Sunday Afternoon

Paul making a goofy face

Me trying to take a self picture.  Paul "helping"

Steve relaxing.  He stayed home from church because Julia has pink eye. Again.  In both eyes.  Petra stayed home too because she is a little sniffly.

Nathan zonked out after a busy day in the church nusery

Maggie is all clean & fluffy because she just got put on a prescription shampoo for skin allergy issues.  She has also started a regular regimen of benedryl.  Maybe it will mellow her out.

Petra trying to figure out how to smile on command

Julia succeeding at smiling on command

Tea party

Steve took a nice picture of me.

busy tooth fairy

Julia went through a period in  February when she lost four teeth in about as many weeks.  She had to write two notes to the tooth fairy to excuse teeth that were mislaid.

Julia with no opposible teeth in front

Evaluating Paul

Dear Paul,
I had a meeting this week with your teacher and school VP, psychologist, and counselor.  We were brainstorming ways to boost your achievement at school.  See, you are a really bright kid, but your work doesn't show it.  And if you don't improve your work, you are going to start falling behind in your subjects and get bored.

We agreed that the core of your problems is motivation.  You just don't put effort into tasks that you are not inherently interested in.  Daddy and I know how you feel, but, Paul, we all have to do work that is not interesting to us sometimes.  It is part of growing up and being part of a community.  Daddy has to take out the trash.  Mommy has to wash dishes.  We don't love these jobs, but we do them because it helps take care of the family.  One of your jobs right now is getting an education.  It is learning to follow directions and do tasks, even when they are boring.  It is building self discipline and learning so that you have more choices later in life.

I would like you to work hard on assignments, because it is the right thing to do.  We are going to try using immediate rewards, even though you won't always have rewards for doing the right thing.  We are going to try to use approval, even though I don't want you to be a slave to approval.  We are going to point out that doing work well the first time gives you more freedom later.

Paul, we are less concerned about your grades, than with having you develop good work and study habits.  Those will serve you all your life.

We started the meeting with listing your strengths.  Paul, you have some great strengths.  Ms. D said you are very creative.  VERY creative.  She said you had very good oral expression.  She said that you are definitely a visual learner.  And that you had great higher level thinking.  That means that you deeply understand what you have learned and can apply that learning to new situations.  Awesome.

Ms. D said she was recently taking the class through an activity or worksheet with a graph.  She was explaining the first part of the work to everybody, showing them how to use the graph and find the answers they needed.  Then she started looking at the second part of the work. The graph was different, and she wasn't sure how it was supposed to be used.  She paused and was trying to figure out how the graph worked.  She said that you piped up explained what needed to be done.  You led the charge.

Can I tell you how proud I am of you?

You have gifts of independence, creativity, helpfulness, higher level thinking, and oral expression.  Add self discipline and perseverance, and you will be unstoppable.

"7" Food Fast Review

I'm in the middle of a modified fast for the month of March.

My food fast plan is not very strenuous.  In fact, it was designed to make life simpler.  On top of my Lenten fast of no sweets, my “7” fast for March has been to simplify my diet to 7 different meals, with no restaurant stops. 

At first I dreamed of making these meals super healthy: pillars of “real food,” “whole food,” and unprocessed food.  After talking things over with Steve, we lowered to bar to “food the family will actually eat.”  The meals are still nutritious, but one of them is kielbasa and kraft macaroni and cheese.  I am made humble.  I also have a generous list of fresh fruits, nuts and yogurt for snacks.

We’ve been doing okay with our 7 meals.  Steve still goes out to eat for most of his lunchtimes.  I’m a little disappointed, but I’m letting it fall under the “He works in a windowless office staring at a computer all day and going out to eat contributes to his sanity.”  Otherwise, we have avoided eating out or getting carry-out, and we’ll donate the $ savings to the Dayton Gospel Mission.

I’ve discovered that repeating foods is really not so bad.  We’ve always counted on using leftovers, but deliberately making the same meal more than once per week isn’t killing anybody.  In fact, the only part of the fast that the children have really noticed is that we aren’t stopping by Wendy’s after church on Sunday.  I’m also learning to repeat healthy snack foods.  My thinking at the end of the day used to be, “I’m kind of hungry.  I’ve already eaten an apple and a banana and other healthy snacks.  I can’t have a second serving of the same food.  I guess I’ll have some ice cream.”  And now I’m realizing that it’s okay to have a second serving of apple or banana.  Brilliant, I know.

