4th of July dress

I put this dress together using a white turtleneck shirt and a 4th of July dress from 2 years ago. I loved the little belt!

Levi last night

Frisbee & fun

We've been enjoying throwing (or sort-of-throwing) the frisbee in the grass next to the house.

Nate modeling his sock/no-sock style (he had a small cut on the bottom of the socked foot):



Some frisbee throwing (ignore my silly cheers):



Here are all the pictures I took trying to get Levi to stand still and look at the camera.

Great info for parents suspecting autism

I was pointed to this blog post with some great information for parents on what to look for regarding "normal development" of babies.

Here's a pertinent excerpt:

Baby B.L.I.S.S.*
For our purposes, I have developed an easy way to remember the signs to look for as your young child is developing. When making a diagnosis, my colleagues and I focus on a baby being able to do several early developmental skills around social interactions and play. I have also created some short video clips showing these skills as they begin to develop. The video shows what your baby should be doing by their first birthday for each part of the acronym: B.L.I.S.S.
B = Babbling- your baby should be playing with vocal sounds a lot, making a variety of vowel and first consonant sounds such as b, d, and m – think mama, dada, baba, etc.
L = Looking – this involves your baby looking at you when you talk, looking back at you when they are playing to “check in”, and looking at something you point to, to see what it is.
I= Imitating – your baby should imitate your basic play actions such as clapping hands, waving bye-bye, blowing kisses, or banging blocks together, etc.
S= Sharing – your baby should share enjoyment with you by laughing and giggling for familiar games such as peak-a-boo, or “Sooo big”.
S = Showing – your baby should hold objects up to you to “show” them to you. They often won’t let go of the item, but they want to get your interest in what is interesting them. If they are walking, they may “bring” it to you to show you.
So this is the new kind of baby B.L.I.S.S. I hope every parent becomes aware of and I want you to remember it for yourselves and for all of your friends. Remember, if your friends or family have concerns, by just starting with these questions, you will know almost immediately if you should have an autism specialist take a look. It is important to note, this is by no means a diagnosis, it is just a way to be aware of the early signs so that if this is what it is, the correct course of action can be taken and a diagnostic assessment can be done as soon and as early as possible.

Summer session

Nate's first day of summer session at La Tierra began today. This month's setup is 5 days/week, 9:00-11:00. I love the shortened schedule, because it means Nate can still participate in any fun summer stuff we do. July will be his last month at La Tierra, where he has attended for two years. Then he'll go to 6 days of a Monday-Wednesday-Friday summer session at his new school, Living Word. Then we'll have the rest of August off before he starts kindergarten in September.

Also in August, we will be going on our first family camping trip. I'm sort of looking forward to it and sort of dreading it. :)

VBS recap

We had a really great week of VBS. This is the first year I haven't spent much of each day worrying about one of my children. (Last year, I worried about Levi spending so much time in the nursery AND about Nate being a behavior problem in the preschool class!) Every time I checked in on Levi in the nursery this week, he was happy and playing, and Nate and Lucy both did well in their class/crew. Nate loved being in a crew with various-aged children. Two older boys befriended him; on Thursday night at bedtime, Nate prayed to thank God for Isaac and Jason (so cute). Each day, when I asked Lucy what she did in her preschool VBS class, the first description out of her mouth was what snack they had eaten. I didn't take any pictures during the week, but here are some from the VBS photographer guy.

VBS

This is VBS week. Nate is in the "big kid" VBS now and is very proud about it. Lucy is in the preschool class and, I anticipate, will do very well. (She is one of those kids whose behavior is angelic for other people--just not at home. Go figure.) Levi is in the nursery, of course.

The scowl

Levi has been perfecting his angry/sheepish/generally uncooperative look lately. It makes me laugh.

One of our favorite places

Today was Nate's first day off from school. (He has a couple of weeks off before the July session of school, which will be his last round of school before he goes to regular kindergarten in the fall.) We celebrated by going to one of our favorite free places: the fountains at the Spectrum. Levi has already enjoyed the fountains a few times this season, just like Nate did at this age.

Easy dress

I did this quite a few months ago but never posted it. It was so easy. I took a stained shirt of Lucy's (actually size 2T, which would be too small for her now), cut off the bottom where the stain was, and gathered/sewed some fabric I liked to the bottom. Sewing the woven fabric to the bottom of the knit shirt caused it to stretch a bit, but I still liked how it turned out. Lucy was in a modeling mood today, so we went out and took some pictures.

Lucy's swim lessons

Lucy just finished up a session of 8 swim lessons. She started off quite fearful of the water, hated getting her face/head wet (especially her ears), would not go under, etc. She wouldn't even lie her head back in the bath. Here she is during her first lesson:





After 8 lessons, she can jump from the steps toward an adult, kicking her legs and doing "rocketship pizzas" with her arms. She can float by herself, though she still wants the security of holding on to someone's finger. She still doesn't love going under or getting her head wet, but at least she can do it now. She does enjoy practicing "floating" in the bath now and willingly lies back in the water.

I forgot to take the camera to her last lesson (doh!), but here she is this evening when we all went to the neighborhood pool.



