Imaginary Friends

Honor, the 8 year old, has created a journal full of imaginary friends. She let her dad and me look through it tonight, which was quite a treat. While browsing through page after page of pretty princesses, we ran across this guy. When asked about him, Honor said, "Oh, that's George. He lives off of dirt and lima beans. He sleeps in a cardboard box next to a coffee shop because he likes coffee." 

Where does the child get it??

My daughter, the lush

In celebration of autumn, I introduced the kids to acrostics yesterday. I had all four of them write and decorate an acrostic with the word "LEAVES", using words representing things they are thankful for or words that represent fall. Honor was the first one finished and proudly shared her poem. 

Beside the letter, L, Honor had written "licker". Upon further investigation, it turns out "licker" means "liquor". That's right, my darling angel is thankful for the booze that makes her mommy easier to live with. (kidding!)

Upon even further investigation, Honor didn't hear the part about using fall or thankful words.  While I'm relieved, I still find it disturbing that the first thing she thought of was booze.

Forever Younger

Overheard at breakfast:

Honor: Sarah, that song is getting old.

Chris (my dear husband): Your mom is getting old. (too much Napoleon Dynamite)

Honor: No she's not!

Chris: In fact, she's as old as I am now. (our birthdays overlap by 4 days)

Honor: Well, she doesn't look it.

Mama: Honor, I have chocolate for you on my desk.

Too Much or Not Enough?

School has not gone according to plans this week.  We're on week two and still doing school until 7-8:00 each night.  My goals in homeschooling are to teach them to love the Lord their God with all their hearts, all their strength, and all their minds.  Following these in importance, my goal is to teach them to love learning.  One doesn't love learning if one is doing NOTHING but learning.  One also isn't growing, contributing, or even actually learning anything at all if school is all that one does.  One also begins to talk like Yoda when using the word "one" too much one does.

I have no idea how school is taking so long.  On paper, it looks great.  There are a few extra subjects this year.  Old subjects are harder this year.  And I am slower to help with assignments since I'm teaching the girls full classes.  I decided last night to give them Friday off and today I set out to pull out the workboxes that made our lives wonderful last year.  These certainly help with keeping the schedule flowing better.  Even then, I was unsure how I would fit everything in.  I had so many perfect plans for the year, yet not enough slots in the schedule to place them.

When labeling a new folder for a new subject (literary analysis,) I saw that the title was too long, so I abbreviated.  It was at the moment that I wrote the words "Lit Anal" that it hit me:  Yeah, anal.  That description fits my stack of lesson plans.  Maybe the perfect curriculum isn't actually perfect for us.  Maybe I'm expecting too much.

I walked away from the workboxes to ponder and relax.  Does a high school student really need grammar and literary analysis.  Wouldn't one be sufficient?  And spelling - true, his spelling needs work, but perhaps we could drop the spelling program and just incorporate the words he was working on in his reports and essays.  My rebellious thoughts considered throwing it all off and just immersing ourselves in good books.  The daring idea gave me hope.

And then I checked in on my facebook page.  Wait, no, that's my eldest's facebook page.  He didn't log out.  I checked his account activity and saw that he had left a comment on a friend's photo.  It said, "what on earth. were where you."

I....wha....huh???  No caps.  The punctuation?? Were WHERE you??? Where did I go wrong?

So, yeah, not dropping grammar.

Nor spelling.

Maybe I can drop lunch.  It just messes up the kitchen anyway.

Gimme Some Lovin'

My girls have had the gimmies this week.  "Give it to me! I want it!" "No, I want it!" "But I had it first!" "But I wanted it first!" and on and on and on.....

Around 10:00 last night, I rushed in to the girls' room after hearing Sarah let loose a royal wail.  Through many sobs and sniffs and moans and Oh! the snot, she managed to squeak out that she wanted the blanket Honor was holding.  Honor was nearly as miserable and insisted she had it first.  Before I had even grasped the explanation, it had deteriorated into another argument.  In complete honesty here, I lost my cool.  I believe my words were, "All of this screeching over a freaking blanket??"  Yes, mom, I said freaking.  I know.  Trust me, I know.

They stopped screeching, but kept crying.  I talked about sharing and loving and blah, blah, blah but they weren't hearing me....they just wanted the freaking blanket.

