Lucy spurt

Over the past 2 to 3 weeks, Lucy has had some sort of developmental spurt. All of the things she had been struggling with 90% of every day have turned into 10%-of-the-day, manageable issues.

A month ago, she fussed/cried/threw fits in the car about her car seat being too tight: every car ride, the whole car ride, every day. I had to pull the car over for discipline several times a day. Now, we have pleasant car rides, with very little to no complaining, with singing, with pleasant conversation. Somehow, the difference here just came one day. She was pleasant in the car all day, and I made a point to make a big deal about it with Jon when he got home from work. She was so proud. Now, at the end of each day, she tells him, beaming, that she didn't fuss in the car all day.

A month ago, she fussed every day about her clothes and shoes being too tight: every outfit, every shoe, every morning. I purposely picked the least constricting, softest knits, gave her a choice of two outfits, etc. She still threw fits (and received cold-shower disciplines pretty regularly). Now, I still pick soft outfits, but she puts them on without a fuss and even willingly puts on her shoes. Weird. She even wore her AWANA Cubbies uniform vest this past Wednesday for the first time. (I never chose to make the vest a battle, since I knew she'd think it was too tight and just wanted her to behave during Cubbies.)

A month ago, she started having toilet accidents several times a day (one day it was 8 in a day! I called the doctor about an infection, but she didn't have one). Now, not only has she had no accidents, but she is now in regular underwear overnight (no more pull-ups). To me, this is a physical manifestation that something was going on with her developmentally a month ago: her brain was working on a big jump, so the physical took a back seat for a week or two while her brain worked it out. Then, it all clicked.

Life is so much more pleasant. Yesterday, when she did start fussing about her car seat, I pulled the car over, got out, and spoke calmly but firmly to her. She responded with, "OK, Mama. I will stop." What?! A month ago, when I spoke calmly but firmly to her, it did nothing (and would then escalate into further discipline and crying).

Thank you, God, for this breakthrough.

How kids care for their toys

Daddy tells a story about me when I was little (maybe 3?). My toy shopping cart had broken, and he spent some time fixing it. After I got it back from him, I promptly smashed it into the wall several times, breaking it again. I told him, "See Daddy? It isn't fixed!"

Mini quilt project with Lucy

Lucy and I finished decorating those mini dresses together. She loved hanging them up in her chosen location.



My favorite is the green one. Lucy loves the yellow one with the tutu.





I stitched around the outsides of two of the dresses, so now they look like appliques. I got tired of all the stitching and didn't do it on the third dress. ;)

Mama's visit

We had a great time with Mama/Mimi last weekend. Her visits are always too short!

School decisions

I've been praying about decisions for the kids' schooling over the next couple of years. I still don't know exactly what we'll do, but here's where I'm leaning:

Lucy, who will be 4 and a half in the fall, would go to preschool 3 days/week. She's been dying to start school.
Nate will homeschool with me for 1st grade.

Wait, did I just say homeschool? That is not me. I'm the mom who has been counting down the days until all my kids are in school. (I love my kids--I really, really do--but I'm also an introvert and crave some daily alone time.)

There are many reasons I'm leaning in this direction. One main factor is cost. Nate's current school had to raise tuition, and we'd also be paying nearly twice as much anyway because he'd switch from half-day kindergarten to full-day school. If we send Lucy to preschool instead (at the place where Nate did his "mainstreamed" preschool), the cost would be about 1/4. Then I could set aside some funds for field trips and homeschool supplies.

If cost were the only factor, then public school would probably be the easy choice for Nate. But the second factor is boredom. Nate comes home telling me the "sight words" they went over in class ("Mom, we learned the new site words 'as' and 'the' this week")--all while he is able to read chapter books on his own. When they do learn something new to him in school (there have been math concepts he didn't know), he loves it. If I can help it, I don't want Nate to believe that learning is boring, slow, with nothing new or exciting. (I initially put "school" in that sentence instead of "learning"--but it's learning that he loves now, and I don't want him to lose that.) All of this isn't meant to say "I have such a smart, smart little snowflake and I don't want inferior schooling to tarnish him!" Not at all. I do want to figure out what's best for him, though. And I also realize that if he homeschools and eventually wants to go back to school, the grade level issue will still be there.

One of the reasons I think I might be able to do this is if Lucy is at preschool. The combination of all 3 children at once is what I feel might put me over the edge of overwhelmedness (is that a word?). Even with Luce in school, I'm still quite apprehensive about homeschooling (the organization required. the decisions about materials. the actual teaching time. the space). But on Lucy's days off from preschool, we could do our field trips or easy school days.

I've been mulling all of this over for a couple of months now, and I feel like God has been nudging me with different encouragements over that time. A friend from church gave a talk at a recent MOPS about changing our mentality about learning and how our kids learn, allowing them to pursue their interests and passions, not bogging them down with what they "should" be learning compared to other kids. Then Nate's school's announcement came about tuition increases.

I'm still unsure. :)

Just like Lulu!

Lucy did her own styling the other day and told me, "Mama, look! I'm wearing this scarf just like Lulu wears her purse!"

Why'd it take me so long to figure this out?

Although Nate loves school, he doesn't like getting ready in the mornings. Each day was the same thing: me reminding him several times to get dressed, then to eat, then to put on his shoes, then to brush his teeth, etc. Each time, he'd whine. This is obviously an attitude-obedience-discipline issue, BUT I also needed to figure out something that worked better. WHY did it take me so long to think of writing up a schedule for him? When I printed this out and posted it (in his bedroom and also in the kitchen), he loved it.



He likes to know when things need to be done, and of course he loves that it's the same each day. Now, it's amazing. I usually have to remind him about the first step or two, but then by brushing-teeth time, he usually does it on his own before I even say a thing. It's a miracle!

Valentine creation: Love lives here

Here's what I've been working on all week. (It's 99% done, anyway.) I woke up on February 1 with a lot of craft energy (sometimes I have it and sometimes I don't) after having seen this adorable Valentine's advent/count-down calendar on Leslie's blog. The idea is you write a little love note to each member of the family and put it in their pocket for that day--one for each day in February leading up to Valentine's Day. We've been reading the notes written the previous day during breakfast each morning. By the time Valentine's Day hits, each person will have 50+ notes of love in their pockets.


Nate and Lucy are loving this. On Tuesday night at MOPS, we moms did a love language evaluation for our children (to determine what we thought our kids' love languages are), and it confirmed what I already knew about Nate: he is a words-of-affirmation lover. So this love note thing is right up his alley. (Plus, he's all about routine, calendars, and schedule, so seeing the 14 days and 5 people organized visually appeals to him.)


I was able to make this whole thing with materials I had on hand (except for the fabric for the binding, which I bought on sale). It is basically a quilt (two layers of white fabric with batting in between), with the pockets sewn straight onto it, embroidered numbers (which, yes, are unfinished--I wanted to take pictures in daylight so only made it up to 4 this morning), and "Love lives here" letters made using fabric and Heat n Bond (which lets you turn fabric into iron-ons).


I'm excited to do this every year, save the notes, and document how our family is growing--in age and also in love toward one another.

Fun desktop backgrounds

While I try to finish sewing up the craft I wanted to post, here's something fun:

Each month, I like to use the free desktop backgrounds found on this site. I pick pictures from the previous month and get to enjoy seeing them each time I sit at the computer. Here's our February desktop:

Some pictures

I'm working on a fun craft that I think will be finished today. I can't wait to post and explain it. For now, here are Lucy and Levi.