What is it about boys and mud? Mud seems to draw my little guy like a magnet.
It all start innocently enough. Will found a stick and a large puddle and started stirring. Knowing how much pigs love mud, he called them. “Here piggy! Here’s mud. Come play.”
I turned my back.
No pigs came so Will decided to enjoy the mud himself.
When it produces smiles like that, even mud is a Finer Thing!
“Enjoy your kids, they’ll be grown before you know it,” has got to be the most repeated advice given to moms with young children. I can hardly walk into a store without a sweet grandma pausing to smile at the kids and remind me, “They grow up so fast!”
I believe it.
Each child added to the family seems to make the “play” speed of life a little faster. The time between Christmases feels shorter.
photo by kordian deren
Recently I was talking with my mother-in-law and she repeated the sage advice but added, “Make sure you take time to look into their eyes.”
Eyes are the “window of the soul” and “the light of the body.” (Matt. 6:22) Of course I look into my children’s eyes! I love them. But I’ve been consciously stopping to do so more.
Gazing into a child’s eyes is like pushing the pause button on the fast march of time. They grow up so quickly. Push the pause button often and gaze into their eyes.
Linked up at Proverbs 31 Thursdays and Finer Things Friday.
photo by Your Pic Photography
My brother was playing with my children and turned to me. “Isn’t it weird to think,” he said, “that I’ve spent all this time playing with them and they won’t remember it? Yet this is helping mold their lives?!” It really is amazing.
Research shows that the experiences, rhythms, words, and atmosphere that surround infants and small children play a foundational role in later development.
Habits are formed. Conclusions about the world are unconsciously drawn. A worldview is created.
Yet most of these moments of laughter and tears will be forgotten.
The other night, Rose rolled out of her bed and woke up with night terrors. I tucked her back in bed and stroked her arm. She finally went back to sleep and I headed to bed and was soon fast asleep myself. She woke up with night terrors again. Josh tried to quiet her down so I could sleep, but she was inconsolable. Finally, he got her up and they had a midnight snack together: burnt toast (the more burnt the better, for my little gal) with butter and honey. She calmed down and went back to bed.
Morning came and she couldn’t remember a thing. She didn’t remember I’d put her back in bed or that she’d had a midnight snack.
Chances are, your children will not remember anything that you’ve done today. They’ll forget cutting out snowflakes together this morning. They’ll forget playing outside this afternoon. They’ll forget the many hours spent teaching them to shape bread or dry dishes.
How many memories do you have of your childhood? I have about a dozen distinct images of my very early childhood.
That’s all.
Out of all the countless hours my parents spent with me my first few years, a few dozen memories?
But the years sacrificially poured into raising and nurturing those little ones aren’t in vain!
photo by Your Pic Photography
Infants won’t remember the hours spent just holding them and gazing into their eyes. Toddlers won’t remember the many times you get up with them in the night. They will remember being loved.
They are learning about their world. Learning about faith and trust and patience and love and how to control their anger. Learning about God.
We have been given a great and glorious task: creating a worldview that reflects God’s truth.
It’s daunting. We will fail miserably. We can’t succeed in the end without God’s help. But with His grace we are called to create a world for our child. A world shaped by forgotten moments.
Linked up at Teach Me Tuesdays, Domestically Divine and Proverbs 31 Thursdays
“Mama, are you happy,” my four year old loves to ask. She has a knack for asking just when I need the reminder. Like when I’m scrabbling to get dinner ready before company comes or wishing I could take a nap.
“Why YES, I am,” I answer. How can I not be when I have beautiful trusting blue eyes looking up into mine.
“Mama, why are you happy? Is it because you have three little children to love?”
There’s only one right answer to that question!
photo by polishpnut
Then we start our own version of “The Happy Game.”
Try it. You might like it as much as we do. Especially if you’re playing with a toddler! They have a wonderful ability to notice and be thankful for the many little blessings that surround us each day.
Linked up at Teach Me Tuesday and A Wise Woman
…or what happens if you think your day is going too smoothly.
photo by Lesley Mackin
My daughter picked up a wash cloth off the floor (thanks spittupy baby!) and started to wipe her hands on it. Just as I was about to remind her that “the floor is dirty and we don’t wipe our hands on washcloths from the floor” she said to herself, “You don’t wipe buttery fingers on your clothes. Butter will stain them.” She was quoting from a conversation we had yesterday.
Taking their first step, saying their first word and reading their first book are major milestones in a child’s life. But each day with little ones is filled with milestones.
Little milestones.
They’re easy to miss. It doesn’t seem like a big deal to me that my toddler ate all his breakfast instead of dumping it into his cup (like he did every day the past week.) I’m sure it took a lot of self-restraint. Wiping her fingers on a dirty washcloth meant that my daughter had learned not to wipe them on her clothes.