I asked Honor, "Do you think you could stand to give the blanket to Sarah tonight?"  She, mostly calm at this point, said, "I think that would maybe be okay."

To Sarah, I asked, "Do you think you could stand to give the blanket to Honor tonight?"

In her deep, gruff voice, she gave an emphatic "No."

"Fine then. Honor, the blanket is yours.  Sarah you need to learn the joy of giving tonight."

She cried so hard and so loud that she gave herself an asthma attack within 15 seconds of my statement.

We wrapped the fit up gently but firmly and calmed the breathing.   Things were fine for the night, but I knew the gimme fits would return soon.

This morning.....they both wanted the same pair of socks.  They apparently REALLY wanted this pair of socks.  But this time, we had real results and I didn't raise my voice or lose my cool.

We sat down and discussed the word "generously".  We learned in VBS that God gives wisdom generously to all who ask.  The girls asked what generously meant.  I used an object lesson with Junior Mints.  "Remember when I shared the candy daddy gave me yesterday? It was my box and I could have kept it all.  It would be nice of me to share one candy with you.  It would be generous of me to share 5 candies with you.  Would you rather I share one or five?"

*side note: thank you, my darling husband for buying theatre sized boxes of candy for me.  Thank you.

We went on to discuss how God is generous with a lot more than just wisdom.  We also discussed that he wants us to be generous as well.  It isn't a sin to keep your candy to yourself.  But it is good to share and it's better to share generously.  I reminded the girls that they love each other and are best friends (a little brainwashing never hurt) and that it is a joy to share with each other.

Now the weird part.  I gave them a new rule for the day (though we only had to use it once.)  Whenever they disagreed on something, each should ask the other, "What would you like?" And then....they had to give it to her.  So here's what it looked like:

Honor: Sarah, what do you want?
Sarah: The Easter Egg socks.
Honor: Okay, here you go.
Sarah: Honor, what do you want?
Honor: The Easter Egg socks.
Sarah: Okay, here you go.

Honor: Sarah, what do you want?

Sarah: The Easter Egg socks.

Honor: Okay, here you go.

Sarah: Honor, what do you want?

Honor: The Easter Egg socks.

Sarah: Okay, here you go.

Back and forth and back and forth for five full minutes they went until the both broke down giggling.  They ran down the hall, still asking each other what they wanted and giving the socks back and forth.  We shared the tale with Daddy a few hours later and he asked how it ended.  I said, "Honor, let's see your feet."  

Easter Egg socks.  

Well, we know which one has more patience now.

We found them!

Chris surprised me with a new computer a few months ago and picasa lost my pictures in the process. I've been worried that they didn't make the transition. You might have noticed a shortage of pictures around here lately. The Geek insisted they were there and proved it today. He's wonderful to have around.

I've spent a good part of the afternoon going through ooooooollllllldddddd pictures. Here are a few:

This one has to be around 6 years ago; It's a tree at my dad's old house.

Sarah Grace, 3 years ago, squishing out all over.

*teary-eyed sigh*

My sugar-holic, 4 years ago.

I don't remember what she got into, but I'm sure it was not allowed.

She looks remorseful, doesn't she?

My tough men, nearly 7 years ago.

sigh.

Why couldn't they have had these when my kids were babies?!?

Have you seen these things??

We don't visit the doctor very often, but during our last visit we saw a nurse whip one of these out and gently slide it across my daughter's forehead. One second and beep! The nurse announced that she had no fever. "Wait..." my husband said. "That thing is a thermometer?"

Actually, no. It comes with a much fancier name than that. It's a "temporal scanner". And it is an incredible invention.

I was tickled pink when I had the opportunity to review an Exergen Temporal Scanner Thermometer through MamaBuzz, as a gift from Exergen.

If you have kids, you want this. Trust me. If you have kids, you already know why, but in case you've somehow managed to have fever-free children up to this point, let me enlighten you as to why you want this....

Have you ever had to take a rectal temperature of a squiggly baby? Anyone? This horrific experience is highlighted with the sheer terror of the baby kicking and thus forcing the thermometer too far and rupturing a bowel. Also, the thermometer needs to be lubricated with petroleum jelly before administering a rectal temperature scan. I have never seen a temperature taken in this manner that did not end with poo. Oddly enough, none of my children ever seemed to mind any of the above situations. But I did. I really did.

