Intentional Parenting

We've been thinking A LOT about parenting and how/what we want our children to learn.  I think the best way to phrase it is that we want our parenting to be very intentional.  We want our children to have plenty of playtime and time to learn/explore in the ways that children should.  But we also want to make sure they are learning skills to equip them for life.  One of our biggest issues with the students that we teach/taught is that so many of them lack imagination and problem solving skills.  It really saddens me that these "skills" are nearly lost on an entire generation.  And it makes me incredibly determined to make sure our children are different. 

I've been so impressed by how engaged Hubby is in these conversations and plans for them.  He can be one of the most laid back (in a good way) people I know, but I love to see that he has a lot of opinions when it comes to our precious babies. 

I've started to form a lot of strong opinions on parenting and schooling from the research and thinking I've done lately.  I know I would probably offend some people with my opinions, but I also know that my opinions are just that.  They are mine and you don't have to agree.   

So, what does this mean for our household?

VERY limited TV.  And what the kids do watch is pretty much limited to Sesame Street only lately.  Yes, this means more work for us.  But who said parenting was easy and little work?  This is THE most important "job" we can ever be presented with.  We've replaced tv time with reading and coloring for the most part.

NO computer time while the children are awake.  My kids are so much better behaved when they have my full attention.  Therefore the computer is only for when they are sleeping.  Investing my time in them is far more beneficial than anything I could possibly do on the computer. 

Teaching, guiding, and planning our days.  I want everyday to include unstructured playtime - mostly outside on nice days.  (I mean, come on, kids NEED to be kids.  I think far too many kids have overly planned days - lessons for this, class for that, etc.  Their creativity is being stifled and they aren't able to teach themselves anything.)  I think this time is essential to their personal exploration of the world.  I love watching my kids discover, learn, and find their own interests.  Then I can use their interests to plan activities for us to do.  My kids are only 10 months and 2, so we're not talking super structured activities.  But we have been doing lots of activities like art projects, the library, going to the fire station (Little Man's favorite), going to the park, walks, reading, etc.  Little Man does incredibly well when he gets to take part in some of the plans.  I let him make either/or decisions and then make sure he keeps on track with the choices he made.  I want my children to follow through on their plans.  Some articles I've read lately talk about how difficult it is for today's youth to stick to tasks/activities.  I don't think it's because of an extreme increase in disorders like ADHD.  I think it's because their parents never taught them how to make plans and stick to them. 

I'm also trying to make our everyday activities much more engaging and opportunities to learn.  This means trying to get Little Man to participate more in our grocery shopping (easier said than done with a two year old).  And talking, discussing, and pointing out things more on our runs.  And trying to get Little Man to participate more in our household chores - feeding the dog/cats, putting away his clothes, cleaning up the house, etc.

Now that I see this all written down I realize it sounds like I was being quite the deadbeat mom for awhile.  I don't think I was a complete deadbeat, but I'm just really trying to give it my best to step it up a notch.  We were already doing a lot of these things, but now we're trying to be much more consistent with them.  I think the biggest help in getting me to do that is turning off the tv and putting away the computer.  I realized that when our parents were raising us these weren't quite the distraction they are now.  And I really think there's something to that simplicity. 

So, for the our household, it's back to the basics.  This is week two of these changes and so far I'm loving it.  I feel so much more intune with my children.  We are all so much happier.  And I'm also a lot more exhausted (in a very good way) at the end of the day.  :)  Life is good.

August?!

It's already August!  When/how did that happen?  Life is really flying by now that we have two kids and I'm not really a fan of it.

Little Man will turn TWO on the 20th.  I feel like he should only be turning one.  There's no way he's old enough to be celebrating his second birthday.  But he is.  He can be such a handful sometimes, but I guess that's to be expected when you're an almost two year old boy.  In honor of that, allow me fill you in on my precious, perfect son.

