A Few of my Favorite Things Friday

1. When my toddler wraps her arms around me for a hug, and starts patting my back

2.The few moments before bedtime, when the whole family is on Jonah's bed for night time stories and lullabyes.

3. Belly laughs during an impromptu tickle session

4.Watching my children cooperatively set up a tea party, complete with pleases and thank yous

5. Seeing my son, who two years ago was diagnosed as being autistic, walk up to another child and say "Hi, I'm Jonah. Her is Evie. Let's play firefighters!"

Fired From Oscar Meyer- No Weaners Here!

I can sit here and tell you that the global average age for weaning is 4 years old. I can tell you that naturally, mammals typically nurse until they get their first permanent molars- around age six for humans. I can say that the World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding children until the age of two years old, and that the American Acadamy of Pediatrics says that mothers are "encouraged to continue breastfeeding through the first year and beyond as more and varied complementary foods are introduced." Let me re-stress that: Through the first year and beyond. One more time: and beyond.


I could tell you that she isn't ready. I could tell you that Michael Jordan was breastfed until he was 3. I could tell you all of these things and then some. As if I have to defend the choices I have made for myself and my child.

The truth is, most often times, I do. Because this little girl:

Is no weaner. And she will also be two years old next month. Yes, I breastfeed my nearly two year old. My beautiful two year old baby girl. My baby. In many ways, emotionally, physically, and cognitively, two year olds are still babies. They still need the antibodies and nutrition found in breastmilk. They still need the reassurance and emotional stability that breastfeeding provides. They still need the quiet bonding time with their mothers.NEED. As in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. If other babies and mothers find other ways that help them with these things, then that is wonderful; it works for them. Live and let live, right?

Yet when people find out that I nurse my nearly two year old, I have to defend myself and my daughter. As it has been from the start, the game of nursing is changing for us.

For example, I try my hardest not to nurse her out in public, if at all necessary. Not because I am ashamed, or because I am a "closet nurser." But because I am unsure whether or not the laws that protected me and my babies when they were infants, still protect us now that my nursling is what society calls a "toddler."

When this picture was taken while enjoying a Cleveland Indian's game at Progressive Field, the law was on our side. I could breastfeed in any public place where both I and the baby were allowed to be. We were allowed to be in the stadium, in those seats. We bought the tickets legally. No one could ask me to leave that seat for the sole reason that I was breastfeeding.

Now however, I am unsure. I cannot find specifically that it protects a child beyond infancy. And so, to avoid awkward confrontations, I try to sway her attention to other things, or find someplace very private (but still not the bathroom!) Another reason is because she is beginning to read other people's emotions and reactions to things. When people see her asking to nurse, comments are made, glares are exchanged. I don't want her to think that what she is doing- the wholesome and natural and RIGHT thing (for her)- is wrong, just because other people say it is.

And because well meaning friends and family members have said to me "you just need to do it." Let me share with you, our attempt to night wean my dear daughter. I began wondering if everyone else was right. Maybe we would all start getting good nights' sleeps if she weaned. Maybe we would all be happier. I wouldn't be so stressed during the day. Maybe, just maybe. Worth a try, I thought. The plan seemed simple. I would create timeframes during which she could nurse at night. If she woke and fussed during a time that was not within the designated nursing time, then I would hold her, cuddle her, sooth her back to sleep. The idea was that this would help us lengthen the periods of time between night feeding. It seemed to be working, so we moved onto phase two. Knocking out one nursing session.

This is where it turned sour. She not only cried during the time she wanted to nurse and was not being allowed, but she started to scream and cry at the start of bedtime too. Before our attempts to wean, we would do our night time routine (which includes nursing) lay her in her bed, and walk away. When she would wake up at night, she would nurse for 10-15 minutes, climb out of my lap and go back to bed on her own. Now that I think about it, it was relatively easy. After our attempt to wean, she screamed while we were putting her to bed. She woke up within an hour and began screaming again. She developed terrible separation anxiety, and I would have to wait by her door for her to fall asleep. If I didn't, she didn't sleep that night. She would scream. all. night.

