Decking The Halls

I wanted to include Jonah and Eve in the Christmas decorating as much as I could, so this year we used a lot of decorations that they could help make. Last year, Jonah helped make a handprint wreath.  I wanted to add some more handmade decorations this year. These two decorations were easy for my kids to help with, and they are extremely proud to show them off to visitors!

Paper Chain Garland:
Scissors
Holiday themed scrap paper or colored construction paper
School Glue
Lots of patience!

This is a classic. And also happens to be a wonderful activity for honing hand-eye coordination and other crucial fine motor skills. I cut strips of holiday colored paper, 8 inches long and about 1 inch wide (I eyeballed it, no need to be exact!) It would be really fun to use holiday patterned scrapbook paper, but we had construction paper on hand. Older children can cut the strips themselves. I tried to let Jonah help cut some, and his were- well, not strips! So this year, I did the cutting. I demonstrated to Jonah how to put a dab of glue on one end of a paper strip, and how to bend it around to create a loop.

I then demonstrated how to put a strip of paper through that loop, and create a new loop, so that we had two attached loops. Jonah was thrilled and very eager to try.

and try....

 and try!

With a lot of guidance and help, we finally had a chain long enough for our mantel.

Jonah had a bit of trouble coordinating both of his hands in this task. It was wonderful practice for him to use fine motor skills that he needs to strengthen and really work on. After doing this craft, I will be making a "busy box" for him with paper chain making as an activity. With this as a busy box activity, he can practice these skills year round!

Coffee Filter Snowflakes:
White coffee filters
poster paint or magic/washable markers
water
work surface such as a plate or art tray
paint brushes
scissors

As many times as I have done coffee filter art, it never occurred to me to cut them into snowflakes until this year. There are many variations of this craft, turning coffee filters into butterflies or flowers; some use washable markers and others use food coloring. For school aged children, you can mix this into a chemistry lesson about chromatography or how colored ink is mixed, if you choose to use markers. Just have the kids color the filters with washable marker, spray or drip water onto the markings, and watch the color spread out and the ink seperate colors. We used this as an introduction to our wintery weather unit. Since it had flurried that morning, it seemed appropriate that we create our chilly weather craft in our nice warm PJ's!

We chose to use watered down poster paint. I wanted the snowflakes to look icy, so I picked purple, a shade of teal, and dark blue. I mixed a very tiny bit of each color into bowls of water. The less water you use, the more vibrant the color, but it will be harder for the colors to spread if it is too thick. Then I gave the kids paint brushes and coffee filters, and let them go at it!

I put the filters onto plates, to keep the paint from getting all over the place. You can also use pie tins or art trays. The surface needs to be wiped between each coffee filter.

I was absolutely amazed at how absorbed my kids were with this activity. They painted for nearly an hour. Had I not told them that time was up, then they would have gladly kept painting!

After we were done painting each coffee filter, I set it on a plastic sheet to dry. This process can take a while, depending on how enthusiastic your child was about painting the filter. If it is saturated, you can speed up the process by using a hair dryer (just keep the dryer moving back and forth, don't let it sit in one spot on the paper.) But, a hair dryer may cause the paper to curl.

Once the filters are dry, fold the circle into fourths, eights, and sixteenths  and begin cutting shapes on the folded edges. Unfold the paper and you will have a lovely snowflake to hang in your windows!