Have you ever tried to take a temperature by placing a thermometer under a child's tongue? How about under the tongue of a mouth-breather? How many times did you have to say, "No, sweetie, don't bite it." How many times did you have to check that it was still actually under the tongue? This check always manages to accidentally jab the child under the tongue with a good poke from the thermometer while also managing to prolong the lengthy wait-time for that temperature-reading.

Have you ever tried to take a temperature under the arm? How many times did you google to figure out if you were supposed to ADD a degree or SUBTRACT a degree when taking a temperature under the arm? And were you ever successful in keeping your child still with the thermometer in place?

Have you ever tried to take a temperature in the ear? This one is fast. Blessedly fast. Except that it gives us random readings that range from 89 to 103 and everything in between as we try again and again and again to get an accurate reading. Generally, I take it 10 times and if two matching numbers show up, I shrug and hope that's what the real temperature is.

But now? Now I swipe a piece of sturdy plastic across their forehead and within 2 seconds I have an accurate reading! It is very easy to use. I had difficulty when I first tried it, but my dear husband pointed out that I needed to take the cap off first.

Oh.

Yeah.

I had trouble the second time as well, but I finally realized that I was pressing it against my forehead very firmly. When I saw the picture of it being used on an infant, it dawned on me that no parent would ever ram it against their child's head like I was doing, so I then slid it softly across. I've had accurate readings ever since.

You can probably tell, but I don't read directions well.

What do I love about this thermometer?

*I love that tests have shown the Exergen Scanner to be even more accurate than oral or ear thermometer readings.

*I love that it is comfortable to hold and has just enough weight to it.

*I love that I don't have to disinfect it.

*I love that it automatically shuts off.

*I love that it runs off of an easily replaceable battery.

*I love that it gives no reason for tears...from child or from mom.

There are only two small things that keep it from being the most perfect invention I've ever seen. First, I'm not overly impressed with the cap. The cap is almost clear and is made of a thin plastic. It doesn't attach with a loop or anything; instead, it snaps on and off. When I'm checking a temperature in the middle of the night, I don't want to mess with finding the cap that I set down only to realize that I've stepped on it and cracked the plastic.

My other small thing is really small, but moms will understand. The display screen for the temperature reading is very clear and easy to read....in a lighted room. In the dark, it is not back-lit. You will need to take the temperature and then sneak out of the bedroom to read the display screen. The temperature will continue to show for 30 seconds, which is wonderful. But if it were back-lit, I might complain about that too because it might be too bright and wake up or blind my child. Perhaps a light-up button would be the best choice, like you find on watches. Again, not a big thing to complain about by any means.

After I first saw this amazing invention, I scoured pharmacies for the longest time, but didn't see them anywhere. When I did finally find them, WOW, the price! But finally, they are now down to a reasonable price of a little over $30.00. And even better, here is a $5.00 Rebate Coupon! for the Exergen Temporal Scanners.

And even better than that? I have a giveaway for a free one!

So....who wants an Exergen Temporal Scanner Thermometer?

To enter the drawing, all you need to do is leave a comment telling me either a story of your temperature-taking woes or a reason why you would like one of these. Extra entries will be counted for the really great and woeful tales. Another extra entry can be earned for blogging about this giveaway. You do not need a blogger account to enter, a good story and an email address will be plenty.

The winner will be announced one week from now.

"The Talk"

My baby boy has had the talk. My sweet little guy who just yielded up his red cowboy hat a couple days ago (give or take 5 years) has had the manly-man talk.

Two down, two to go.

Joel is my ever-curious child, so I should have been more prepared for last night's question. Quite the opposite of Ethan, Joel has been very curious about sex since he found out that Ethan knew something he didn't know. Joel didn't even have any idea that sex was in any way related to baby-making. He just knew it was a word that was foreign to him but known to his brother.....so he had to know.

Joel is a young little ten year old and I wasn't so sure he was ready. I bought him a book, recommended by Focus on the Family, that gives the facts without giving all the facts. It is in the same series as the book we gave Ethan, but is geared toward 7 - 9 year old boys. I like the honest, scientific answers it gives. I think this is great because the child can then decide if they want to pursue more or not. I was sure it would be enough to satisfy Joel at the time. I was wrong.

