Activity #8: Teaching Q the Hail Mary

As far as I can remember, my parents did not teach me to pray nor did they teach me any bedtime prayers. I know. Scandalous. If sitcoms have taught me anything, parents tuck their children in every night and recite prayers with them. Adorbs. I don't know if they did this with my older brothers, but they certainly didn't do it with us younger ones. They did, however, send us to 13+ years of Catholic school and bring us to weekly Mass, so they definitely presented us with the basics.

[Complete aside because now I am thinking about bedtime:  Every night around bedtime, my parents would say, "It's bedtime," and we would trot off to our respective rooms to do whatever we did until our parents told us to turn off our light or we did it ourselves. I wanted to be tucked in. Once, we went on a vacation and my parents went to dinner and hired the hotel baby-sitter to watch us (only the 3 youngest were there). Having a sitter was a rare treat as this job was usually left to our older brothers. (Want to know how deprived we were? My parents also didn't check to see if we did homework. I don't think they ever asked what was due and we never had an assigned homework time. I'm sure this is no way contributed to my lack of doing homework in high school. My brother were were left in charge when my parents went on vacation and they made us sit at the kitchen table and do our homework. I have no idea where they picked this up from. Probably television. It was really weird for those few days.) Where was I? Hotel baby-sitter. It was lovely. She was a grandmother and she would tuck us in, kiss us on the head and tell us good night. I allowed myself to be put to bed with my little sister and enjoyed the whole tucking in so much that I hopped out of bed 2-3 more times to have it repeated over the course of the evening. I am sure you are now crying for us. Yes, life was just so hard. Am I being sarcastic enough to indicate that while this story is true, I know we were not deprived?]

I decided to teach Q to pray, even if we have no idea what religion we are practicing. I thought long and hard about what prayer to teach Q and settled on: the Hail Mary.

Why the Hail Mary? Well, it stems from a very formative time in my life: 4th grade. In 4th grade, I wanted to be a nun, until I went to some Easter week vigils with my mom and my legs kept falling asleep. A life of contemplative praryer was not for me. This was also the year I became both an atheist and returned to Catholicism. Both epiphanies were on the bus. I have no idea where they came from, just that each made sense (though I now find the label agnostic to also be comforting). 4th grade was also the year of Sr. Marie, an extremely small, tough, and old nun who thought my name was Eleanore (it isn't).  According to Sr. Marie, when it is unseasonably warm, you should still wear your sweater on the playground because you could catch a chill and, if you are going to say only one prayer, it should be the Hail Mary, because God will not ignore his mother (explanation of Catholic prayers: I'm not praying to Mary as if she will answer my prayers, I'm praying to Mary and asking her to ask Jesus/God the Father/Holy Spirit to answer my prayers). Sound advice. I also force Q to wear a sweater and/or hat when it is unseasonably warm.

At some point (probably in 4th grade when I decided I was a Catholic), I began to say prayers at night. I believe I started with the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, but, with Sr. Marie's suggestion, moved on to the Hail Mary. I then added an Act of Contrition (asking God to forgive all your sins). Before you knew it, 15 some odd years had passed and I had added Hail Marys and Our Fathers and Glory Bes and Act of Contritions for tons of people (the dearly departed in most cases) and night time prayers were taking forever to get through. If I skipped one I had to start all over again. If I forgot to say them, I woke up in the middle of the night in a panic and immediately did so. I realized that I was sticking more to the letter of the law then the spirit and decided just to embrace or re-embrace the simple Hail Mary. Because God won't ignore his mother. And that's why I am teaching Q this prayer for her bedtime.

What Q Did When I Said It Might Not Snow

She looked at me, stricken, and said, "But I want it to snow!" And I said, "I know, but it might be too warm and it might not snow." She stared at me for a few seconds and then walked over to her sister and did this:

Hugs make everything better. Z didn't understand what it was all about, but she didn't complain.

TIDWTFT

I am shamelessly borrowing this idea from Shannonlea at Double the Blessings, Twice the Fun. TIDWTFT = Things I Don't Want to Forget Thursday. I'm not sure if I'm going to remember to do it every week, but I really like it.