Home Made Gifts: Instant Chai Mix

When I was working in nursery school, I would often get sweet little tokens of appreciation from the kids and families that I cared for, especially around the holidays. It always touched me to see how much thought parents put into these typically home made gifts. They always had a personal flare on them from the child, whether it was a simple card that the child had drawn on, or a sloppily finger painted ornament. They all made me smile from ear to ear. But one family touched my heart especially. I had cared for all three of the brothers in the family, babysitting them as well as having them in my nursery room. I had really grown to know and love them right down to every red hair on their head and cute little brown freckle on their cheeks! On Christmas Eve, all three boys marched into the learning center, red heads covered with red and green santa hats and freckled cheeks turned up in smiles. The oldest shouted excitedly at my classroom door "Miss Jessie! We made this for you! It's a SECRET SURPRISE, but it's TEA!" The mother explained to me that we had bumped into each other at Borders a month earlier and I had been drinking a chai tea. I told the oldest boy that it is one of my favorite drinks. When the mom asked what the boys thought they should make their teachers for the holidays, the oldest boy had said "We need to make Miss Jessie some chai, because she really loves it." The family presented me with a mug, and tucked inside was a cellophane bag and a tag with pictures of all three boys. The boys had helped their mother scoop and measure ingredients to make homemade chai mix, just for me. I was so touched that the boys wanted to do something so personal for me, that they had recalled our chance meeting and had really put thought into what they wanted to make.

This year we had quite a few gifts to give as tokens of appreciation. When thinking of something that the kids could help me with, I immediately thought of the chai tea mix. It is a very nice and unique homemade gift to show someone that you appreciate what they do in your life. And it is easy to make in large quantities. Young children can easily help you scoop and measure, as well as mix the ingredients. We handed them out to teachers at the Little Gym (there were 15 of them!) our postal worker, neighbors, various friends, and hosts of parties. The ingredients were a bit more expensive than I had anticipated, but this is because of two factors: 1. our grocery store didn't have a generic brand of unsweetened, unflavored tea. The larger boxes were all flavored or sweetened, so I had to get smaller containers of brand name tea, which was twice the cost; and 2. the cardamom was $15 a bottle! If you can't find it cheaply, omit it to save money if you want to make this economical (although it will NOT taste the same, cardamom is a very unique flavor. It will be missing something, but will still taste very good without it.) Of course I also made enough for us to have extra to enjoy at home!


Instant Chai Tea Mix:

2 cup nonfat dry milk powder
2 1/2 cups white sugar (Vanilla sugar is nice if you have it. Store white sugar in an airtight container with a vanilla bean stuck in the middle. Perfect for this recipe!)
1 1/2 cups unsweetened instant tea
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon nutmeg

(If you don't have all of the spices and don't want to spend a ton of money, pumpkin pie spice in the same amounts of the substituted spices will do, but again while it will taste yummy it won't be identical to coffee shop chai)

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Make sure all of the ingredients are incorporated evenly. Blend in a blender until the mixture is a fine powder. I did this in batches of about two cups at a time, to make sure it blended evenly. Spoon into small ziptop bags, keeping in mind that two tablespoons (meaning the flatware, not the measuring spoons) makes one cup of chai.I put enough in for three cups per bag. Wrap the zip top bags in festive cellophane and tie with a bow. This part is not necessary, but is a nice touch. I ended up skipping it because I couldn't find my cellophane and couldn't make another trip for more. Put each bag into a mug, which can be found inexpensively at dollar stores. Tie a tag to each bag, or insert it between the mug  and bag, that says "Homemade Chai Tea Mix: Mix two tablespoons into a mug of hot water." and whatever other message you would like.

Mommy Moment #527: Don't Stifle my Creativity

Looking over at my 18 month old during lunch, to see her side of the table completely covered in yogurt, I asked "What are you doing with your yogurt?"

Her response was an excited and self-affirming exclamation: "PAINT!"

Moving

Nothing like moving day to simulate the feeling of being trapped inside the reality show "Hoarders"

This week, we moved from our secluded house that was surrounded by farms, to a house in the most densely populated city in Ohio. We are all adjusting to the change in lifestyle, and it is interesting to see what differences the kids are picking up on. For example, being able to see our neighbors' houses.

Jonah: But Mama, look at all these houses! There are SO MANY!

Me: Yep! Look at all of them! It's going to be different living near the city now.... but I think you'll like it.

Jonah: Me too. I like to live here, Mama. But there are so many houses, that's SO silly!