So when he asked me how the sperm got to the egg, I said, "Oh! Um. Oh!" and then I laughed and I laughed. I once came home with the exact same question to my mom when I was six years old and got to see an "educational" film at school. My poor mom.

I quickly explained to Joel that I was not laughing at him, but at myself. I asked him what he thought of the book. He had gobbled it up within an hour, quite surprising me. He said it was kinda gross. I assured him that the rest of the story was much more "gross"....was he sure he didn't want to wait a bit longer?

Quite sure.

So he moved on to the next book.

An hour later, he found me and hugged me and hugged me.

And hugged me and hugged me.

His little snuggles and squeezes were his innocent attempts to go back to ignorant childhood. They were a flailing effort at bleaching his brain, I think. We did very little talking. Snuggles were what he needed to assure him that all was still right with the world.

Joel told me he thinks the whole thing is weird and gross, but okay. He shrugged and shook his head. He went to breakfast with Daddy this morning. Chris had him narrate back the way the deed is done. He fielded questions and they enjoyed each other's company.

Here is the book we gave Joel that gently introduces the topic, while still being very informative:

Here is the book he moved up to when he needed the nitty-gritty:

They also have the exact same series, but made for girls. I have been so impressed with these books. They certainly have made this easy on us. For books on purity and attitudes towards sex, I've also been impressed with books from Generations of Virtue.

We have tried one book that I was not impressed with and it was called Wonderful Way That Babies Are Made. Don't be mad at me if you loved this book; hear me out. I bought it because I thought it was beautiful. It seemed to introduce things very gently, with two-page spreads offering two different levels of the story to read aloud, depending on how ready the child is. I loved the way it introduced healthy attitudes toward sex and God's beautiful perspective on the whole thing. But it only appealed to me. The kids did not get any actual knowledge from the book. Healthy attitudes about sex went right over their heads because it was too vague in its explanation of what sex really is. Somehow, after Ethan read this book, he walked away thinking the "sperm gets to the ovum" when the guy spits in his wife's mouth.

The book never implied this, but it was vague enough for him to draw his own conclusions based on a picture of a man kissing a woman.

Can we all just say Ewwwww?

It's been a week. Guess what I forgot?

Even after blogging about it, I completely forgot about antibiotics after day 5.

The girls are running around and back to their old selves. Honor had a clever moment of playing sick yesterday, but happily, it was short-lived.

I sent her to clean her room and she instantly developed a stomach ache. Not only did she have a stomach ache; she turned pale, went slack-jawed, and managed to droop her eyelids while holding her stomach and trudging up the hallway. It was quite convincing. I insisted she was making it up because the timing was too perfect and made her clean her room anyway. Several times she walked by to put things away and managed to look quite miserable. I was seriously second-guessing myself by the time she finally finished. Truly, how can a child make herself go pale?

Upon completion, she said that she felt somewhat better. I had promised cookies once everyone finished their chores and Honor began to clamber off my lap to head to the kitchen. I stopped her and said "Oh, no, no. Sorry, darling, but sick little girls don't need to eat sweets." She insisted she was feeling much better and I insisted her illness was too recent to risk it.

"But...but!...but I was LYING!" she said.



?


How she felt this helped her case, I'm not sure, but she did not eat cookies. I held her as she cried over her sin. Joel moved his lips over her shoulder to silently say to me: "Oh, that's baaaaad." And then, "Wait - can I have hers?"

Oh what a night

Thursday night, both girls started coughing. A little stuffiness to the noses, but nothing worrisome. They coughed all night. Cough meds didn't touch it. I propped myself up in bed with a girl on each shoulder because they did much better upright. They coughed, but managed to stay asleep through it most of the night. I didn't.