Q
You have a cold, but are almost better. Every night you cough off and on for about 30 minutes, but you never wake up. You take your vitamins and probiotics nicely because, as you tell us, they will "feel me better." You are working on your letters at Starfall (which is apparently used in our district), but haven't quite accepted that you can't just touch the screen, but must use the trackpad.

Z
You have a cold, too, but are in the middle of it. You hate the nosefrida, but have become very adept at batting it away and twisting your head. I thought I had more time before I'd have to wrestle you to clean your nose! You love to talk and starting "coughing" last week to communicate. You never wake up at night (except to eat), even when your sister coughs for half an hour! Finally, you are working on passing toys from hand to hand (though sometimes your thumb gets in the way) and you can almost fully turn from back to front - if only your pesky arm wouldn't get in the way!

Not a Bad Way to Start the New Year

As I changed Z on my parents bed - we're visiting - Q lay next to her and said, "You're my best friend, Z."

I hope 2013 continues to be just as sweet and loving for all of you.

Research Trips When Traveling with Your Family, Part I

I have now been on four research trips when traveling with a child:

1. International trip for 14 days with a 7 month old Q, my husband and my dad.

2. International trip for 7 days with a 15 months old Q and my dad.

3. Trip across the country for 7 days with a 19 months old Q and my dad.

4. International trip for 7 days with a 2.5 year old Q, my husband and my dad. I was also 6 months pregnant.

Why bring your family at all? Well, if you are like us, then your children are exceedingly attached to their mom, possibly breastfeeding forever, and your husband would have to take time off from work when you were away anyway, so why not make it a family trip. One of the two times my husband didn't come, we were also staying with my brother and sister-in-law, so it was a research/visiting family trip.

So what have I learned? If you can afford it, pay someone to be your childcare. (Broken record, much?) Secondly, make sure you have clear boundaries and guidelines about what is expected of those caring for your children and what you hope to accomplish by this trip. Third(ly), have realistic expectations. Let me explain:

It is lovely of your family to want to help and I am exceedingly lucky that I have this option. My father very much loves traveling with us, spending time with his granddaughters, and doing historical stuff. However, at all times I am aware of the fact that he is doing us a favor. (This is not his fault - he never spoke this way or indicated that he felt this way - I just felt guilty. Ah, Catholic guilt.) If he wants to check something out/see something, I feel badly saying "no." (Or I did, but I'll cover that in my post about attending conferences with your children.)  My husband has a habit of repeatedly asking when I'll be done for the day. I would always tell him the time that the archives closed, but, after the 4th or 5th questioning, my guilt would increase (possibly all in my head) and I would either leave to meet up at lunch or leave early. Now, I always saw everything I needed to see, but I felt stressed and rushed doing so. I did the same when my dad and I were solo in a foreign city in winter. I would leave early, because I felt bad that he was stuck in a hotel room all day with my toddler.

Q, 15 months, entertains herself in a hotel room while I archive it up

Beyond that, I have discovered that my family manages to get sick when traveling. During one trip, the night we arrived my daughter came down with a 103 fever and, as I found at the next day at an urgent care clinic, her first and only ever ear infection. Of course, this meant that I stayed home with her that day, because, sad baby. Her illness was nothing compared to the time we flew to Europe for me to give a paper and do some research. My husband, who had the sniffles on the flight over, declared himself freezing that night, bundled himself up, and, as I realized at 2am courtesy of our daughter's thermometer, which I never travel without as the one time I did it was a disaster, had a 105 degree temperature. Yes, 105. What adult gets a 105? Luckily, I had already given my paper (landed in the morning and gave the paper that afternoon) and his fever broke within a few hours as I gave him lots of advil and forced him to take off the many layers he was wearing, but it did cause some problems with attending the second day of the conference as well as the research I planned to carry out over the rest of the trip.

To return to what I have learned, here's how I think it would have gone better if I could have paid for childcare: I wouldn't have felt guilty about not leaving the archives until closing because I was paying the person to watch my children. I could have explained what I expected them to do with my child and gone about my business.

