

Of course Sage my assistant was in rare form to "help" as usual. 

We picked up this rubbermade organizer at Big Lots I think for around $20.  It needed to house puzzles, coloring books and lots more.

 First up were puzzles.  Cy has a gazillion of them, there must have been 3 dozen little 24 piece puzzles thrown in there.  To save room I cut the picture on the box so he could see the puzzle picture and put it in a ziplock bag with all the pieces.  I saw this idea awhile back somewhere out there in blog land, great way to save room and help keep pieces all in one place.

The rest of the drawers went to house coloring books, worksheets, sticker sheets and  flashcards/ educational toys.

An afternoon, rubbermade container, alot of ziplock bags and.....

 the closet is organized!  The only down side the vacuum cleaner now has to be lifted up over the rubbermade container to get it out.  I will admit to Sean's contentment that yes it is a pain, but I never said I had all the answers.  Nor do I know where you think I am always putting your shoes.  Sorry had to go there!

Parenting Thursdsay: Santa's List

This year's list to Santa had a little forethought.  To rewind just a bit, we had a few issues last year.

There were the easy things like a train and a robot, but then someone got pretty specific.  We still haven't found a Stinky Pete, from Toy Story, figure.  And boy did we have some 'splaining to do why Santa's workshop might not make those.

And there was also the girl nutcracker that Cy asked especially for mommy.  Well the nutcracker with the long hair didn't pass by the 3 year old as a "girl".  What was the first thing Cy pointed out on the tree this year?  "Look mommy, there's the nutcracker Santa got you.  But he didn't get you the girl one I asked for".  So..... this year we went with this:

I made up a letter for Cy to fill in the words. Santa, his name, school, his teacher's name ect.  He got to work on writing and spelling words along with some counting towards the end while making his list.

So Santa this year we're looking at Transformers, Super Heroes, Scooby doo, Art stuff and Legos.  Quite the list that described my attentive, creative and absolutely wonderful 4 year old.

Cy also helped with Sage's list.  We're thinking Sage was in agreeance with this judging by his response, "Ma, ma, na, na" laughter, big smile and then rubbing food in his hair. (we made our list at dinner, although it doesn't have to be meal time for Sage to rub food in his hair) Cars, play people, duplo blocks, farm animals and art stuff- but Cy says no crayons he eats those.  True Cy, True.


Alright Santa, let's see you work your magic!
P.S. Throw us some candy tomorrow at the Christmas Parade
Thanks,
The Joneses

Parenting Thursday: Chances are......

If you give your 1 year old a cupcake.......

He's going to dive right in.

He'll go for the frosting.

Which will get all over his face.

When he gets it on his face it'll leave a frosting mustache.

He might go in for another bite and eat the paper.

This wont stop him, he'll go until the frosting is gone.

And chances are if the frosting is gone it is all over him and you!

If you tell your 4 year old to pretend he's a king.....

He's going to ask you for a crown.

He'll ask you for some construction paper and ask you to cut one out.

Then he'll need some markers to color it in.

Once he has a crown he'll need a staff.

He'll get excited when you find a paper towel roll to wrap it in construction paper.

He'll need his markers again.

Once he has his crown and his staff he'll need a cape.

Good thing grandma made him one with his name!

Chances are once he's dressed as a king, he'll turn daddy into a knight!

Parenting Thursday: Imagination Play

Cultivating Imagination:

Let the kids play

I get such a kick out of watching my boys play.  Sage is getting to the age when he can finally play with his big brother.  He's been watching and waiting in awe for 14 months to be able to do everything Cy does.


While he's still working on it for now he'll tag along and try to do as big brother does.  Free play and interactive play between the two is important for growing imagination, self expression and exploration.

This was the state of my kitchen tonight, assorted cake and muffin pans, play dough toys and tools.  Sage entertained himself for quite some time putting muffin liners in and out of the tins.  While Cy created the wind by waving an empty egg carton back and forth.  Of course I got to taste all pretend food that the two of them came up with, and I have to say it was just as delicious as the pom-pom soup.

Saturday morning we woke up to our first seasonal snow fall.  Within 10 minutes of Cy being up we were outside in full snow apparel.  Catching snowflakes and making snowballs until Cy was content he experienced enough snow, got wet fingers and decided he wanted hot cocoa.