Friday morning, still just coughing, a bit of stuffiness, but their lungs sounded clear. Sarah occasionally seemed to breath rapidly, but nothing else. Except that feeling. If you're a mom, you understand. It seemed silly to see a doctor over a cough. Plus, we have no insurance until March. And the weather was nasty enough to close our walk-in clinic early anyway. That evening, Sarah Grace started breathing noticeably faster. Laying her down, we saw her chest sinking as she breathed. Honor was starting to wheeze. Suddenly, not just a cough anymore. We packed up and headed to the hospital an hour away, but the roads were covered. We drove for over an hour on a trip that usually takes 15-20 minutes before deciding it was too dangerous to keep going. We could not see the road at all, but were using that loud buzzing noise, from going onto the side of the road, to help us know where the edge was. The cold air had helped the girls somewhat so we traveled another hour home to start breathing treatments and cold meds and alternating steamy bathrooms with the cold back porch. It was a long night, but we made it.

Thank the Lord, our local clinic was open this morning. The girls have "asthmatic bronchitis". That's a new one for me. They are on lots of different, yucky medicines which include antibiotics. Honor's eczema just cleared up from her last round of antibiotics months ago. I'm not looking forward to this. Nor to remembering their doses. I have to use an incredible amount of mental energy to remember to give my kids 10 days of antibiotics. Isn't that terrible? 5 days? No problem. Past that, they're healthy again and it starts slipping my mind. That's bad. My adorably geeky, lab-tech hubby has preached to me many times the evils of encouraging relapses and antibiotic resistance. Yet I still struggle to remember.

Anyway, within an hour of their new meds, the girls were doing great and you'd never know the torture they put us through last night. But, as awful as it was and as tired as I am after two nights of this, there is no way in the world I would trade it with anyone. That is not a privilege I could hand over to anyone.

Lend an ear?

beautiful

How do I not have grey hair yet?

Any other worst-case-scenario moms out there? I don't walk around a nervous wreck or anything, but as things come up, my mind immediately starts going through the list, making certain that I'm covering all the bases and not missing anything. It's not that I'm a hypochondriac and imagine the worst, I just have "the worst" on my mental checklist and include it as I consider the possible scenarios. The more creative the kids get, the more creative my scenarios get, unfortunately.

I woke up Friday morning to Honor beside me, whimpering, "Mama, I can't move." She couldn't move her neck and moving anything else on her body hurt her neck. Any time we've called the doctor with an ailment in the kids, they always ask "Can they move their neck?" to rule out meningitis. For the first time, it was something I had to worry about. I scooped her up and we headed to the hospital. Knowing meningitis has a short window of treatment of being able to help, we had an ambulance meet us on the way. By the time we had her inside the ambulance, she had some movement in her neck. It hurt her, yes, but she could move it some. The emt's assured us that this wouldn't be able to happen with meningitis and I nearly collapsed into a puddle of relief.

She continued to hurt and began to run a fever so I took her to the doctor. Turns out, she has a bug which made a lymph node in her neck swell. Sleeping funny made her neck muscles tense and pinch the lymph node. More than crick in the neck, as far as pain is concerned, but nothing dangerous.

I couldn't stop staring at her all day long. That morning, I was terrified I was going to lose my baby girl and that evening, she was feeling well enough to practice walking down the aisle as a flower girl at a wedding rehearsal.

At a recent Beth Moore conference, this topic came up. Beth shared that she prayed daily for her family, but that God had impressed on her heart to not just pray for their safety and protection, but to allow room in that prayer for God's glory to be shown. Sometimes, it comes at the cost of pain, but it is for our ultimate good.

That challenged me.

When I go through my scenario checklist, I'm worrying about the what-ifs. We had a crazy weekend after that Friday and I didn't have much moment to pause and soak in what had happened with Honor. After a couple days, as I went to bed, it hit. And I bawled my eyes out. The what-ifs hit me. What if it had been different? What if it happens some day? But all of my what-ifs have no purpose....because He saw fit to bless me with one more day with my beautiful children. And that's what I have. Today. And hopefully many more todays. But to God be the glory, I'll be thankful and walk whatever paths He leads me through.

Sniffle Sniffle Sob and Giggle

My little girl, getting not so little, got her first big girl haircut. I keep glancing at her and doing a double-take. It catches me off guard that I have a girl this old. I've clung to her toddler-hood so much, but she's nearly six and there are no denial tactics strong enough to keep this fact from being obvious. My baby is growing up.

I started going through pictures to show a "before" the haircut photo and went from crying to laughing hysterically. I laughed so loudly, it woke the boys and they had to come see what was up.

Allow me to share, my Honor:

Yes, that's the one.