Of course, what graduate student or even non-graduate student can afford to fly a sitter with them all over the place as well as pay them for their services? Yeah, not too many. This problem brings me back to the need for definite boundaries/guidelines. It is only now, after 3+ years of having children, that I have learned to clearly communicate what I need my family to do if they very generously offer their time. I need them to assume that I will be at the archives all day. I need them to feed my daughters and make sure they nap. I need them to understand that this is a business trip and, just as they wouldn't pull someone out of a meeting, they can't pull me out of the archives. These are very important "meetings" to my career.

Finally, I need to manage my expectations and this concept is also 3+ years in the making. It will make me sound horrible, but I had a breakdown after my husband came down with his insanely high temperature. Well, after it broke and a couple of days had passed and he criticized my driving. Did I mention, I was also 6 months pregnant with Z. I realize that I can't afford multiple nannies like Brad and Angelina and that people, especially kids, get sick and need their moms, especially if their moms have been their primary care provider since birth. Suddenly being in daddy or grandpa's care, though lovely, is a rude awakening for little babies and even toddlers.

I need to accept that when traveling with my family I may not be able to attend every panel or dinner at a conference. I may need to leave the archive at lunchtime. I will need to figure out a way to pump at the archives, so as to have some bottles ready for my daughter the next day. I need to accept that while it may feel like one step forward, two steps back, everything I do is moving me closer to my goal of finishing my degree.

In another post, I will explain how I was able to put all of this knowledge together when, my Dad,  Z and I attended a conference when she was 9 weeks old. I am also working on a Part II to this post, which focuses on how to make your research trip with children goes as smoothly as possible from a practical point of view.

Activity #7 - For the Holidays

I tried to do this for both Hanukkah and Christmas, but was unable to find my mini menorah gifted me by my sister-in-law many years ago, so this year's focus was on Christmas. I hope to make it a tradition.

(I should probably put in here that, while my husband and I were both raised Catholic, we're not quite sure what we are doing with Q and Z, although we do want them to have exposure to religion and Q does go to a religious preschool and attend chapel there. Some of my favorite family debates have been over religious doctrine and I'd like to continue that with my children. Ask me sometime about when my oldest brother and I woke up my parents on Christmas Eve to get the copy of the Catechism off their bookshelf as we were debating what, exactly, is meant by the virgin birth.  According to my brother, Jesus popped out like a muffin from the oven. I said Mary experienced the pain of childbirth. Unfortunately, as is so common with our faith, the Catechism declared it to be a mystery. I guess you don't need to ask me as I just told you. Oh, and my sister, who bakes, says muffins don't always come out easily.)

Back to Activity #7 - For the Holidays

First, I went to Amazon and looked up children's bibles. I found Child's Story of the Bible by Mary A. Lathbury.  Her middle name is Artemisia and if that isn't enough to sell you on it, the book is free for the kindle. I have linked through Project Gutenberg, because it has a downloadable copy available with images. I may need to do that as I downloaded the non-image one via Amazon. This version of the bible is great and all the dialogue is from the King James's Version or, as I like to think of it, 'the Linus from The Peanuts version.' It was originally published in 1898 and, as I said, it's great. Alright, so now we had the words.

Next, I brought our nativity set, which was given to us as a wedding present, into the play room and set everything up. Well, I pretty much just put Mary in front of us and added different figures or the manger as the narrative called for them.

Q sets up the nativity while Z watches from her Boppy Chair O' Luxury

Finally, Q, Z, and I acted out the nativity. Q moved all the figures around and I pretended Z was the angel. Q declared that Z wasn't the angel, but was in fact Z. When I said we were pretending, Q then said that Z wanted to be God. I said Z was just going to be the angel.

While some of the finer points of theology might have been lost - such as who 'little Jesus's daddy' is as Q had a hard time embracing the concept - I think I can declare it a successful activity as Q insisted that we do it again. She even performed some of it for her dad and then made us act it all out again today. Unfortunately, the shepherd's hand, the one which held his staff, was broken off during clean up. I'll be super gluing that back on before next year.