Sunday morning we gathered sheets and blankets to recreate Medusa's case in our living room.  Cy watched Clash of the Titans with Daddy the night before.  Sage and Cy spent the morning crawling through the cave, cashing each other and then saving each other from the "lava" blankets laid out on the floor. 


Muffin pans, first snow and "lava" blankets they know how to entertain themselves.  A child's imagination is endless.........

Parenting Thursday: Oh, Mr. Sage

My name is Sage and trouble is my game.

Over the last couple of weeks it has been quite apparent I'm entering, at full force, my toddler stage.

The other night I made my first daring escape up the staircase.  I popped that baby gate off at an angle, crawled under and I was off.  Well that was until daddy heard me and caught me halfway up the stairs.

My new favorite perch is the couch, I must have just grown a couple inches or figured out how to get up just right on my tippy toes.  I can now climb up there all by myself, then I am quite content to just sit for a little while until no one is looking and I take a high flying dive right off onto the floor.

I'm a little rough and affectionately known as baby thor.  Earlier in the week I took a not so loving whack at my big brother's face.  I clobbered him upside the nose with a play kitchen toy; there was blood and a not so happy mommy.

While I 'm pretty new at being able to get up on the couch I'm an old pro at the stool, chair and both end tables.  I like to stand right up on them and let out a big scream.

I love to go outside.  In fact to let everyone know I'll even go get my shoes and yell at you to put them on.  Once outside mommy's not to keen on my fascination with trying to go into the road; to me it just looks like the right place to walk.

My favorite toys are anything I can drum, bang or pound together or onto something else.  Kitchen spoons, spatulas, wooden blocks, toy cars and mommy's phone.  They make the best sounds on the windows!

I got 'em good the other night when I didn't want to wear my sandals in the car.  I took them right off and tossed one out the open window; that took care of that.

I'm usually quite content when I'm well feed, entertained, the center of attention and attached to mommy's side.  Ahh... the musings of a 13 month old.  We love him, wouldn't have it any other way.

Parenting Thursday: One of Those Days

We all have those days when nothing seems to go right; it's hard to parent let alone function.  Well I'm on a streak.

• Last week I had a day filled with bodily fluids/functions, none of which were my own.  2 a.m. Sage peed threw his clothes and mine as I tried to get him back to sleep.  Found out the dog peed in the kids' play tent, set up in the living room filled with blankets, stuffed animals and pillows.  Sage later preceded to poop on the hour every hour, even Cy pooped and insisted Mommy needed to help him wipe.  
•  Both boys have a new favorite game, who can scream/ screech the loudest.  Needless to say my ear drums max out before they can find out.
•  Sleepless nights make for long days.  Sage is back at it, he's teething, therefore not sleeping.  Wednesday after being up 3 or 4 times in the night he was wide awake to play, eat and poop at 4:30 a.m..  I finally got him back to sleep 6:50 a.m., ten minutes before I had to get Cy up for school.
• I went to pay the gas bill, which was late because I was looking at the wrong date, and someone had covered the bill in flower stickers.  I didn't notice until I was there paying the bill.
• I lost two posts for afloral.com that I worked on last week to get ahead, open on the desktop but not saved. Lesson learned.
• No use crying over split milk when you miss your coffee cup and pour it all over the counter. Or burn your knuckles trying to get a hot pan out of the oven before the baby runs in the kitchen.  

So it goes and it all starts to add up but then life throws you a few of these moments and slightly redeems itself:

The boys entertained themselves all afternoon with playfood, bowls and craft pom poms which they made "soup" out of. Mmmm... tastiest soup I've had in a while-- served up with two of the cutest smiles. 

Parenting Thursday: First Haircuts

I have to admit I am one of those parents, moms, that waits and waits to get their baby's 1st haircut. (to my husband: yes you read that right, I said it myself)  There is something so sweet and innocent about those soft little baby locks that you just don't want to give up. 

I did it with Cy and am doing it again with Sage.  I am just not ready to give in and say yes to that first haircut.  Poor Cy looked like a girl by the time I gave in to get it cut, people in the store would actually say oh you're little girl is so cute.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B- Cyrus

Look how long it was in the back, I probably could have pulled it back into a ponytail!   Cy was about 18 months old for his first haircut, at the JcPenney's salon while visiting Nana at work.

 Cy's after shot: baby to little boy haircut

What a cutie, I survived, he survived and we've had many haircuts since then.

But next we come to Mr. Sage.

Exhibit A- Sage (although he is painting in this picture, this is usually what he looks like after he's done eating!)

