Natural Learning

Shmoo's first go at writing sentences: 'frog on a log' and 'fat cat' (on a mat). When we push him he digs his heels in and often refuses to do things. When we provide him with opportunities and encouragement and let him just 'be' he will often do things on his own, and do them quite well too.

The Bean learning to drive LOL

Updates

Don't know why but I haven't been able to get the blog to load for days. In the last few days we have:

- Had another paed appt for Shmoo. Usual paed was away so we had a fill-in. Upped Shmoo's meds to 1/2 a tablet 3 times per day. And he agreed that we were doing the right thing by keeping Shmoo out of undies and pants as much as possible (at home) to try and break the behavioural pattern. (Oh how I hate the walk from the Specialists Clinics to the pharmacy, going past the day surgery and operating theatres... flashbacks to my D&Cs every time. Ugh).

- Taken advantage of the nice, warm weather and had a nice afternoon at the beach in Penguin, exploring the rock pools at low tide.

- Over a few days, tried both Loo and Beanie on cheese. Both seemed to do okay, although hard to tell with Beanie as he didn't seem to like it and so didn't eat much.

- Beanie is very confident at sitting independently and also at standing holding on to things (sometimes only with one hand to steady himself, no more wobbly legs!). He has also made some small attempts at cruising!

- Shmoo is doing so well at swimming... huge improvements. He is now happy to wear his goggles and he will even put his face in the water and blow bubbles. So awesome to see him kicking around the pool holding on to a pool noodle and trying to coordinate all the things he has to do.

- We've also done a lot of 'nature studies', aka digging in the dirt. Shmoo that is. Loo doesn't like getting his hands dirty and is petrified of bugs. Shmoo, on the other hand, loves all things nature and has no problems making friends with worms, snails, millipedes or slaters.

- Baby wearing. Thank goodness for the Storch. I'd never get anything done otherwise. I even managed to get the bathroom, toilet & laundry cleaned the other day whilst he napped on my back.

- The boys are loving the activity trays and I've been having fun trying crafty things like using rubbing alcohol and food dye to colour pasta.

- Homeschool preparation. Trying to get our program organised and outline ready to submit with the registration form.

Cooking. As usual, always lots of cooking!

I Took His Hand and Followed

I posted this poem a couple of years ago but it's a good one and I think it's something that's always good to keep in mind...

I Took His Hand and Followed

(Mrs. Roy L. Peifer)

My dishes went unwashed today,

I didn't make the bed,

I took his hand and followed

Where his eager footsteps led.

Oh yes, we went adventuring,

My little son and I...

Exploring all the great outdoors

Beneath the summer sky

We waded in a crystal stream,

We wandered through a wood...

My kitchen wasn't swept today

But life was gay and good.

We found a cool, sun-dappled glade

And now my small son knows

How Mother Bunny hides her nest,

Where jack-in-the-pulpit grows.

We watched a robin feed her young,

We climbed a sunlit hill...

Saw cloud-sheep scamper through the sky,

We plucked a daffodil.

That my house was neglected,

That I didn't brush the stairs,

In twenty years, no one on earth

Will know, or even care.

But that I've helped my little boy

To noble manhood grow,

In twenty years, the whole wide world

May look and see and know.

Activity Trays

Aren't these 'Tot Trays' such a cool idea?! It has inspired me to set up something similar for Shmoo and Loo. I've rearranged the bookshelves to free up a couple of shelves that are just out of Beanie's reach but still accessible to the older boys. Now to work on filling them with activity trays! We can't afford to buy pretty, colourful trays at the moment so I've had to do some scrounging around the house (the plastic trays that sweet potatoes come in turned out to be the perfect size!).

Food-dyed rice.

I've got some of their puzzles on the higher shelf and the activity trays on the shelf below but I'm thinking I'll have to swap them around as Beanie will be able to reach the lower shelf once he starts cruising (certainly don't need him putting buttons or the like in his mouth - I don't want another ambulance trip to hospital!). There's room for a few more trays so I'm coming up with a few more ideas like cutting, pasting, playdough, colour & word matching/sorting games etc. There are heaps of different variations so I can switch things around every now and then.

Everyday Learning

Whilst in Launnie on Monday we stopped by to visit friends who have recently had their 2nd baby. This morning I noticed that Shnoo had written bub's name on the board...

Loo, not to be outdone by his bigger brother, practiced writing his 'i's and 'o's :)

Books

While we were in Cairns we visited some awesome shops and I found some great books for the boys. I highly recommend these books...