Nate can barely wait for his swim lessons in July. I signed him up for group lessons through the city; he isn't fearful of the water and can already jump in/go under, so he won't need the same kind of (expensive) attention Lucy needed.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my daddy and also to my wonderful husband.

This morning in church, the children were invited up front. (Lucy and Levi were already in class/nursery, but Nate's age kids are still in church at that point.) Neil asked the kids what they love most about their dads. Nate was the second child to say something. Into the microphone he said, "I love my dad because he's so sweet." That was cute. Jon is a sweet, fun, strong, slow-to-anger, wonderful father.

Happy Father's Day!

Dresses for me

I finished this dress a few weeks ago and, although it isn't perfect, I like that it's for me! It's from a free pattern from BurdaStyle, and I was happy to use up some extra yardage left over from my quilt.



I also finished my first made-from-a-real-pattern dress for me. (I've used patterns before, but only for Lucy.) It also isn't perfect (I should have altered the darts along the back of the skirt, and the sleeves are a tiny bit too big), but I love it. I wore it on Sunday and no one knew I'd made it--and isn't that a good sign? The fabric is Anna Griffin's. I think she might be my favorite fabric designer. Almost every fabric I see and think, "I really love that one!" ends up being hers.

Picture courtesy of Lucy!

Wrong name

Nate tonight playing video game with Jon:

"I got Arty Doo-tee!"

One hint: they were playing a Star Wars game.

Levi playing

I have nothing new and great to post, but here's a video of Levi (I think it's from two days ago). He didn't know I was watching, but then when he figured out I was, he kept looking over making sure I was wowed by each thing he did. :)

The benefit of appeal

One of my favorite parenting concepts out of Shepherding a Child's Heart is the idea of appeal. The idea isn't new, but I credit the book with giving it to me. Anyway, the gist is that children are to obey the first time, without delay. However, while a child is in the process of obeying, he/she may make an appeal for the parent to change his/her mind. If at all possible, the parent should say yes to the child's request. If the parent's answer still is no (often accompanied by an explanation), the child should still continue obeying without complaint. (All easier said than done, of course.)

Nate has just begun to understand and implement this concept, and it certainly has done wonders to erase whining and to make him feel like his voice is heard. The light bulb moment for him was with his video game. When the timer went off and/or I told him time was up, he would whine and complain. Then I explained to him that, if he stops playing immediately and is on his way to turn off the system, he may ask for more time. I also explained that sometimes I would be able to say yes, and sometimes I would still say no; either way, he must not complain. It took a few days of reminders from me, but now Nate totally gets it and has also been very successful in continuing to obey even when I say no. I now delight in purposely setting the timer to a shorter time so I can gift him with an extended few minutes when he makes a proper appeal. (I do that every few days so he won't come to expect the extended time each day.)

Small successes in parenting are so sweet, especially when they accompany a very difficult week with a 3 year old.

Cute friends

Maggie and Lucy play well together and are just so cute!



Curren and Levi play OK together as long as Levi doesn't try to tackle Curren (and even when he does, Curren seems to take it in stride. Levi kind of just bounces off of him anyway, since Curren is so solid!). (Should I tell Levi that Curren outweighs him by at least 20%? Maybe that's why Levi feels the need to show his dominance.)

This isn't the best picture, but at least they were sitting still!

Letting go

The other day, I gave Nate and Lucy a tiny bit of freedom: on the way to the park by our house, I pulled Levi in the wagon up our hill and down the other hill to the bridge (if you've been here, you know what I'm talking about). I let Lucy and Nate walk by themselves the other way to the bridge (down a grass hill, through a greenbelt). They were out of my sight only for a short time, but still, to them this was a big deal. It got me thinking about how this was a small picture of what parenting is about: training and teaching my children until I think they're ready for a step away from me, and then giving them that freedom. I've met many mothers who say something along the lines of "All I want to do is protect my babies and make life as wonderful and happy as possible for them." They will "go to bat" for their child in the classroom, no matter what the child has been disciplined for. They will keep bringing that forgotten lunch to school, no matter how many times the child leaves it at home. That's a disservice. When those mothers' children go off to college (if they ever let them!), do you think professors are going to be concerned with those kids' happiness? When those mothers' children enter the work force, do you think their bosses will be concerned with their happiness? Of course not. Yes, my job as mother is to love my children, protect them as their age requires, and hopefully provide them with a wonderful life. But I also believe I'm here to teach them how to function in the world (how to be a light in that world!), how to make wise decisions. As I train and protect them, my motherly wisdom will also dictate when the time is right to allow new freedoms and choices. So yeah, that tiny freedom on the way to the park the other day was almost nothing, but it was a step in the right direction.

Cambria

Jon and I had a wonderful, relaxing, good-food-filled weekend. My favorite place we ate was Indigo Moon, where we shared the roasted pumpkin poblano soup and each had a delicious entree. We drove up the coast and saw the elephant seals on Saturday morning and also found a different beach to stroll on. We visited a winery in the afternoon and did a tasting. It was just so nice to have the whole weekend together.

Happy anniversary

Happy anniversary to my sweet husband of 8 years!








We are going on a weekend trip to Cambria this Friday-Sunday and I am SO excited.