Exhibit B-Sage's wavy locks

I divulged Monday that no I am not quite ready for Sage's first haircut, I know it is about due.  But I'm hoping to push it off a few more months.  (Sorry Sean)  One I'm just not ready to say goodbye to that sweet little baby head of hair.  Two I'm picturing the nightmare trying to get that child to sit still long enough for someone to cut his hair!

Parenting Thursday: A dose of reality

Every now and then life gives you a little dose of reality.  This week I got mine.  And I've come to the conclusion life should come with a volume button and sleep button.


We've all been kicking around this cold since Cy got done with his first week of school.  He had it with a terrible ear ache and threw up, not quiet sure what I had this week resembled a head cold with a slight fever and now baby sage has a sore throat.  A bunch of sick, tired and whining kids and mom.


Cy is still adjusting to his new school schedule and hasn't quiet grasped the concept of down time.  He goes from non stop school fun to his cousin's house for more play.  By the time I get him we are in whine mode.  Anything and everything can set him off, he reaches that nice pitch that brings a slight twitch to the corner of your eye.  


Sage is in that stage where he has found his voice.  Which he seems to really like as he screams, screeches at the top of his lungs.  Then claps his hands laughs and does it all over again.  Thinking I might invest in a nice pair of earplugs to muffle the sound a bit.


And as for sleep that's a short novel onto it's own.  Neither of my boys are one to simply just go to bed.  I forever envy parents that put their kids to bed and turn off the light.  I might have them start putting me to bed I swear you only have to tell me once and tuck me in.  What happens after that is the dogs' problem.


So life's really not that bad, but occasionally a mom has to vent. Pushing on through, tomorrow's Friday and definitely a TGIF friday!

Parenting Thursday: Back to School Update

So Cy is officially a school kid, he made it through his first (almost full) week of school.  He was exhausted and still excited all at the same time.  He came home last Thursday, his second day at school and put himself to bed.  He says school makes him tired and if you ask him what he does there, "we do all sorts of stuff mom".

His favorite thing at school are the BIG farm animals he gets to play with.  But I'm pretty sure singing is up there too, he has a new song everyday he will sing non stop to everyone.

Saturday morning he was so disappointed he couldn't go to school.  We had to reassure him Monday morning he could go back.

Everyone is adjusting to their new schedules. The boys are so excited to see each other by the time we pick Cy up it's cute to watch them become friends.   

Parenting Thursdsay: Morning Makeover

My goal for the month of September is to get my mornings organized, they are a complete disaster.  When I say disaster I mean disaster.  Children running wild, wrestling four year olds to get them dressed, negotiating deals to eat breakfast,  crying, whining babies hanging from your legs as you struggle to even get dressed.  

Yes for the most part that is my morning.  It is not uncommon for Sean to arrive home to pick us up and I am running around half dressed, scrambling to get bottles made, food for lunches and pleading with Cyrus to please for the last time to find his shoes.
Wow, does it really have to be this hard?

No, but in order to whip my mornings into shape I do have to give up a little of something that I hold dear; sleep.  In my world sleep is  hard to come by, and in the past year I have learned to adapt grabbing a few extra moments of rest whenever I can.  

Sage at one year old still does not sleep through the night. In return this means I have not slept for more than four hours straight in over a year.  Now I average around 5-7 hours of interrupted sleep every night. And although he still gets up 2-3 times a night he usually is pretty easy to get back down with a bottle.  A lot better than 6 months ago when I’d sleep for two hours, be up for two hours over and over again until about 6 a.m. when he’d finally crash and then it was too late for me to go back to bed. 

I haven’t set an alarm clock in over a year thanks to my little night owl/ morning rooster. But I’m to a point that I will give up an hour of my precious sleep to settle the tides of my hectic morning. Keeping myself on a schedule, getting up by 6 a.m. every morning, I can get myself together before I have to get Cyrus up and even some mornings before Sage wakes.  

And once I’m awake, with coffee in hand I actually love the quite and stillness of the morning. Stealing a few minutes for yourself at the start of the day can be a golden opportunity.

If I can get myself in order next in line is Cyrus.  We are really trying to keep him on a schedule and trying to use his bedtime and morning charts.  They are a great reminder and instant reward for him to complete his morning tasks, getting dressed, making his bed, breakfast, cleaning up, teeth and shoes. Once he’s completed a task listed he can draw a smiley face next to the picture/ word with a dry ease marker.

