The New Normal

So it's just me again, the way it used to be, except it's totally different now that I've had Kanga here so long.  I miss her, for so many reasons.  The companionship, the humor, the shoulder, and oh my, the cleaning.  :)  Having her leave right at the time Merryweather started has been extra challenging because I'm getting used to having a newborn again with less help all at once.  It's not overwhelming in terms of the kids- six is not a problem for me.  But the toddler and infant schedules tag team each other and most days there is very little time for straightening up.  Things are not neat and tidy at 5:30, and I'm a lot more tired at the end of the day and hate to face my kitchen for dinner when it's messy. 

And there are less crafts.  I like doing crafts.  I miss doing them with the kids, especially at holiday time when I feel like I should be sending home reindeer and snow and fun treaty goodness.  But we're cooking a lot- they're helping me with meals a lot more since there's not a second person to keep them busy in the playroom.  It's a lot of fun to answer questions and tell them all about our food.  I'm sitting on the floor in the playroom a lot and just talking with them, and singing, and building blocks and reading books and what color is this and what letter is that and what sound does it make and and and....  we're definitely having fun.  I'm still figuring what things to switch around to make it work more smoothly, and I expect to be back in the craft groove soon.  Hopefully Merryweather's schedule will be a bit more consistent at that point too.  Right now she does whatever she likes- you get to do that when you're two months old.  Not knowing when she might be awake or hungry changes our schedule daily, but it's all good. 

 O'Malley is crazy in love with her.  He's about the same age now that Duchess was when big sister Aurora was here, so it's funny to have this relationship again- one of my kids and one of the Sleeping Beauty clan.   He was beyond proud when I let him feed her for a minute the other day.

Then she farted.  And not only did it shake the couch, the stench would make you flee the county.

 So he's yelling, "MAMA!!!  Come get Merryweather!  She tooted and it is SO STINKY!!"

I was right there, of course, but I was laughing too hard to rescue him immediately.

I was telling my hubby one day last week that I needed something exciting and somewhat physical to do with them since we're not venturing outdoors these days with a tiny one.  He reminded me that we own a parachute.  OH YEAH!  I completely forgot about it.  They had such a good time.  Alice especially loves it.  We sing songs and shake and push and pull.  

 Of course they kept wanting to sit on it and hide under it too, which is fun.  We also bounced balls on it, and worked lots on the gross motor skills with holding the handles and how much to move your arms to make it do different things.  Remy was funny- he kept wanting to wear the handles around his wrists like bracelets and then they would slide right off as soon as the others started to shake.  I couldn't get a picture because it was happening so fast.

 Merryweather approved.  She's just starting to give me regular smiles.  LOVE that I caught one.

Alice and Lady are starting to be excited about clips and bows.  Alice calls them "hair pretties", which is a term that we've all appropriated very quickly.  This morning she was quite pleased with her purple sparkly flower, and I dug one out of Lady's box for her to wear too.  Consequently, Mater hit the floor in a full body tantrum.  The man needed a hair pretty.  He wasn't buying the argument that most boys don't wear them, so I found him one too.  I figure it won't kill him.  A pink hair clippie is good for improving the soul of every boy, right?

And then all was right with his world, and the three of them chatted and patted each other's heads and praised their loveliness.  He wore it about ten minutes and then it disappeared.  I still haven't seen it.  I'm putting my money on the couch cushions. 

Learning Centers

I just got back from a Saturday training on how to create learning centers for preschoolers. Funny, I always complain about having to go to trainings, but they are awesome for getting me refocused and excited about my job all over again. This one was really tailored to classrooms of all 3 and 4 year olds, so obviously there's some adjusting I'll be doing. Still though, lots of cool ideas to take away from it, as well as some interesting research. For example:

• Occupational therapists say that it's better for kids to color with crayons rather than markers because the pressure and friction that's required helps motor skills much more. Markers are too easy and don't demand the shoulder strength. (plus it's a lot easier to color on things you shouldn't...)
  
• When kids choose to spin around in circles, it's incredibly helpful for their brains. Here we thought it was only fun, and like to laugh when they get dizzy and fall down, but it's caused by a need in the two hemispheres of the brain. Crossing the mid-line and spinning is an educational and productive activity.
• Hands-on experience is the number one way kids learn things until age SIX. Forget worksheets and rote memorization- give them concrete objects to connect to and they're going to learn it a lot more completely.
• The lack of child-directed play in today's society has largely contributed to delays in all domains of child development compared to previous generations. Let them explore, talk, work it out with each other, and decide how and what to play, preferably without electronics involved.

Pretty cool, huh?

Poor Kanga is going to have to deal with me wanting to move every item in the playroom four times over the next few weeks while I work through these new ideas to create fun spaces for all the different ages we serve right now. I drive her crazy with that, I know, but new stuff is FUN!

Clean Sweep

I've been looking around the playroom in great disgust lately. I'm not happy with the way it's laid out. Right now I've got a section gated off that's left over from when O'Malley (I'm changing his name because I just can't get on board with calling him Berlioz. It's still an Aristocat and the kids don't read the blog anyway) and Eeyore were tiny and needed a dedicated space where they wouldn't be stepped on or "loved" too fiercely.

We don't really need space blocked off for that purpose anymore- O'Malley's almost walking and Eeyore just gave me two weeks notice. Very soon there won't be any more babies around here. I need to do a complete overhaul and rearrange. We also have a bunch of toys with pieces spread out all over and other things that nobody plays with except to stand on and jump off. And there are things that I've been keeping in the cabinet because there were too many small parts for the babies to get hold of, but that might work now.

I've been making a list of all the things that I want to do and it's fairly long. Heavy furniture needs to be moved, toys need to be sorted and cleaned, centers need to be created. I want to take a good look at what gets played with and what doesn't. I've got supply fee money from everybody this month and I need to see what else it would best be spent on. So far I've bought some sand toys and sand, and a new computer table for the iMac I want to start teaching them to use.

I think I want to move everything around and start over. And to do this myself on nights and weekends, I won't finish before O'Malley starts kindergarten. :)

So this is a call for help! Parents, friends who read, are you guys willing to spend a weekend day (or a few hours on a weeknight, for that matter!) before too long hauling stuff around and helping me out? I'll order pizza and have a big fat list of stuff to be done. I think the kids are going to be able to play so much better when they can see what we have and know where it goes. If we're going to have all big kids here, I want to raise expectations and get rid of baby stuff and train them to keep things in centers... big plans.

Please let me know if you can help me clean. :) Thanks!