A beautiful child, truly.

So beautiful she takes my breath away.

Especially when she doesn't know the camera is on her.

But ask the girl to smile for the camera, and something happens....

As beautiful as she is, the child is just not photogenic.


It's a fact.

She is so breathtaking to see in person. But photos do not agree with her. It is soooooo not fair that her sister can drag herself out of bed and look a mess.....but still take a beautiful picture every single time.

Even with camping sweat and smore goo, the child can't help but take a good picture.

But Honor gets her photogenic qualities from her mother.

And she's a great sport about it.

It's a miracle I achieved this haircut picture.

But there she is.

My beautiful big girl with the big girl haircut.

She's begged for a short "do" for quite a while, but Daddy always said no. When she asked me again at the hair salon, I said "Sure, if you can convince your Daddy." (knowing he'd never say yes, I felt it was safe to let him be the bad guy instead of me) Chris walked in and said "Sure!" And there went the hair.


Now....one more time, because it hardly seems real and must be looked at again:
(and because it makes me laugh instead of cry that time with my baby girl is passing far too quickly)

My beautiful alien princess.



*sidenote* Is it my imagination or did picasa shrink my pictures and turn them all fuzzy? These look so clear on my computer but not at all once loaded. What's up with that?

Smackdown

On the way home from church, midst discussions of Sunday School lessons, Sarah piped up: "I learned hitting is bad."

Sarah, did you hit someone today?

"No."

Did someone hit you?

"With rocks."

I sympathized and said that Not Hitting was a great lesson to learn and then asked, "Do you know why we don't hit?"

Honor nodded emphatically and said, "Cuz it's a rule."

It led to a good discussion on loving others and not hurting them...how we can't love God and hate others. Good lesson.

So remember, people, no hitting.....it's a rule.

It's after 11:00 pm

and two of my babies are still awake. They found out today that we'll be putting our dog down tomorrow. We've had Sunni for 9 years and she's been hurting with arthritis for over a year now. We've discussed it with them several times, but it was still hard for the kids to hear it was actually time.

We talked about it as we were tucking into bed and Honor started crying a tiny whimpering cry. It was different than any I'd heard her make before. Joel soon joined her. They cried and cuddled with me for a while. They reminisced and talked for a while. Then they cried some more. Honor told me, "I didn't know you were going to TALK about it tonight! And then these tears just POP started coming and won't stop!" She was confused about her body behaving so unpredictably.

They both decided to stay up and cuddle with Sunni while the other two went on to bed. I left to do laundry and expected to soon find two kiddos curled up asleep next to their pup. Nope. The tears had started again. I scooped Honor up and she began bawling. Her eyes were almost panicked, still utterly confused by the foreign crying spasm. She said, "I don't understand! I keep trying to make it stop, but it just won't! I just love our Sunni. I've lost people before, but never family in my own house!"

She was so tired and admitted it, but couldn't sleep because of the tears. Joel saved the day with a snack of peanut butter spoons (her favorite) and a glass of water. She licked the spoon clean and started talking out of her head from lack of sleep about how peanut butter was like paint...."except they taste different."

?!?

"No, I never ate paint, but it's like my mouth is the wall and the peanut butter is the paint!"

After the snack, she gave a contented sigh and said she could now sleep. Joel, the sweetheart, carried her to his bed so she wouldn't sleep alone tonight.

I have to be honest, Sunni's leaving tomorrow doesn't affect me at all like it has them, though it makes me feel cold-hearted to admit it. But my heart is breaking for my babies going through something so new and so hard. Joel said it well though: "Even knowing we'd have to say goodbye like this, it's been worth it to have all these good memories."

Not hereditary

Reading is something I always hoped would be important to all four of my children. My thought was that any gaps they might one day have in their education could be bridged through their own exploration and love of reading and learning. It was the key, the foundation. Once achieved, I could sigh a deep sigh of relief.

To develop this love, I began reading to each of them very early. I read to them as part of our naptime ritual when they reached the age of about 6 months old. With each of them, I found that they were much more likely to settle in and enjoy listening if it was a book they knew well. They each responded best to repetition, though I disturbed my husband with my quickly-learned ability to repeat odd children's rhymes at the drop of a hat. 11 years later, I can recall Ethan's favorite without effort...."Noah was God's faithful friend, his children loved God, too..."