Q adds some personal touches to the Nativity. Obviously, the Santa Reindeer is in the apocrypha.

Bonus: while thinking about having Q color some pictures of a menorah, I found the Online Menorah, which lights another candle each night of Hanukkah. How awesome is that?

Working from home with an Infant, Take 2

Here I am, again. A 3 month old (is that still a newborn?), a dissertation to write, and no childcare help. Is it 2009 all over again? Pretty much. (See this post for a little background on what life was like when Q was a baby.) I will say that this time is easier as I am at the end of my project, not the beginning. I had a massive burst of writing energy after returning from a research trip/conference last Spring and managed to put finger to keyboard before Z's birth and can now say I am the proud owner of 170+ pages of dissertation (not counting tables/charts/appendices/what have you).

Also, Z is a little easier to handle than Q (but that's a post for another time).

Z helps me edit a chapter

I continue, however, to bite off more than I can chew.  Like many other families, it is difficult to live off of one income, especially when you add in costs for Q's preschool and the fact that I have used up all my graduate funding, so now we need to pay a one credit fee per semester.  Neither of these costs are excessive, but I definitely feel like a drain. I was extremely fortunate to land an online teaching gig, but this means that my limited time (besides caring for Z full time and Q when she isn't in school - which thanks to viruses going around is most of the time) is now further taken up with teaching and grading, not dissertating.  My dad is going to come to help for a few weeks and I dream of getting a baby-sitter  starting in the Spring for 1-2 days a week, but then I'm sad that at least 1 day would be devoted to grading. I tell myself that I'll wake up at 6am every morning and get in an hour of work, but can't seem to get it together.  I spend a good deal of time dreaming about childcare.  By the way, Z is refusing the bottle, like Q did, so I can't go far even when I get help.

To be constructive for a moment (and see if anyone has suggestions), this is how I have scheduled my week.  It mostly revolves around the schedule for the university at which I teach because each week is a unit and students have weekly assignments which must be submitted by Sunday nights and, as per my job requirements, graded by each Wednesday - so within 72 hours - as well as give a one hour lecture each week for the two classes I teach. (I also respond daily to posts on the discussion board and try to ask each student a question or offer a comment. That rarely takes more than 30 minutes a day, however. I am required to also hold two office hours during class, but I try to be available to students at all times, so this doesn't usually take up too much time, though I am always logged in just in case. I check email daily and always respond in under 24 hrs.)


Monday - grade students' discussion board posts during nap times and give a one hour lecture via the internet during the evening.
Tuesday - grade students' personal essays during nap times and give a one hour lecture via the internet during the evening. (I have been known to finish grading at 4am after Rory wakes up for an early morning meal.)
Wednesday - dissertation work during nap time (in an ideal world)
Thursday - dissertation work during nap time (in an ideal world)
Friday - dissertation work during nap time (in an ideal world)
Saturday - hit the library for 1-2 hrs (no more, because, as mentioned, Z refuses the bottle) to get some books/check some references (in an ideal world)
Sunday - start grading discussion board posts in the late afternoon to get a jumpstart on the marathon grading for the next two days

In this way, I manage to limit my teaching to 2 or so days a week for the most part. Now I just need to motivate myself to accomplish my goals for the dissertation.

How Q Potty Trained Herself

I realize that my last post about potty training makes it seem like it was a breeze getting Q out of diapers. Ha! So not true. The experience reinforced a lot about what we have come to expect about life with Q: she does something when she is ready, not when we are. Examples: sleeps in her crib or goes to bed by herself or weans (she's now in a Big Girl bed by the way).

