Pedigreed Housewife World

While everything you read says that 0-5 are the prime years to teach children because their minds are like sponges, I have a fear of becoming like Rick Moranis in Parenthood and stressing my kids out.   Since these last few weeks have been crazy at our house (Spring Break, Abby’s birthday, Easter, etc) I wanted to let the kids calm down from all of the activities.   This is a good time to show them some ways to manage any stress that they may have in their lives. A lot of what I read about how to de-stress for kids involves giving the kids time to “do nothing” or “be themselves” (which hopefully they are always doing!).   What in the world does that mean?   Seriously.   My first thought was that it means to allow them to do what they want.   My kids have lots of self-directed free time in the afternoons (usually while I’m cooking dinner).   That time is usually spent…loudly…no matter what activity is chosen.   My second thought was that it means to give them time to relax quietly w

Last week was Abigail’s 2 nd birthday and thanks to the incredible generosity of Abby’s friends we are now well stocked on art supplies.  Other than crayons and construction paper, we previously had a surprising dearth of toddler appropriate art supplies, so this week is a great time to explore the world of colors and various art materials with the kids.  Not that I could talk them out of this anyway because the second that fingerpaint entered our house, the kids have been going nuts to paint something. I don’t think that I’ve ever talked to the kids about the principles of art before, so this is a great opportunity to do so.  As art is not really one of my strengths, I start by googling “the principles of art” to see where in the world to start.  Apparently in order to formally appreciate a work of art, you need to examine: o    The Movement – how your eye moves around the piece o    The Unity – the arrangement of items to create a feeling of completeness o    The Harmony – the si

Both of my kids speak exceptionally well for their ages.   No, that’s not just a proud Mommy statement.   Last week was parent/teacher conference week at the kids’ school and both of their teachers also said that the girls were able to express themselves and their needs exceedingly well for their ages, and that they each had very large vocabularies and great sentence structure as well.   Ok, saying all of that was proud Mommy bragging a little bit, but also true.   And I just edited out a lot more bragging so you should be happy about that.   J   Anyway, this week I figured we’d focus on our pronunciation.   I think that if you could only hear Briana’s voice, you could not distinguish her from a five year old in the way that she speaks, other than pitch maybe.   Abigail turns 2 this week and while the teachers and I have no trouble understanding her, I feel like her translator when we are talking to my friends, especially those without kids, and especially when we’re on the phone.

Every now and then the kids completely surprise me with knowledge that I didn’t know they possessed.   Earlier this week I had one of those moments.   Briana and I were driving to her ballet class and she asked me where we were right now.   I think she was getting anxious that, heaven forbid, we were going to miss ballet, though we were actually going to get there a little bit early to catch the end of Abby’s gymnastics class.   I jokingly told her, “We’re on Planet Earth.”   It was early on a Saturday morning so forgive me a rare snide comment please.    J   Anyway, I was about to tell Briana what “Planet Earth” meant since I had brought it up, and she interrupted me and said, “I know what Earth means, Mommy.   It’s our planet that we live on.   I know other planets too.   Mars is the next one and it’s very hot.   Then Jupiter.   That’s the big, big, BIG one.   I don’t remember what the next one is.   I just like Earth and Mars and Jupiter.”   I was stunned!   Planets?!   I’m stil