'Do Dogs Dream?' and 'Why is the Sky Blue?' by Geraldine Taylor (lift-the-flap and pull-the-tab books that explore the natural world)

'Earth Child 2000: Earth Science for Young Children. Games, Stories, Activities, and Experiments' by Kathryn Sheehan and Mary Waidner. (This book almost has a Steiner and natural learning feel to it).

'All I See is Part of Me' by Chara M. Curtis. "In a journey that carries the reader far beyond the printed page, a child discovers his common link with all of Life. Inspired by Sister Star, he finds the light within his heart and as his vision expands, he sees that same light in all other things."

'You, Me & the Rainbow' by Petrea King. "Have you ever been wrapped in a rainbow? Mariah has. Every night her mother wraps her in all the colours of the rainbow and they enter an enchanting world of ducklings, dolphins, tiny frogs, tasty cherries, sunsets, twinkling stars and violets. Float away with Mariah into the magic of You, Me & the Rainbow."

Belated 4 Week Check

Had a check-up with the Child Health Nurse today. Beanie now weighs 4510g (a 620g gain in 15 days); length 53.5cm; HC 38.5cm.

He's still a fairly cruisey baby. Feeding and sleeping well apart from usually having a bit of an unsettled period in the afternoon. He's been a little more unsettled in the last couple of days but I think there is a 5 week developmental leap?? He's also done several 6 hour sleeps overnight during the last 1-1.5 weeks... very nice!

And in other Proud Mummy News: Shmoo is now writing his name fairly legibly (a big thing for a boy who doesn't have the best pencil control!). We are also doing reasonably well so far with homeschooling (considering we've just had a baby!). Shmoo keeps asking for 'more homeschool work' and did 23 pages of a workbook yesterday before he moved on to other activities.

Mount Gnomon Farm Visit

Today our Home Ed Group went on an excursion to Mount Gnomon Farm. The kids had a great time getting up close to Wessex Saddleback pigs, chooks, ducks, guinea pigs, kittens and rabbits. They also got to check out the poppy fields.

The Home Ed Group is made up of a fantastic bunch of kids ranging from babies to young adults. It's lovely seeing them naturally interact with each other and the older ones are so good with the littlies. It has been wonderful to see my boys gain so much confidence from interacting with the other kids who have all been very kind, generous and responsible (see the pics of the guinea pig and kitten holding - the older children, 10-12 year olds, made sure that the younger ones all got to have an equal cuddle... there was no fighting or pushing/shoving!). Am thrilled to have found such a great group! There are a couple of large families that attend too... 7-9 kids in each. Makes me feel all clucky seeing the big families! :)



   

31w1d - 8w6d To Go!

I'm starting to get the feeling that when The Bean decides it's time to come out, it's gonna be fast. And I'm not expecting to go over either. Of course, now that I've said that I'll probably have a 10hr labour at 42w!

Doing pretty much anything other than lying down triggers off the crampy contractions/pains these days and they are increasingly bad enough to make me feel nauseous and, occasionally, actually vomit. But, hey, as long as they're not doing anything to my cervix yet then it's just a matter of getting on with life until a baby pops out LOL.

A couple of hours of walking up and down hills is probably overdoing it though. The Home Ed group did an outing to the Arboretum on Friday and I figured I'd just see how I went and sit down if I started feeling sore. Problem was, the horrible cramping/nausea/back pain didn't kick in for an hour or so after we'd finished trekking around the place LOL. Am only just starting to get over it all today. The kids had a great time anyway. I'll have to post some pics later.

We also took them to the Christmas carols at Penguin last night and they had a blast running around and listening to the music. We only stayed for just over an hour though. Decided it was time to get going when the area was overrun by teens using lots of very bad language LOL.

28w5d - Bits & Pieces

- Not much going on with the pregnancy, just feeling a bit crampy lately and nauseous. Not sure what the deal is there.

- Wish Beanie would hurry up and turn around. Last night he was giving me such strong kicks to the cervix it felt like he was going to put his feet right through!


No angels here. Just Shmoo trying to say 'hello'.


Princess Fatty Puss

- Had a home education group meet-up yesterday which the boys quite enjoyed (Loo filled his pockets with stones and gumnuts and, as I expected, I forgot to empty them and thus ended up with a washing machine full of clean stones and gumnuts this morning LOL). 1st time we've been able to make it as Shmoo usually has Little Ninjas early Thursday afternoons but yesterday the home ed get together was held at the town just up from us and Shmoo has Little Ninjas on today instead because he is grading (going for his next belt).

- I was putting on some moisturiser after my shower this morning and, as he was watching me, Shmoo made this insightful comment: "Your tummy is nice and big now, Mama. And your bottom too". Thanks Shmoo.