 

I made one more addition to his charts this week in hopes of helping him get in a better breakfast routine.  His morning menu lists different choices he has for breakfast, cereal, waffles, eggs ect. and a beverage.  

Cy got a real kick out of this. A couple weeks ago playing with his cousins they all were making and handing out menus to all the adults, which gave me the idea for Cy’s morning menu.  We play or joke around about being a restaurant quite often if we’re at the bakery or even home so this gives Cy a chance to play it up even more. 

So Hello September, Hello a little organization and sanity.... goodbye carefree summer and disaster mornings.  We'll see how this goes.

Parenting Thursday: Routine Charts

We are transitioning into Autumn and falling into order.  Poor Cyrus is so excited for school to start, but a little confused of the where and when.  The boys' summer schedule has been a little here and there.  They are at their Aunt Robins most of the time, Nana took Cy a day a week for a while, my mom had Cy for Tuesday story time and a half a week the end of July add that into a few days I took off.  We have also started to talk to Cy about his new schedule that will start when he goes to school. 

No wonder every morning for the past week he has gotten up and ask “Mommy where am I going today?”.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he started asking “Mommy who am I, where am I going and what is going on?!”.

  First, to start understanding how many days are left before school starts I made Cy’s School Countdown Calendar.  I cut out and added a few weeks that are left in August once the calendar was printed.  
There’s a star on  September 7th, the first day of school, and we’ve started to check off the days leading up to it.  Now he can’t keep telling me he’s going to school tomorrow, he can look at his calendar and know how many days are left.

  Next we are working on the routine of bedtime, which Cy likes to stretch into one more show, one more book and a fight with pajamas.  

Bed time chart shows him at 8:00 (still working on telling time, so I went with a visual he can compare to our clock) he gets a TV show, this is also his last chance for a cup of juice and a light snack.  Then TV is OFF and we read a couple books, get pajamas on and brush our teeth.  Then it’s lights out.

      We are going to try a similar chart for his wake up routine.  Morning chart starts with waking up, getting dressed and making up the bed.  I’ve found this is better to do once he is first up otherwise he gets into too many other things to focus on his morning responsibilities.  

Next is breakfast, this is a big one because I’ve been so lax with this for so long.  I never worried if he didn’t eat he could always eat at the babysitters, even his short stay at daycare they ate breakfast in the morning there.  If breakfast is accomplished he usually gets a bit of play time before we need to get out the door.  That’s followed by clean up, brushing his teeth and getting on a pair of shoes (well till it gets cold enough to include putting on a coat too).

Visual charts that Cy can keep record on seem to work good with him.  Be Good Chart worked wonders a few months ago.  He definitely is my child and needs visual reminders and something to keep him on track so he doesn’t wander into starting too many things when he’s suppose to be doing something else!  

We are all looking forward to autumn and a little bit more structure in our daily routine.  I’d like to say things will slow down a bit but I just started filling in a blank calendar with all the odds n’ ends and things we already have to do for the month.  I guess I can say that’s not happening, but hopefully being organized will help us save on time. 

A little adds up here and there. I'll take what I can get.  Besides I think the universe and I are getting back on track, things will be okay.

Parenting Thursday: School days

It's official we have a school kid now.  Cy attended his Pre-K round up tonight, he met his teachers, visited his classroom, ran around with a bunch of kids but most importantly tried out all the toys.

This hit me hard.  I can't believe he will be in school starting in just a couple weeks.  We filled out all the paper work in the fall and have been talking about it since Christmas, but all of a sudden wow it just snuck up on me.

September and the start of school will have a whole new meaning.  No longer just another time of the year associated with fall, this is a new stage and a new schedule.

It already feels like we're wrapping up summer and it's only the first week in August.  The kids enjoyed a last minute trip to Midway yesterday with their cousins.  A last little hurrah of our stay-cation.

They have the park memorized for their favorites the cars, helicopters, planes, boats and merry go-round.  They even tried a few games in the arcade but haven't quite gotten the concept of winning tickets to get prizes.  We didn't enlighten them anymore and were still able to leave with a few dollars in our pockets.

I guess it's so long summer, we'll be seeing you in our rear view mirror soon enough.  Hello fall, a new season and a new stage in our 4 year old's life.  

I have a writing project for myself over the next week, inspired by this article from the New York Times,A Letter to a Child Starting Kindergarten.