Hubby and I are convinced he must be incredibly intelligent.  I think other people don't always pick up on how smart he is because he still doesn't talk much.  But we see the things he understands and the concepts he puts together and we are amazed sometimes.  He is like a little sponge.  He is so observant and detail oriented.  Hubby laughs and says he's too much like me because he insists on his bed being made perfectly (covers must be all the way pulled up and smoothed out).  If he sees one of the small area rugs messed up, he'll stop what he's doing to go fix it.  Yesterday he was helping me make icing for his birthday cake and he was the best little helper.  I let him pour the powdered sugar into the mixing bowl and some fell on the floor.  Without being asked, he got off his stool, went to the sink, got the wash cloth and came back to thoroughly clean the floor. 

Can you say PERFECT CHILD?!  Jk.  However, to me, he is the absolute perfect little boy.  Even when he's going a billion miles per hour and insisting on trying to do everything himself, he's still perfect in my eyes.  I guess that's the beauty of being a parent.

When I say Little Man doesn't talk, I mean he doesn't put two or more words together to begin forming sentences.  His vocabulary is constantly expanding, but he's just not putting things together like some of his friends.  His favorite words are Firefighter (which he uses for everything firefighter, firetruck, fire station related), Me (I'm starting to hate this word - he wants to do EVERYTHING by himself, which doesn't always work at his age), and No (another one I'm not a big fan of). 

He loves all things related to firefighting.  Let me correct myself, he is OBSESSED with all things fire related.  We've been to two different firestations twice and he watches Fireman Sam over and over and over and over.  His Mimi's (grandmothers) have decked him out with a firefighter coat, hat, and boots.  We are celebrating his birthday next week at the beach and I'm making him a three tier firefighter cake masterpiece.  I'm SO excited for it. Hubby laughs at me, but Little Man actually gets very excited when he sees my cakes, so I want his to be stunning.  I want to find a t-shirt with a firetruck on it and if money grew on trees I'd buy every firetruck book Barnes and Noble has to offer.

I could go on forever about how amazing and awesome my almost two year old baby boy is.  He really is growing into a remarkable little man.  I am so excited to see how he develops in the next year, but it would be ok with me if time slowed down some so that we could savor all these sweet young moments a little longer. 

Don't worry, his sister is pretty stinkin' awesome also.  I'll fill you in on her more next time.  :)

They grow so quickly!

My babies are growing oh so quickly.  It's bittersweet. 

Little Man is at that "terrible two's" stage. He wants to be independent and express himself, but he can't always. He's testing his boundaries. We have good days and BAD days. But thankfully he's still a sweet sweet sweet little boy at heart.  We've forced him to give up the bottle finally.  Which means he won't drink milk at all for now, but I'm hoping after a month or so he'll forget about it and not freak out when I put it in a sippy cup.  We've also made his pacifier something he can only have in bed.  He was not pleased with me the first day, but he's getting used to it now.  Lastly, we are expecting him to talk more.  He's quite the little stinker about refusing to even try, but we seem to be making some progress.

Baby Girl is an angel, but a WILD angel.  She's a pro at crawling and she's getting very quick.  She has also become excellent at pulling herself up to standing.  She tries to get her hands on everything her brother has - especially if it's food.  We have to be much more careful with her around now.  She's full of happy energy.  I've seriously never met a happier baby.  She only cries when she's hungry.  The last few nights she has fallen asleep in my arms while drinking her last bottle.  And I just sit there and hold her for an hour or so.  I know those times are going to be gone before I can even blink my eyes.  I intend to cherish every sweet sleeping baby snuggle I can with her. 

Both pictures are from when we spent the 4th of July at my parents' house.  We visited a farm and Little Man LOVED the tractor.  Baby Girl enjoyed the animals.  The picture of her is after dinner on the 4th - with her dinner all over her sweet little face.  I can't wait for them to be old enough to see the fireworks.  But right now it would be WAAYYY too late to stay up for them.