If he's happy, then I'm happy

Red Cabbage

In my family, we have a rather odd traditional thanksgiving dish. My parents meshed dishes from each of their family's heritage to come up with our typical turkey day menu. From my dad's German roots, we get pickled red cabbage. It is somewhat like sauerkraut, but sightly sweeter and more flavorful. While others might crinkle their nose, it just doesn't feel like thanksgiving to me unless the aroma of roasted turkey and pumpkin pie mingles with the smell of red cabbage stewing in apple cider vinegar. There are many variations of this recipe floating around my family, but this is how (after a year of toying with the recipe) I have come to make it.

1 head red cabbage
apple cider vinegar (amount unknown, a few cups, but my dad and grandma would tell you "as much as it takes")
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion finely diced (I only use about 1/4 of it)
1 cup (or so) brown sugar
1 bay leaf
ground cloves to taste

Cut the cabbage into large chunks and put into a food processor. You can finely chop it by hand, but it saves a lot of time to use the food processor for a whole cabbage. In a large stock pot, heat olive oil on medium heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent. Add the cabbage. Pour vinegar over the vegetables until it is nearly covered. Add the brown sugar, bay leaf, and cloves. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat. Simmer for several hours, adding more vinegar as needed. If you don't want sour cabbage, add water to the pot as the vinegar cooks down and add more brown sugar. Remove the bay leaf before serving.

This is a great dish to serve with pork, as well. It freezes well, which is convenient since one head makes quite a bit.

An attempt to make trying new vegetables fun and exciting, turned into the realization that a red cabbage leaf makes a wonderful klingon costume! We now have the tradition of wearing cabbage hats any time Mom makes the dish.

Elimination Communication Round 2: Evie's Review

When I was pregnant with Eve, a question I got often (and found odd) was whether or not I'd do anything differently with my second baby, than I had done with my first. Obviously, I had known that this baby growing inside of me would be a different child, a different personality- a different parenting experience! Not only that, but I would have two children instead of one, so of course things will be done differently! I didn't make certain plans for it; I would just wait and see how this baby likes things.

However, one thing that I just knew was going to be done differently, was our use of elimination communication. We started this practice with Jonah when he was six months old. While it wasn't flawless, I consider it successful because Jonah was fully using the potty on his own at an "early age" and there was a long period of time when, even though he had to rely on me to recognize his need to go and to take him, he would use the potty on  regular basis even before he was fully "trained". It had its frustrating moments as do most processes in parenting, but I believe the benefits were well reaped.

Elimination communication is a relationship between mother and baby regarding Baby's need to urinate and defecate. In basic terms, we all have seen a baby making "that face" grunting and squirming. We all have knowingly said "oooh, you're making a stinky surprise in your dipey, aren't you!?" or something along those lines. Or when an older baby wanders off into a corner alone, we KNOW that they are up to something in their pants. Adults, more often than we think about, pick up on the cues that our babies are sending us about their bathroom needs. If you are vigilant and tune into your child during these times, you can pick up on the subtle cues that happen before your child needs to use the restroom, you can take them there, and acknowledge their need to go. No more diapers. This is the best way I have found to describe elimination communication (EC) to western parents. When I describe it this way, I usually am met with more understanding, and more "Oh yeah, I always can tell Little Johnny is up to something!"

The difference I was going to make with Eve, was that I was determined that we would do EC from birth. And that the first 48 hours, she would not use a diaper at all. After she was born, I nursed her on the couch, both of us naked under the warmth of blankets. Taking in eachother's skin, breathing, smell. Exhaustion was setting in and the late night was beginning to turn into early morning. The midwife said it was time to get cleaned up if we were ready. I wanted to stay cocooned like that for forever, just me and my suckling baby, warm with each other. But I was tired and I knew it had to end some time. I was asked where the diapers were. Diapers??? We're not going to... oh but I'm so tired... and mother in law bought the cutest pink sleeper adorned with cupcakes for her to wear on her birth day... but.. no, baby had to be dressed. "Daryl knows where the infant prefolds are, he knows how to fold and pin them." I said, more as a direction to him. So Eve went to be diapered and dressed, and I went into the bathroom. And that was that.