In no time at all, those board books developed into beautiful picture books. We made frequent trips to the library and at first, I was dismayed to see them picking out mediocre books about their favorite television characters. Rather than constantly telling them "no", I limited them to two books apiece and then hunted for the "good books" that I knew they would love if they'd only give them a chance. I followed the amazing lists found in the book The Well Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Bauer to help me find some of the best books available. It wasn't long before they were walking past the cartoon books to find quality children's literature.

In addition to naptime routines, we began piling together on the couch each evening to devour new library treasures. Eventually these turned into chapter books. Every evening, we still take the time to cuddle on the couch and delve into a story.

As much as I love this tradition, there came a time when I really wanted to see them get equally excited about reading independently. From watching me read to myself and hearing me read aloud, they knew what an absorbing adventure a book could be. How could I convince them that they could love their own reading adventures? I tried the trick of reading a cliff-hanger and then stopping when they were begging for more. I said I was tired, but offered to let them finish it on their own. They shrugged and walked away. Not interested. I tried several intriguing stories that left them wringing their hands with suspense. Nothing. Eventually, I had to finish the book to satisfy my own curiosity!

They were content to read to themselves, but only easier picture books, not the chapter books that I knew were well within their abilities. So I got sneaky. I announced new bedtime rules. I cut their bedtime back half an hour, to which they moaned and groaned until I explained that they only had to be in their beds at bedtime. Lights didn't have to go out until an hour later. I bought them clip-on lamps to go on their headboards and hooked baskets to their beds to hold books, journals, and pens. They were thrilled.

But they were still intimidated by anything longer than 35 pages.

One day, my oldest came across an old Family Circus book. It was just a compilation of Sunday Comics, but it was around 150 pages long. That night, I noticed a light on in his bedroom long after lights out had come and gone. He was enjoying the book so much he just couldn't stop. He finished the book that night. The next morning had me hunting on ebay for classics like Family Circle, Garfield, and Dennis the Menace. Caldecott Honor Awards, they weren't. But they were a bridge. They took my son from 33 page picture books to riveting chapter books. He started with The Littles and worked his way up. Soon he was purposefully choosing chapter books on his own. Namely?

Chapter books about his favorite movie characters.

I was so happy to see him love reading that I didn't balk at his selections of Spider Man, Star Wars, or Iron Man. However, it quickly became evident that I would have to intervene if I wanted him to expand his repertoire beyond super heroes. I opted to put my foot down and required him to read a book of my choosing for 20 minutes each day. I continued with my list from The Well Trained Mind and assigned daily reading assignments. Very quickly, he became engrossed in the stories and didn't stop reading when the timer went off. His tastes were developing!

My oldest is 11 now. While it is not a surprise to see him reading a Star Wars novel, you are far more likely to find him reading The Thief Lord, Mysterious Benedict Society, or Diary of an American Boy. His younger brother inherited the comics and the books that followed. He is two years younger, but never more than a book or two behind.

We still enjoy our family read-alouds, tackling meatier books now. We love adventure stories written during the 1800's and have enjoyed many reprints from Salem Ridge Press. But we still enjoy pulling out picture books with intricate illustrations, too. I enjoy it as much as they do.

And I still get a thrill when I see their lamps glowing down the hallway long past bedtime.

© 2009 whitetrashmama

My Catholic Illiterate Son

My apologies to my dear Catholic friends. I am apparently not "learning him" properly. Today I quized the boys on our Bible Study Vocabulary Words. The boys raced each other to guess what I was describing. I began: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour...." Ethan shouted "MAGNA CARTA!"

History and Religion in one fell swoop. I hang my head in shame.

Magna Carta, Magnificat.....he got the first four letters right.

Generations of Virtue

Around the same time that we realized it was time to give our oldest son "The Talk", we received an invitation from Generations of Virtue to review material that supported the direction we wanted to go with that talk.

This is not a company, it is a "non-profit, volunteer-driven ministry that equips parents to empower their kids for purity in our world today. They work closely with parents and teens as they provide them with classic and cutting-edge resources to fight the battle for purity."