During the day, she became very clingy. Where she was once my independent and self confident girl, she became insecure and needy.

Her whole demeanor changed.

Because we tried to wean before she was ready. My way of coping with this was to give her what I could see that she needed. We began nursing through the night again. She has decided on her own that one nursing session at night is enough. She has gone back to putting herself back to bed after only a few minutes at the breast. We are all sleeping better. I am not as stressed during the day. We are all happier. Because we did what was right for our family. Because I followed my little girl's cues. Does this mean she will go off to college breastfeeding? No. I know there is such a thing as natural weaning. It happens every day. Does this mean that I am a "slave" to my child? I certainly don't feel that way. I enjoy the bonding time. I know that soon she will be grown up. She will be interested in shoes and hair and prom... So I will continue to do for her, what she needs now.

Pepper Shamrock Stamps

 

This morning we had eggs inside of pepper rings for breakfast, and we didn't eat all of the peppers, so I thought we should use them for a little "Luck o' the Irish" art. I have always loved St. Patrick's Day. Even though I have always lived in a place where winter lasts well into April and often even into May; even though my birthday is just two days after St. Patty's day and I was born in a blizzard... the decorations of vibrant green plants, shamrocks, spring rainbows, all lift me up and out of my winter funk. 

Most of our activities this week are themed around rainbows. I thought that would be a fun way to incorporate some learning activities into all of the fantasies of leprechauns and pots of gold. Of course as the children get older, we will be teaching them about St. Patrick, why there is a day to celebrate him. But for now we are having fun making pepper prints of shamrocks

 

Simply cut a pepper laterally, dip it in green paint, and use it to stamp the shape! It is a fun coincidence that the shape of the pepper, especially towards the bottom, resembles a shamrock.

Keep some damp cloths nearby to wipe paint from hands, because the smooth skin of the pepper makes it difficult to pick up with slippery paint on your fingers! I thought about cutting the top of the pepper in a way that would make a handle, but in the end decided not to go through the trouble.

Although the kids are still learning what a shamrock is, they really had a lot of fun stamping the shape of the peppers.

Moments of Beauty

When I was young, the church that my family attended would have a time for congregation members to share "joys and concerns" for which they would like to have a prayer. Every week, one particular elderly woman who was known to be quite eccentric, would stand and share her "moments of beauty" with the church. Moments, small and large, that struck her as something that was God-filled. Moments when, even just for a fleeting second, she had something beautiful in her heart.

Today was a beautiful day for a run. Mid 60's, sunny, cool breeze. My training schedule said I should only take seven miles, but instead I went for nine. And along the way, I had several moments of beauty that I would like to share. Am I becoming a kooky eccentric old woman? Well, I turn 30 this week, so I may well be on my way!
1. Passing by gardens filled with purple, white, and yellow crocuses in full bloom; tulips and daffodils appearing to be nearly ready to burst open from their buds. A tad early this year, but beautiful just the same.

2. Hearing a group of children laugh as they played baseball.

3. Running on a work of art

4. Being near the tennis courts and realizing how much I miss my tennis partner and best friend- it would have been a great day for a pick up game with a friend. It's always nice to think of an old friend when they are living across the globe.

5. Seeing an elderly couple holding hands and smooching every now and then as they walked on the path in the park. I hope Daryl and I are as affectionate towards each other as we age.

Hat Counting Felt Board

Felt boards are often items that parents see in preschool classrooms and say "That would be neat to have at home!" It seems as though these fun learn-and-play items are only available to teachers or day cares. I want to show you how anyone can make a felt board for their playroom, and it only costs around $10! The one I picture below cost about $7 to make. I don't have any pictures of the process of making the board; I tried but technology hates me this week.