Morning light danced through our bedroom window and Jonah tapped on the door. He wanted to meet the new family member. Today, I said, Today we will take the diapers off. But my mom was there, my brother in law flew in from California, my sister was on her way as well. Okay, tomorrow, when it is just us.

Family gone, finally quiet. No diapers today! But I don't feel so well. I feel pretty awful. In fact, I feel like death. Fever, chills, disoriented, a pain in my right breast. I was threatening to get mastitis. I was sick for several days after. Eve stayed in her diapers. And that is how things pretty much remained.

I did do quite a few trial runs as she got older. She was more mobile than Jonah, at a younger age, so it was difficult to keep track of her. I also find that girls are messier when they urinate without a diaper on. I have always found this to be the case even when I was working in the day care nursery. If a boy peed on the changing table, it had a clear landing point, it stayed in one area. Usually only his pants, and maybe the wall, would get hit. When a girl peed on the changing table however, it would just kind of ooze everywhere. It would wick up her shirt all over her back, sometimes her hair. Roll downwards to her feet, soaking her pants and socks. An entire wardrobe change was typically in order, and sometimes a bath! So with this in mind, clean up while watching for Jonah's cues was MUCH easier than cleaning up while doing trials with Eve. It just wasn't working.

I did, however, continue to acknowledge her elimination needs. I still gave her the "cue" words. When I notice that she is soiling her diaper I give the proper cue that we had designated with Jonah, either "Poopoo" for pooping, or "sssssss" for peeing. And then we would change her immediately. So even with this partial version of EC, she has kept awareness of her elimination and learned to communicate when she is about to or has just gone.

Currently we are to a point with her where she will tell us that she needs to go. She will come to me and grab her diaper, saying "Poop?" Sometimes we are able to catch it either in the toilet or just while she is laying over the diaper, other times we simply are not fast enough. We are currently in the middle of a move across town, and once we get settled, we plan on breaking out the trainer potty to teach her to go there. I am amazed that considering how little we actually followed through on our plans, we (Daryl and I, as well as Eve!) are still seeing the benefits of even just PARTIAL ec. She is not as consistent as Jonah was, but she has maintained an awareness and the ability to communicate to us what her needs are. I am honestly stunned, because I didn't think anything would come of what little we have been doing with her.

I think we might have hit a middle ground for parents who want to try EC, but are not able to make the full commitment required. With Eve, all that we did were two simple things.
1. acknowledge that she is eliminating (Oh, you peed, you're peeing!)
2. give her a means to communicate her need to eliminate (a cue such as "sssss" or "poopoo" that she can easily mimic. We used a sign as well with Jonah but not with Eve because she is much more vocal)

Even if we didn't see her eliminating, we did these things during her diaper change. It took almost no extra effort or time. I do not know if we will do full EC with any more children, if we have the opportunity. I would like to say that yes, we will try harder to make it work if we should be blessed with another baby. Unfortunately we find out that things we thought were the best plan, really aren't going to fit into our lives. But if we decide that EC just won't work with future babies then I don't see any reason not to at least continue to do the two steps above. While the results aren't as bold as when we had done full EC with Jonah, they are still pretty impressive.

Mission Completion!

The last couple of weeks, I've been in "re-coup" mode. Aside from giving birth, running 13.1 miles and the journey it took to get to the start line, was most likely the hardest thing I've physically had to do. Not only was my body tired, but I had a lot of catching up to do. Reconnecting with my husband, bedtime stories with my children, spending the weekend as a family rather than scheduling things around my training- I was ready to cross the finish line and so was my family. I haven't had much time for blogging since I finished the race, as any time not spent sleeping has been spent reconnecting with my loved ones and catching up on house work neglected for 12 weeks.

The week of the marathon started out kind of crummy. My right knee was in considerable amount of pain. Jonah brought home a bad cold, which everyone in the house caught. Reluctantly, I took the entire week off from training. I ran 7 miles the sunday before the race, and then not again until race day.

