Who Do You Call?

“If you need a policeman, fireman, or ambulance, who do you call?”

It’s so neat, I’m working, but I hear my husband upstairs drilling our sons, Tyler (age five) and Austin (age three) on safety. He does this every few months. First, he had Tyler sit in the living room, and the he placed a pack of matches, a lighter, and a very realistic looking water pistol on the floor around our house. Then he told Austin to go find the dangerous items and tell him what he would do if ever found them somewhere. Austin found each item, named it, didn’t touch it, and said “I would not touch it, I would go tell a grownup.” Then Mike had Austin sit out while Tyler repeated the process.

Next, they held a firedrill. “BEEP, BEEP, BEEP” Mike yelled, and he had the boys practice crawling on their bellies out their rooms, down the stairs, out the front door, to our designated meeting place outside. It’s a light pole, and Austin calls it the “Fire Pole.” Every few months, Mike presses the “test” button on the alarm to hold a surprise drill. It’s usually a surprise to me also and scares the dickens out of me!

Now Mike is quizzing them on how to call 911–but only in an emergency!

The Coin Game!

How do you teach five- and three-year-olds the coins? I wanted to make it fun for my sons, Tyler and Austin, and so I invented the coin game! Here’s how to play.

I set out a penny, nickle, dime, and quarter before each boy. Then they name them. If they get them right, they keep them. Get them wrong, I keep them! Needless to say, they love the coin game and would play it several times a day if I’d let them!

Now we’re moving on to identifying the coin values: 1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents. If they get those right, they get to keep the coins.

What’s Your New Year’s Resolution?

Well it’s got to be an interesting sign that it’s taken me until January 16 to post about my New Year’s Resolutions! Maybe it’s a sign that I’m sticking with them! Or maybe it’s a sign that I’ve been too busy to even think much about them.

In any event, I thought it could only help to write about them. This year, I’m making two resolutions. The first is that every night after we finish eating and cleaning up, we have about an hour before my kids have a snack, watch a video, and go have a bath. That hour goes by so fast! And in time, it’s become time for me to race around the house, catching up on chores or even dash in here to check email. My days go by so quickly and because I work from home I feel like I spend a lot of time with my sons, I don’t feel like I get to spend a lot of time playing with them. They might be in the room when I’m checking email, or folding laundry, or cooking dinner, but that’s hardly the same thing as playing with them. And so I resolve to take back that precious hour as family time. No chores, no email. I will engage with and play with my kids!

My second resolution involves the 10 pounds that have crept on since I lost my pregnancy weight. I admit I hardly notice them. I feel so happy with my body having had kids, and the fat must be in a clever place because I still fit into my clothes! But my scale doesn’t lie. And so my second resolution is to lose those 10 pounds, by eating better and also by actually listening to the reminders that pop up on my computer each day at 10 am to “do situps,” at 1 pm to “do pushups” and at 3 pm to “do leglifts.” (You can take the girl out of the Army, but you can’t take the Army out of the girl.)

Here’s to your health and happiness!

The One-Emotion-at-a-Time Trick

I tend to be a worrier. (This will not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me at all!) Recently, I read that you can only experience one emotion at a time. So when I’m feeling anxious (such as before a four-hour-drive to visit my inlaws), I try instead to think about how I’m excited (such as to see my husband’s family and enjoy my kids spending time with them).

I learned this so very late in life! My one son also tends to be a worrier like me. He often feels nervous before going to school each morning. “Mommy, my belly feels sick. I don’t feel up to going to school,” he’d say. I explained to him about the one-emotion-at-a-time trick, and I worked with him for a few days to come up with things he was looking forward to at school, things to be excited about.

I felt positively joyful, and proud, yesterday when before school, my son told me, “Mommy, you know what I’m excited about today? I’m excited to give my teacher her glue sticks!” (We had bought some glue sticks because she had run out!) I will be very happy if my son can learn this wonderful skill at such a young age–rather than having to wait until he’s 40 like me!

I Love Pudding; It’s Slimy

When my older son, Tyler, was born, I bought a baby calendar and posted it on the bulletin board over my desk. Each day I tried to write a few words–either a funny thing Tyler did (or later, said), a milestone he reached, or something we did that day.

It’s amazing how hard it is to find the time to just write a few words, and as time has gone on I miss more and more days. When Austin (now three) was born, I added a second calendar to my bulletin board. After their first years, I just buy regular calendars; now I buy Disney ones, my favorite!

Now that the boys are older, more often than not, I write funny things that they say. Otherwise I’ll never remember them! Just now, I ran in here because Austin, who’s eating chocolate pudding for a snack said, “I love pudding; it’s slimy.” Earlier today, we were shopping, and Tyler called Starbucks “Starwars.” Priceless!