This is how it went down and it covers almost an 11 month period -

Q sorta, sometimes used the potty. Q did not like us suggesting it. Q began to fight it. We moved. We gave up on potty training. We decided that we would be traveling for 2 weeks and we would wait until we got back. We got back. Q refused refused refused. We offer sticker charts, prizes, m&m's, picking out her own big girl underwear, the fact that you need to be in underwear to take ballet. Q asks for a suitcase if she uses the potty. We agree. She uses the potty, is given the suitcase, reverts to accidents. Suitcase is take away. Q doesn't care. By this point, I am extremely pregnant with Z. I am informed either get Q trained before the baby comes as otherwise it will never happen OR even if I train her now, she'll regress after the baby is born and it won't matter. Lovely.

I choose to do nothing. As I tell some friends, I'm taking a laid-back (or half-assed) attitude towards potty training. Q is almost 3. She knows where the potty is. She has the basic idea.  Then, one day, a month before her 3rd birthday, Q asks to wear underwear. She begins to use the potty. There are some slip ups, but, by and large, Q is fully out of diapers ... and has her suitcase back.

Q's Suitcase

A lot can change in a year ...

I'm going to try and get back on the blogging horse, but as for now, here's a snippet of my morning:

<Scene: the playroom, earlier today. Q, who is home from school with a stomach virus, is playing Memory. I am grading on the couch.>

Q: Mom, can I get Reindeer?
Me: No, Q, he is in my room and Z is napping in there.

<Scene: 20 minutes later, the kitchen. I am eating my lunch. Q walks in.>

Q: Mom, Z is awake.
Me: Thanks, Q ... <look up and see Q holding Reindeer> ... Q, did you go and get Reindeer and wake up Z?
Q: Yes.

Z (10 weeks old) snuggles her PawPaw

Yup, we have a new addition to the family: 3 month old baby girl, Z. Q is a big girl and attending preschool. I'm also teaching online and still, of course, writing the dissertation, though there does seem to be an end in sight (true, one over a year away, but in sight).

Q (3 years old) breaks it down at a children's museum

Activity #6 - Following the Leader

Q insisted on wearing "unnies" when she got home from school today and before her nap. Hope that is a good sign.

Today's activity doesn't often take up a full 30 minutes, mainly because MIP gets tired and Q gets the hiccups from laughing too hard.  It does, however, come with a song!

"Following the Leader" from Disney's Peter Pan (<--- click here)

Activity #6 - Following the Leader:  The idea behind this activity is more of an easy to do obstacle course, but a fairly easy one. I start, naturally, by telling Q to follow me and the I start crawling all over. We go under tables, around chairs, over (well, I go over, Q just scurries around) chairs, across floors into different rooms, take down couch cushions, crawl on them, roll over them ... it is usually at this point that the giggling has proven to much for Q and she begins to hiccup. We try to sing while we are crawling. Q only knows the "following the leader" line, but she sings it very well. By the end, we are both out of breath and resting on the couch cushion.

H has always been the funny parent, so this game - and others like it - are my attempt to show Q that mommy can be funny, too!!

Potty Training Successes!

I have been slowly trying to potty train Q for a while. I think we bought her an elmo potty in April? Q has always come into the bathroom with me (oh joy), so that wasn't anything to add.  I would suggest she would sit on the potty fully-clothed and sometimes she would, sometimes she wouldn't.

I had decided back when we bought the potty that we would try anything serious until July and, well, here we are. First, I tried the no diaper method. Q had a few accidents and refused to sit on the potty for more than .2 seconds.  She has a bladder of steel and started holding it for up to 3 hours since she seemed dismayed by the accidents, but didn't want to sit on the potty.

About two weeks ago, Q was on her potty and tried to get off while asking for a "pillow." I said, "Do you want a pillow on your potty? Is it too hard?" She said yes, I folded a towel in a horse-shoe shape, and she sat ... and sat ... and sat. She was very happy. We would read and color and watch some tv. She would sit for 20 minutes at a time with nary a complaint nor wiggle. But no pee.

(Q puts her doll on her potty. We're all about comfort in this family.)

I bought her some undies over the weekend. Some thick gerber ones, vinyl covers, and some Minnie Mouse ones. She wore the Minnie undies for a few hours yesterday, but nothing.