Materials:
~Large piece of sturdy cardboard (I used a board that I found with the posterboard at my craft store)
       ~ply wood would work too, if it is thin enough to fit the frame, and would offer a more sturdy felt board.
~Large frame with no backing or glass. My craft store has a clearance rack for frames that are just the wooden     framing, for a few dollars depending on the size. The one I chose was $3
~Large sheet of white felt. These should be next to or under the smaller sheets of felt, folded and in plastic packaging.
~Hot Glue Gun

Step 1.
Cut the board to fit inside the frame. Cut the felt so that it gives a 2-3 inch border around the edges of the board (if you place the board in the center of the felt, there should be 2-3 inches of felt surrounding all sides of the board)

Step 2.
Lay the board in the middle of the felt. Cut a diagonal line from the corner of the felt to its corresponding corner of the board. Then cut a line that goes straight from each corner of the board to its corresponding straight edge of felt. So you are essentially cuting triangles out of each corner of felt, to help it wrap around the board a bit easier.

Step 3.
Fold each side of the felt around the back of the board, so that the felt is tightly fit around the board. Hot glue each side as you go.

Step 4.
Secure the felt covered board into the frame. If your frame did not come with fasteners, it can be stapled in.

You now have a home made felt board for your play room! To make the hats below, I simply cut hat shapes out of red felt, added white felt stripes with my glue gun. It was a fun counting activity for the kids during Dr. Seuss week! You can also make items for your kids to sort by color, size, or shape. And you can even create the characters and scenes from your kids' favorite books. Although that can be very ambitious, it gives children the chance to interact with literary characters and act out their story, or even change their story if they are feeling imaginative! It might not look 100%, but no one will be judging you. Chances are, your kids will be the only ones who see them, so who cares if your felt board has that "home made" edge to it. 

Yertle the Turtle Stacking Blocks

Yertle the Turtle is the story of a turtle king, who wanted to rule all that he could see. He ordered all of the turtles in his kingdom to stack themselves up, so that he could see more and more and therefor rule (so he thought) more and more.

This book has been a favorite of ours this past week. The kids have been in love with turtles lately, so this seemed like a logical story to include in our Dr. Seuss week. They also have both been very interested in counting, and stacking things up. Wouldn't it be grand if we could combine all of these interests into one activity?

Find a few boxes of varying shapes and sizes. You want the basic shape to be rectangular, but it was fun to have different dimensions of rectangles to stack. Wrap each box in green construction paper or wrapping paper. I ran out of green paper, and Jonah pointed out that the turtles in the book are actually a blueish purple color, so I started using blue and purple paper as well. The color variety was a lot of fun!!!

I suggest covering the boxes with a top layer of clear contact paper. This protects them from drool, chewing, sneezing, ripping, and wearing down quickly.

Cut turtle heads, feet, and fins from construction paper and fasten them to the bodies with tape or glue. You can laminate these and then glue them on for extra strength as well. Add googly eyes if desired. (I liked the eyes, but Evelyn was insistent on picking them off. she even snuck up to our playroom during naptime, picked the turtle eyes off, and came back downstairs to give them all to me!)

Let the counting and stacking and knocking over begin!!! I made six turtles, because that was all I had the energy and time for. I am hoping to continue to add new turtles to our stack as time goes on!

Thing 1 and Thing 2 craft

I got the idea from this site, and I found it on Pinterest.

This is a fun way to create the mischievous (and curiously beloved) characters from Cat in the Hat, Thing One and Thing Two. I also chose it because it provided a fun way to encourage Jonah to touch paint- something which he has quite an aversion to!

First you paint the child's hand red, leaving out the ring finger and a small circular area in the palm. Help the child stamp their hand onto the paper. This is the Thing's body.Turn the paper around, so the print you just made is now on the bottom.

Clean the red paint off of the hand and paint the palm white and fingers blue. You can also paint the very top of the hand where the palm meets the fingers, blue. Help your child position their hand to stamp it just above the body.

Allow it to dry and then use a sharpie to draw the face. Paint a white circle into the open part of the red hand print. When that is dry, write either Thing 1 or Thing 2 in the circle.

It appears in some of the pictures, that the paper I used is white. It is actually a pale yellow. Manilla, light grey or beige would also work. Something that is a bit more than plain white, but not too bright or dark or it will not work well with the bright colors.