On Friday, the day before the race, I went to see a sports medicine specialist. I had a gait analysis run. Basically I ran on the treadmill for about five minutes while being video taped. The doctor reviewed the tape for about 20 minutes. I got to watch it in slow motion with her while she explained to me how I could be injuring myself with the strides I was taking. She told me that everything about my form looks perfect, good posture, good stride length, nice and relaxed, but the problem seemed to be that I come down too hard into the ground. She examined my knee briefly and said that the kind of pain and popping I am experiencing is commonly referred to as "runner's knee" and can be fixed simply by correcting my heavy stride. "Think propel forward, not drive into the ground." She told me "spring off your toes." You would think that after years of training for my black belt in karate, and even more years spent "propelling from my toes" as a dancer, that I would have that down by now. She also gave me a ton of handouts for various core exercises, and told me that a lot of times coming down too hard is indicative of a poor core. Which I believe, I've been feeling a major need to do corework the last few months!

On race morning, we all had to wake up much earlier than we liked. We were running late. Daryl dropped me off as close to the road closures as he could get, as traffic was really bad and not a parking spot was to be found. He and the kids did not make it to the start until after I had already crossed. The tail end of the group was just heading out. The yellow arch at the end of the road is the start line.

Within the first mile, I came to the Y bridge. It's a bridge that's shaped like a Y. I've driven over this bridge a million times, but running across it, I just felt like everything was so much clearer and beautiful about it. The trees in the valley below the bridge were just beginning to change their color. The sun was rising, and I could tell it was going to be a beautiful day for running. Cool, but not cold. Cloudy, but no rain. Then the winner of the marathon came running the opposite direction on the bridge. Now he was a site to see! I had run 1/2 a mile in the same time that he had run nearly 3. It was incredible. I wish I had taken a camera with me to get a picture of this moment in the race- all of the runners crossing the y bridge, the forerunners meeting us on the opposite side. It was beautiful.

After being routed back around to the opposite side of the bridge and going back into downtown Akron, I finally caught the first glimpse of my cheering squad. My "team" as I called them.

I'm in the middle waving, wearing a pink top. Although wouldn't it be great to tell everyone that I'm the girl closest to the camera!? I knew Daryl was going to get her into a picture at some point...

It was really refreshing to see them. I had expected Daryl to take them to the children's area. He was recieving text messages to update him on when I was crossing check points in the race. I had only asked him to be at the ten mile mark and the finish line, so seeing him at three miles with the kids was nice.

Between mile three and eight was not notable. There were great spectators, wonderful people there supporting the runners. I ran into a couple of my running friends. Not literally, thank goodness, but it was nice to see familiar faces in the sea of 1700 runners.

Then came mile eight. Well, it was actually just before mile nine. I really wish I had a camera coming into this site! One of my high school besties, "B" was standing there waiting for me with her wife. With a marvelous gift of ibuprofen and water. Coming around the curve to their house, I see her standing there, with her belly pregnant with twins. She had tied her shirt up around her waist so that I could see her beautiful baby bump, And she had drawn a smiley face. Her belly was SMILING at me. As soon as I saw her I couldn't stop laughing and smiling. I came in to give her a hug. What a wonderful friend. I don't think any one else would have done that for me. She waddled/ran with me for about a block, giving me words of encouragement, and finally letting me rub the smiling belly for good luck and strength. B, I love you!

It wasn't long after when I was at the point where Daryl was supposed to be waiting for me with the kids. I was a little disappointed that there were gates all along the road at this point, crowded with people. I caught sight of Daryl and the kids, but could not give them five or a hug. All I could do was tell Daryl that Jonah looked like he needed a tissue. I heard a woman behind me chuckle and say "a mother's job pauses for NOTHING." I had really wanted to give the kids a high five, I was disappointed. But I only had three miles left and I was feeling GREAT. No knee pain, very little fatigue, fairly comfortable. Not bad for taking a week off.