Today, my parents - who were visiting for the past week - left and Q and I decided to be lazy.  I asked her if she wanted to wear underwear, she agreed, we put it on and I waited. I waited until she would give unhappy grunts and get fussy. I started to realize she was probably getting the urge to pee, but holding it in. Each time, I would sit her down and she went three times!

I covered her with stickers.

(It is cool to wear stickers on your back.)

Unfortunately, she refused to wear a diaper to nap. I put a vinyl cover on her. Let's hope for the best.

Oh, and don't worry, I know it isn't over, but we like to celebrate every step of the way. Makes the journey more enjoyable ;)

Activity #5 - Music Class with Stuffed Animals!

Sorry all, the week got away from me (I know you were all missing new posts dreadfully)! My parents are visiting and Q and I were taking them all over.  For those of you keeping track, Q also now likes pretending to be the "Three Men in a Tub" courtesy of a box that came in the mail with birthday presents that Q hasn't received yet.  As everyone knows, children love boxes and this one goes back and forth between serving as a boat or car.

Activity #5 - Music Class with Stuffed Animals!  Q was spotted reading to one of the babies in her class at school last week (she would even stop and turn the book to the baby and point at the pictures), so I decided that we should try and "teach" her toys the hand motions to some songs that, you know, involve hand motions. First, Q and I picked some toys with flexible arms.  In this case, Aunt C's old cabbage patch doll, an elmo, and a bunch of not so flexible toys to act as audience.  Q and I would "demonstrate" to the toys the motions for the songs and then I would pick one of the toys and Q and I would sing again, but this time I would move the toys arms. Sometimes I would make very silly mistakes and ask Q if the toy was doing it correctly. Sometimes she said, "I do," which means yes and I would say, "really?"  Usually, with this prompting, she would say, "no," but sometimes she would answer correctly the first time I asked and laugh and say, "no!"  Then, we would re-show the toy the correct movements. The toy would try again and get the movements right and Q and I would tell the toy "good job!" As you can guess, there was a LOT of prompting on my part. The songs chosen were: "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," "Wheels on the Bus," and "If You're Happy and You Know It." We finished with a round of "Ring Around the Rosie" performed by me and Q to thunderous applause by the toys. Lots of "whoas" - they were so impressed.  What can I say? We're just that good.

I have pictures of us doing this activity, but, of course, haven't uploaded yet. Will try to get them up some time today or tomorrow.

To hold you over, here are some pictures from a less-than-sanctioned activity.  Namely, Q took my camera.

(It is the clarity of the carpet that gets me in this one. Pure genius.) 

(Sun flare? Or my yellow fuzzy sock at just the right angle/distance/exposure.)

Activity #4 - Mash-up: Nursery Rhymes and LARPS

First, I just wanted to let you all know that I added some tabs directly under the header and above the posts. There is a tab called Activities, which will provide the names of the activities as clicky links that take you right to the post in which you are interested.  Another new tab is Making Mom Friends and contains some of the advice I have received about how to make friends post-momhood.  The final new post is a bit of a joke and will contain Reviews or, in reality, less than flattering comments I have received from friends about this blog ;)

But enough about this blog, we all know why you are here. In honor of all the mash-ups on the show "Glee" (mash-up most likely to bring me back to 1992? Stop in the Name of Love / Free Your Mind), I decided to take nursery rhymes to the next level. That's right, LARPing or Live Action Role Playing (I have a lot of older brothers, ok? This seems normal to me).  (Okay, I thought of this activity, but then I realized how I could make it sound trendy and, yet, also really nerdy.)

Activity: Live Action Nursery Rhymes!  A few months ago, I read an article (which I now can't find) on the importance of nursery rhymes for children and how the average number of words our toddlers have has decreased drastically since the 1940s and some doctors attribute this drop to the shift away from nursery rhymes. It occurred to me that Q owned NO actual book of nursery rhymes, so I bought one.