And these resources are incredible. We gave Ethan "Lintball Leo's not-s0 stupid Questions about your Body" by Dr. Walt Larimore, a humorous and candid discussion about what a boy's body goes through during the wild ride of puberty. The book covers everything a boy goes through from body odour to the "m" word, but does not share details on "the talk". It is assumed they know this before reading this book. Ethan did not, so we had to start with a different book.

The book we gave Ethan for the nitty-gritty was How You Are Changing. This is an incredibly well done series geared specifically toward girls or boys and toward specific age ranges. We gave Ethan the book written for boys ages 10-12. They are even written for very young children, and are very age-appropriate. I was very impressed with the tact yet frankness offered by these books. But they aren't offered on Generations of Virtue, so I'm getting off track.

Something that is offered at Generations of Virtue is a set called Teknon and the Champion Warriors. It begins with a riveting fiction story about a teenage boy who accompanies his father on a dangerous mission. While on the journey, Teknon is trained by his father to become a Champion Warrior. The mission is exciting and exactly the kind of story my boys love to read, but the lessons from Teknon's father and mentors is what makes this books special. They are lessons in manhood and integrity. Purity is part of some of these lessons. Pornography is mentioned (though not by name) and was handled so delicately I wanted to applaud after reading it. Here is a brief portion: "As they entered the club, Teknon noticed various images surrounding him. They were scenes of women doing things he knew he should not see. Teknon tried to leave, but Eros tightened his grip, pulling the youth further into the maze of video screens and imaging rooms. Teknon was temporarily distracted by the birght lights and silhouettes of bodies beginning to materialize in front of him. When the images came into focus, he immediately turned his gaze away and wrenched his arm from Eros. Then he rushed out the door."

The situation is discussed, but not in any way that would be embarrassing to the reader or intriguing either. It is not a subject I want to inspire too much curiosity with.

I mentioned that Teknon is part of a set. The set is optional, but the Teknon novel has a companion workbook available for the readers and a companion Father's Guide as well. The student guide is amazing. It is a serious bible study, challenging readers to apply the lessons in very real ways. The Father's Guide has been such a blessing to us. Chris has been able to keep up with Ethan and be ready for weekly breakfast dates to discuss what Ethan is learning. The book gives plenty of prompts and suggestions. It can be done quickly or slowly, deeply or simply, according to your preference. Chris has been on a very tight schedule and it was difficult to make time for these breakfasts; impossible to find time for the extra reading. It was a priority for us and the Father's Guide made it possible.

I covered the boy books, but we also enjoyed girls' books, as well. The girls' favorite has been A True Princess by Angela Elwell Hunt. It is a beautiful story about the true nature of a Princess. There are just too many excellent books to tell you about all of them, though we've read several now, so you just need to browse their amazing selections. They are organized so well, by gender and age, making it a pleasant browse.

More than selection, you need to know about this company and it's excellent purpose. It is not just about the sexual purity that we immediately think of when we hear the word "pure", but about "Purity of Heart, Purity of Mind, and Purity of Body." It's about God's value system and this company's goal is to equip parents and children.

Confession time: I had to ask for an extension on my review deadline because of my cheapskate tendencies. I hate to be late and this humiliated me. You see, I was given Teknon and Lintball Leo from Generations of Virtue, but after seeing the Teknon book, I decided I really wanted Ethan to have the full experience using the Son's Guide and the Father's Guide. Did I order through Generations of Virtue with very reasonable shipping and very efficient shipping times? Noooooooo....I had other books in my Amazon cart and the Teknon books bumped me up to free shipping status so I ordered through Amazon. Amazon boasted 3-5 day shipping, but took (I kid you not) a FULL MONTH to send my books. When it costs you time, it isn't free. I placed a separate order through Generations of Virtue, ordering books for the girls and my books arrived within a week. The prices are very comparable to Amazon and the shipping is far superior. Lesson learned.

Even if you aren't interested in buying, take a peek at this wonderful website. There are other helpful resources available on the site that I think you might enjoy. If you do opt to buy, I know it will bless your family as it has mine.

Overheard

Sarah stubbed her toe this morning and didn't feel Ethan was giving her the proper level of sympathy. She paused in her "ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow" to say:

"Ethan, if I were you and you were me, you'd know how bad I hurt right now."

Easter pictures