It was then that I found myself in a large group, running right along side a man holding the 10:20 pacer sign. Basically he was there to run with individuals wanting to finish the marathon at an average pace of 10 minutes, 20 seconds per mile. I was surprised to find myself in this group and stayed with them for quite a while. He handed me the sign. I said "I have no clue what I'm doing!" He said "Just run, there's nothing to it!" So I did. I carried the sign until it was almost time to break from the marathoners to follow the half marathon course back to the finish. He told me that I ought to consider being in his pace group next year for the full. I laughed and said "no thanks" but I can't deny that he didn't plant some seeds of ambition.

Jonah Cheering Mama in his "Don't Give Up" shirt

I then met a mom who was running her second half marathon. She also has two children and like me, never dreamed of finding herself in this place. We chatted for a bit about the challenges of training with two young ones. Then we came to the hardest part of the course. A very long and steep uphill run. We were so close, we didn't talk to eachother, but we were there with each other, pushing. I kept repeating something I had heard one of the spectators singing to cheer runners on. He had a guitar and a small microphone. He sang "manifest yourself in exquisiteness." I repeated it. Over and over. Those last two miles, my mind was filled with nothing else. Exquisiteness. I will not quit. I will not walk up this hill. I am made for exquisitness.

And we made it.

Running down the street, into canal park where the finish line was. I can't describe what it was like. I was tired. I wanted to quit but knew that I couldn't. One last push- the winner of the marathon then came past. He ran alongside all of us half marathoners. We moved to the side to let him through. I ran with him for less than a fraction of a second. He was moving so quickly, so elegantly. He had run twice the distance I had just run. This *is* possible.

 Coming into the finish was exhilarating. I could not have stopped running if I wanted to. I felt myself speed up. I saw the mom I had met cross the finish line. I felt my legs propelling forward faster and faster. I could have collapsed in a frenzy of emotions as my sneakers hit the red and black rubber check in point. I had always wondered how someone could cry after doing such a thing. But I did, I cried. I cried and laughed at the same time as I was handed food, water, and a medal hung around my neck.

crossing the finish

My phone started ringing in my armband. I fumbled to get it out of the sleeve as I saw it was B. B and her smiling belly. My phone was too dead from clocking me during the race. It would not pick up the call. I later heard her message, a celebratory B and wife, cheering about my time. Way under what I had projected for myself. She had also been receiving text alerts about my progress in the race.

This was more than an achievement for me. This was a realization that I can do big things if I really want to and if I have the support of those who love me. This wasn't just a trial for me, but this journey required sacrifices and support from many, many people in my family. Yes, I ran 13.1 miles in 16 minutes under my projected time. I lost 15 lbs and dropped several pants sizes. *I* did that. But my family helped me in ways that were crucial.

Running is something I recommend to many of my mom friends who want to get fit. I know it is not everyone's "style" but it fits most moms' schedules and our budget. It is something your kids and family can see you do, so you can be a great example to them. You certainly don't have to run a marathon or half marathon, or even a 5k race to see the benefits of this exercise. I really do urge other mothers who are thinking about running to give it a try. Check out the couch to 5k plan or something similar. I don't recommend their half marathon or marathon program for Moms. It was too intense and took too much away from my family. I ended up dropping the program halfway through and using it as a mere guide along with other more "family friendly" training programs. I do, however, HIGHLY recommend the 5k program. It is great because most of the first couple of weeks is walking and building up to running. Everyone I know who has used the program has had success. The workouts only require 45 minutes of your Mommy time. I love it.

A year ago, I ran my first 5k under the program. This year, I was wearing a half marathon finisher's medal around my neck.

Will I continue on to do a full marathon next year? That I don't know. I am content with the half marathon for now. I am content with the idea of doing a few more years of half marathons. But a mom at Jonah's Little Gym class, who has two children the same ages as my kids, ran this as her first marathon this year. Several of my running friends are also urging me. Time will see. I will most likely get back to that in May. For now, don't be surprised if you don't see a running post most of the winter. It's the off season!