(I love Richard Scarry)

She knew some of the rhymes that are also songs (Baa Baa Black Sheep is a favorite), but that was about it.  When you read the rhymes, you realize how rich the vocabulary is.  Q loves them.  I decided to not only read the nursery rhymes, but have her act some of them out.  We chose "Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick," "Three Little Kittens," "Baa Baa Black Sheep" (of course), "Georgie Porgie," "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary," and "Little Miss Muffet."  For actual acting out, "Jack" and "Little Miss Muffet" were the most fun.  We didn't have a candle, so I put down a flashlight.  Q is still hopping/skipping rather than 2 feet off the floor jumping, but she loves any excuse to try (and also liked saying, "Mama turn!" a lot). For "Little Miss Muffet" we took turns making "Itsy Bitsy Spider" fingers at each other and tickling.   Q is getting pretty good at faux-crying and enjoyed making her dolls cry after "Georgie" kissed them.  "Three Little Kittens" was going really well, until Q decided she wanted pie like the kittens, even though she has never had any.  We didn't have any in the house, so we took a little break from playing until Q had moved on.

All in all, a fun morning activity.

I Purposely Ignore My Instincts AND Activity #3 Clean Up!

H was out of town for the past two days, so evenings were a little more of a struggle for me. Q asked where Dada was, but seemed satisfied with the answer, "He'll be back Thursday night." Thank goodness.  Even though I said this wasn't a sleep training blog, she is doing much better with not needing us to come into the room at night when she wakes up.  Q has always been a startler/sudden waker-upper in the middle of naps/sleeps (she inherited my need for sleep and H's startle to sleep reflex. Awesome), so she always cries - usually briefly - when waking up, unless it is the morning/end of the nap and she is well-rested. Anyhoo, I have found that when she cries and calls out for us that I can respond without getting out of bed, "It's okay Q, I'm right outside, you are alright, I'm outside your room" (which is technically true, since our bedroom is across the hall and I can see into her room) and she will lie back down and go to sleep. Score!

Moving on, I have never been a big purse/bag fan and really like cargo pockets for carrying items, like wallets and phones. Having to bring a diaper bag everywhere always feels like it is weighing me down like the proverbial millstone.  This means that when we run errands, if they are supposed to be very short, I try not to bring the bag. Brilliant, I know. I like to create even more drama by giving Q something that can be messy, like a fruit squeeze pack.  Q has a knack for getting this all over herself only when I don't have wipes.  When heading out to grocery shop the other day, I decided to leave the bag and handed Q a fruit squeeze pack. I thought, "Just bring the wipes," but I couldn't do it and, of course, as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, Q said, "Bubby wet."  Bubby is her pink rabbit lovey and he was wet, because Q had squirted her squeeze pack all over her lap and Bubby.  Without wipes, I did the only thing I could. I used Bubby to wipe off Q and her seat as best I could.  I would like to thank Bubby for his sacrifice and hope he is enjoying his bath in the washing machine.

(You're a good man, Pink Bubby.)

Q, however, was fine with me using Bubby, because she likes to be clean. I use her desire to be clean and to emulate Mommy and Daddy cleaning to get some housework done with her and demonstrate how to properly clean.

Cleaning (Anytime!):  Q helps me with housework every few weeks and she likes it!  For example, Q helps me clean our bathrooms.  I use real cleaning wipes and she uses a baby wipe or slightly damp burp cloth ("Wet!! Peas wet!). She wipes along the outside of the tub and the sink cabinets, while I take care of the nitty gritty (I never spray or use harsh chemicals, while she is there, though).  She has even been known to wipe down her training potty (not that she has ever used it).  Q also knows how to put items away downstairs as long as I am specific with what she is expected to do.  This also helps children with learning multiple step commands (ie "Put the puzzle pieces in the box and, then, put the box on the puzzle shelf.") I repeat commands to remind Q and if she forgets in the middle of the action or becomes distracted, I just remind her.  She also likes to help me look for items to vacuum up and will use a baby wipe to wipe down her play kitchen while I wipe down our real kitchen.  This activity can easily be 1+ hrs and I let Q take a break if she becomes more interested in a toy or book, while it is happening. I have also been known to become distracted while cleaning ;)

If you don't know the clean-up song, by the way, I suggest you learn it. Here's a great youtube video with the link. Q knows it, but just repeats, "kee up, kee up" over and over again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N69NRFduFF0

I may try a more serious post on Monday about the loneliness of motherhood compounded by working at home and moving. Let me know your thoughts on any of the above!