I am considering what I can take forward from this month.  I’ve discovered that I don’t mind eating PB&J and that packing a sandwich helps me avoid other temptations.  Meal planning is embarrassingly daunting to me.  I don’t know what I’m going want to eat then.  What if we have leftovers of X?  What if we want soup that day ? The wealth of choices I have overwhelms me.  So having a handful of meals I can repeat regularly lessens that overwhelm (Yes, Steve, you have suggested that to me before.  Sometimes I’m a little slow).  And it has dawned on me that I can start filling out a meal plan calendar for next month with some of the foods I want this month.  Then maybe filling in the spaces won’t be such a big deal.

I’m always amazed when God meets me in a fast or modified fast.  I get so caught up in thinking about the mechanics of the fast, and the side benefits like maybe losing a little weight that I don’t feel like I deserve a spiritual blessing on top of it.  I am SUCH a Pharisee.  Nevertheless, this March is being a time of drawing nearer to God for me.  Or being drawn nearer by God.  I am seeing more of my critical spirit and wanting repentance.  My intercessory prayers for loved ones are more consistent.  (Not bragging, just listing the blessings.)  I found my church’s missions conference last weekend moving, and it made me wonder how I can offer more support.  I am affected by Jesus beauty.  I had been missing that lately.

Caring for Nathan

Last week I walked into my Sunday school class and realized that I had left Nathan's diaper bag at the far end of the church.  I laid Nathan on a blanket on the floor and told the women I would be right back.  When I returned with the diaper bag, the women were in the middle of a discussion about whose babies would be okay with being left like that, and whose would not.  They were impressed by how relaxed Nathan was by the whole thing.  "You walked out of the door and he didn't even flinch!"

I have been blessed with fairly mellow babies.

He is getting more deliberate about reaching out and grabbing things.  He is grabbing toys.  His days of sitting in my lap while I eat are numbered because he is starting to grab my plate.

Saturday night, his middle of the night feeding was interrupted (Julia had stomach upset).  I wrapped Nathan up and laid him in his crib.  After I finished helping Julia, I peeked to see if Nathan had gone back to sleep, or if he needed to continue his feeding.  His eyes were closed, and he was quiet, but he was holding his toy elephant, waving it around, and making it jingle.

His torso support is getting very good.  When we recline him in his swing, he often bends himself forward so that he can suck on the toys bolted to the swing's tray. 

Sometimes I have to bat his siblings away from him because they are not gentle enough.  Other times I have to restrain myself and let them love on him.  I have to remind myself that they need to be able to bond with him too, even if their way is not my first favorite choice.  Paul periodically touches Nathan and tenderly says, "Nathan, I'll always be your brother."  Petra likes to say, "Nathan loves me, doesn't he, mommy."  Julia just can't get enough of him.

is this cheating?

Am I missing the spirit of my Lenten fast if I

1. freeze desserts that everyone one else is enjoying now so that I can have some in April
2. start making a list of restaurants I want hit after the fast is over
3. drool on my coworker's Chipotle leftovers
4. dream that I find a chocolate stash in the house and eat half of it before I remember I'm on a fast
5. snort chocolate fumes off of Petra's potty-reward M&M stash

???

From the mouth of Petra

HORSES
When I was a girl, I had quite a collection of model horses, and every one of them had a name.  The names I picked had my mom a little worried about how my future children would fare.  I remember one of them made her eyes get really wide.  It was Geraldine.  It made perfect sense to me.  One of my buddies growing up was Annie Geralds.

Anyway, my girls now have some stuffed horses they play with.  Their names (the horses, not my daughters) are Redilina, Guardian, Applescotch, and Blueblee.

FAIRIES
They also have some plastic fairies.  I was playing fairies with Petra yesterday, and she explained their names to me.  The blond one had been called TinkerBell, but now the "real" TinkerBell  has come on the scene.  The blond one is now Flowery.  The Asian fairy has long been established as Cherry.  And the third one?  Petra said, "Um... That one's name is Different Cherry."

LYRICS
Pixar made a sequel short to Ratatouille called, "Your Friend the Rat."  It includes a line in a song that goes, "Butterflies and puppy dogs,
Summer evenings, crispy frogs."
Okay, so remember the movie featured a lot of French cuisine.
Petra's version of the song was, "Submarines and kissy frogs."
It took me a while to figure out where that was coming from.

ABC's
We've pulled out Dr. Seuss's ABC to help Petra learn her letters.  So the other day she pulled a magnetic H off the refrigerator, and started chanting, "Big E, little e, what begins with E?  Barber, Baby, and a Rhinocerous!"

We'll keep working.