Teaching a child is a lot like teaching math, as Rachel Jankovic puts it in her hilarious and inspiring book Loving the Little Years. Just as you master the basic addition of saying “please” and not coloring on the walls, basic subtraction gets thrown into the mix. It can feel like they’re never getting it. There’s always a new attitude to adjust or new concept to conquer. But really they’re passing milestones all the time. All that training will pay off.
Don’t be discouraged! Addition is easy now.
Linked up at Proverbs 31 Thursday and Women Living Well Wednesdays and Handful of Heart
Just before sitting down to continue this series, as I got Rosalind ready for her nap, she asked “Why don’t we have a little house?” She pressed her fingers together to make an ant’s sized home, then spread her arms wide, “We have a bi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-g house. Right?”
Yes, it is a big house.
Compared to what we need, our home is big. Compared to 90% of the world, our home is big. Compared to the homes that many are grateful for, ours is a mansion.
Some days children have as much to teach us as we them, don’t they?
Now that we have established the fact that my title is false, this is how our big nursery works for us.
Keep the floor space clear: Avoid big bulky toys and focus on a simple selection of toys that store well and keep children entertained for hours. Duplos, dress up clothes and puzzles slide under the bed or fit in a toy chest easily. This leaves most of the room open for actually playing.
Stick with a simple wardrobe: Determine what you need to keep your children in clean clothes and then don’t stuff the closet and dresser with extra. A simple selection of quality outfits you (and the munchkins) like makes getting them dressed easy, keeps the clothes manageable and doesn’t take up much room!
Go outside: It’s more fun and healthy than staying cooped up inside. A game of tag or afternoon at the park doesn’t take an inch of space in a small (or bi-i-i-i-i-i-g) bedroom.
Stick with a neutral theme: At least if it’s a “nursery.” Trains, teddy bears or plaids in neutral colors work well for sons and daughters. Rosalind’s room was green and pink until William came along. Simply moving the pink to just around her bed and adding in chocolate as an alternate accent made it much more boy friendly (not that he really cares yet!)
What do you do to make the nursery more practical?
Part of Frugal Friday at Life as Mom
Photo by Eva Schuster
P.S. This weekend I’m finishing the switch from “girl’s room” to nursery, and will have before and after pictures up next week!
Whole industries feed on parent’s desires to provide the latest and greatest playthings for their children. Most of them are utterly unnecessary. Every baby I know is perfectly content with a set of measuring spoons and Mama by their side. As they get bigger, less is still better.
Dress-up clothes, however, are a worthwhile investment. A simple assortment of clothes provides hours of fun play as a knight or princess, soldier or nurse. Creativity leads the way and transforms teddy bears into sick patients or the stuffed alligator to a fearsome foe.
Not only are they fun, but they provide a perfect teaching opportunity. What kindergartener wouldn’t love to dress up like Robin Hood while studying England’s history or get to play Martha Washington? A nurse outfit creates a perfect opportunity to teach the names of the major bones and muscles and how they interact, all in the name of play.
Dress-up clothes don’t need to be an expensive investment. Rosalind’s nurse outfit cost a grand total of 25 cents (including the thread!) Garage sales, thrift stores and Grandma’s attic are good places to look for fun, inexpensive garb. Washington’s buttons certainly don’t have to be 1776 replicas! Sherlock Holmes, an old time doctor and knight all use the same black cape. A white apron works for a nurse, chef or Betty Ross. The point is creative fun, not perfect authenticity. A little time and effort are all it takes to provide hours of instructive, creative enjoyment.
And who knows, you may even get roped into playing too.
I thought time passed too quickly before having children. Boy, does it hit the fast track once you are a mom! Three years have already passed since we welcomed our little princess into the world.
Those three years have been the best of my life. Despite exhausting nights, busy days and the ties that keep you from being able to “go and do” on a whim, motherhood truly is the most rewarding of careers.
As a stay at home mom we may not affect world policy or architect buildings, but instead have been given the awesome responsibility of architecting a worldview. Our lives shape the standards and create “normal.”
Motherhood’s salary doesn’t make it to the top ten highest paying, but in addition to the intrinsic rewards, staying home with the children encourages financial freedom in other ways, as Frugal Granola pointed out. When it comes to birthday celebrations, a special day with mom and simple gifts is enough to thrill a toddler.
This year, I turned a garage sale curtain and sheet into a vintage Red Cross nurse outfit. She couldn’t be more happy.
Tomorrow, my little princess turns three. Rosalind has been looking forward to June second for weeks. I can hardly believe it’s almost here: that for three years we’ve had her bubbling joy fill our home.
And that in three short years I have answered 5,620,103 questions. At least.
Watching your child open a gift and see the look of joy in their eyes delights a parent. Yet it is generally acknowledged that little children prefer non-toys. Rosalind cried her first Christmas when we took the wrapping paper away and gave her the teddy bear.
A baby’s gift is exciting just because it is wrapped. These are my baby’s favorite toys:
The blocks may cut it for a few minutes, but then it is off to find something more exciting. Like my water bottle.
It constantly amazes me how content children are with the simplest of “toys”, especially if mommy plays with them!
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