(Bonus pic of Q driving one of the carts at the supermarket. Please note the adventure hat.)

Activity #2 Bird Watching!

Positives: I have been waking up Q by 7:45am. She only watched one show on Monday and two on Tuesday (no school).  We have done puzzles with each other and read books and sung songs.  We hung out at the library Tuesday morning with some new friends and attended both the toddler and infant classes (one of said new friends is under 6 months old). Q is loving it all.

Negatives: You can bring a toddler to water, but you can't make her drink. I have suggested grocery shopping/cooking/feeding toys since Monday afternoon (the morning got away from us) and Q has refused.  I feel better, though, that I have this activity in my back pocket for when she does want to play with her kitchen. Unfortunately, I have not been exercising in the morning, but I have been waking up before Q to start getting ready and exercised during nap on Tuesday.

Alright, here is our adventure from Tuesday night!  We went grocery shopping after Q's nap, then had dinner, and went Bird Watching!

6:00pm – Bird Watching!  I believe costumes and wardrobe choices help everything. For this, Q and I wore our adventure/explorer hates (floppy brimmed tan hats, but any hat will do).  I don't know about you, but we have lots of empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls. We took the toilet paper roll, cut in in half, and taped the two pieces together to make binoculars. 

(Very professionally done binoculars.)

Q and I took turns looking through them to find birds. We, then, took a walk around the block and looked for birds of any sort and discussed their colors as well as what they are doing (sitting/flying/eating/singing).  We tried to count them (but Q refuses to say "one," and always starts with "two." If you ask her how many of anything there are, she always says, "two" - unless it is her lovies. She knows she has three of those.)  Of course, we also discussed cars/people/plants/other animals.  H's grandfather and father (Q's PawPaw G) were and are avid birdwatchers, so I also like to think this activity will help keep the family tradition going.

(Q tests the binoculars on our patio. I tried to take a shot from above to better see the binoculars, but Q was on the move.)

Great fun and many giggles were had by all. Q is getting pretty good at remembering that planes are not "buhds" (birds).

Activity #1 - Pretend Grocery Shopping/Cooking/Feeding Toys

Alright, first things first, Q and I need to get up earlier. I am going to try and get up by 6:45am tomorrow, so that I can exercise and shower/get dressed before I wake Q at 7:45am.

If I manage to get us up this early, it will give us (after getting dressed and having some breakfast) some time to play before we leave for school at 8:55am. Q's lunch is already made (yea leftovers!). Without further ado, therefore, is our morning 30+ minute activity for tomorrow:

Approx. Start time 8:15am:
Pretend grocery shopping and cooking! 

Q has a toy shopping cart, plastic food and a toy kitchen with pots and pans, but all you really need for this are a shopping bag (can be an oversized purse), food from your own kitchen or cut out pictures of food/store items, and your own pots and pans. I have also given Q an old purse of mine and wallet with some expired bonus cards in them that she pretends are credit/debit cards. First, we'll set up the "store" by sorting her plastic food (veggies and fruits in one area, dairy in another, etc.)  Then, we will discuss the food we are pretending to buy and what we will cook with them.  

(Accessories make everything better.)

Next, Q and I will head over (all of 3 feet) to her kitchen set and pretend to bake/cook them. While the food is “cooking,” we can read a book or play with blocks, but we will remember to go back and check (you know, make sure nothing is "burning")! I will probably – with Q’s help – set the timer on the microwave for 5 minutes. Then, we will pretend to eat the food and feed some to her toys.

(Photo of Q baking and about to feed my old baby doll. H's studly legs are in the backround.)

Obviously, I doubt any of these activities will go as smoothly as written, but I'm hopeful!! When dealing with a toddler, every step in a process is insanely fun to them, because they don't know the difference between work and play. I am planning on capitalizing on that.