Big Day for My Little Girl

Today was a big day for my firstborn. It marks the beginning of two new chapters in her life, and the very sad, sad, sad end to one chapter in my life. Today was the first day we tried quiet time instead of a nap. That's right, Mommy, say goodbye to that blissful island oasis in the center of your day known as all-babies-sleeping-and-mommy-probably-is-too.

She's been having a really rough time staying in bed at bedtime and it just didn't feel right to keep punishing her for getting out of bed so many times. J and I talked it over and thought we'd give it a try to eliminate the nap and see if that helps. She did great during quiet time. I put her in my room with quiet toys, coloring books, and Beatrix Potter on cd. She only came out twice, both times to tell me the cd story had stopped unexpectedly. I set a timer for 90 minutes and she played really well the whole time. I was pretty impressed with how well it went. We'll see if we can keep it up and if it makes a difference at bedtime. Added bonus if she stays in bed later in the mornings; can I get an amen?!

After quiet time, we were blessed with another hour together while C snoozed on and on (yet another bonus of having loud sister across the house during nap). I had received my order of homeschool books yesterday and was ready to start doing reading lessons, so we jumped right in. She's been spelling words and sounding them out with letters on the fridge for about two weeks now, so I knew the climate was ripe for cultivating her interest in reading. Sure enough, she breezed through two reading lessons in about 15 minutes and then read her first book to me!! My baby can read! "Mat sat. Sam sat. Mat sat on Sam. Sam sat on Mat. Mat sat. Sam sat. The End." It really pulls on the ol' heart strings, doesn't it?

I know we've got a long road ahead of us before she is a fluent reader, but knowing how she loves words and their meanings, I'm really excited for her. I can't wait to see how her world is going to grow exponentially as she starts absorbing the written word. Learning to read is one of my primary goals for her over the next school year. I was planning to wait until fall to start, but I think we'll do well to dive in over the summer. I'm so excited! I don't think I've felt this way about reaching a milestone before. First foods, first tooth, even first words and steps...totally pale in comparison. Something about being able to open the door of reading and watch the implications, the possibilities dawn on her little brain.

Mind you, I will likely regret having taught her to read by this time next year when she can read every magazine headline in the checkout line. But I will bask in the wonder of this remarkable new discovery as long as I can, with each new word learned, each new book read. After all, mommy-no-more-naps needs something to look forward to.

Not so crazy

I finally found a natural recipe that I'm not so crazy about. It took me awhile to try because it's quite a leap...natural deodorant. I tried this recipe because I had all the ingredients on hand. Even saved my empty deodorant bottle (is it a bottle? can? jar? holder? what do you call that thing?). I knew I would have to refrigerate it because the coconut oil melts at 76 degrees and we keep our thermostat on 78. But I thought that maybe it would be refreshing to apply chilled deodorant.

Well, the first strike against it was the remembering to put it on. Once I'm out of the bedroom, I hit the ground running, meeting demands thrown at me by whoever is loudest. So I often forgot to use it until my pits reminded me that they were bare.

Then strike two and three came at the same time. I had put it on one day when I knew I'd just be around the house, trying to give it a good trial run before taking it public. I went in the bathroom and stopped in front of the mirror to re-do my pony tail. With arms above my head, I saw the verdict under both arms....huge oily circles on my gray t-shirt. It wasn't wet, I assure you. I think it must have been the coconut oil working itself into the cotton of my shirt. Of course, I looked like a sweaty construction worker with huge rings under my arms. I hadn't noticed before because I was wearing darker colors that camouflaged the circles. That shirt still needs to be laundered, but I haven't noticed any stains on other shirts. Nevertheless, homemade deodorant is dead to me. I've got to draw the line somewhere and I prefer to keep my dignity and modesty in tact, tucked out of sight under my arms, thank you very much.

More Natural Stuff

So, I've gone natural with shampoo, conditioner, and face cleanser. I also wanted to try some natural household cleaners, so I started with homemade dish detergent and laundry detergent. I used this recipe for dish detergent and so far, it's working great. One time I noticed some residue left on the dishes after the dishwasher had run, but I can't say for certain if it was a result of the detergent or the person who did the rinsing (hint: it wasn't me). I'm very much a rinse-it-almost-clean kind of girl. I have yet to find the right combination of dishwasher and detergent that will actually clean dirty dishes without having to rinse them first. If someone out there knows this magical combination, please share it with me for the love of all that is dishpan hands!! As a general (and rather concise, wouldn't you say?) review, I rate this recipe as effective as commercial detergent and certainly cheaper, more simple and environmentally friendly to boot.

Equally cheap and green, this site has some great recipes for homemade laundry detergent. I chose the powdered one, mainly because I don't have any two- or five-gallon buckets that I want to leave lying about in my laundry room full of tempting goo for a toddler and preschooler to happen upon. I did sub Ivory soap for the Fels Naptha because I couldn't find the latter. I haven't noticed any problems with it dissolving in the washer, but next time I will use the fine side of my grater to grate the Ivory, just for my peace of mind. It seems to get the clothes just as clean as the liquid All that I was using. I'm still using Shout as a spray pre-treatment, especially on all of C's stains. I'm not sure if it's the Shout or the detergent that gets it all clean. But I know I'm saving a load of dough on laundry detergent!

Cheer it with me....Yyyyyeeaaa, GO NATURAL!

Squeakish

A has invented her own language. You can't understand it; lots of q's and w's. She has tried to educate her father and I on the finer points of communicating in this language, telling us how to say certain words. I imagine this is how an English-language learner feels because the sound of the words keeps changing every time we try to pronounce them.

Saturday morning as we all hung out in the driveway, J decided to give her language the name "Squeakish" since her nickname is Squeaker. She thought that was grand. She promptly declared herself a Squeakish-princess-who-runs-fast and gave us a coronation speech in Squeakish. She carried on for quite awhile, doing races with daddy and riding her toys. I did something that offended her delicate sensibilities, though, and she proceeded to let me have it in Squeakish.

Now I generally cannot tolerate a disrespectful preschooler and I knew what was spewing out of her heart even if the words didn't compute. But the whole scene was so absurd with her screwed-up face and outstretched hand and wacky words, that I couldn't help but collapse on the concrete laughing. The princess was none too pleased with this response and I'm pretty sure I was banished from the kingdom of Squeakish. I also had to apologize for laughing at her and ask her to forgive me. We did all that in English, though.

Weekend Recap

We had a pretty laid back weekend this week. Saturday morning was family time, played outside together. J took the girls to run a few errands mid-morning and I got a much needed hour to finalize my curriculum order for our first year of homeschooling. Had a lunch of leftovers, then tried to take a nap. C wasn't cooperating for whatever reason. She fussed for a good half hour before finally falling asleep. Same thing happened on Friday; very frustrating because then A woke her up after she had only slept thirty minutes. Made for a long night at home group on Friday night. She did better on Saturday and we all made it out the door on time for some birthday party hopping. First to a party for one-year-old twins, then a second party for a little friend turning four. Loads of fun and sugar!

Sunday was church as usual. We were informed when we picked C up from nursery that she had snuck in a twenty minute snooze. We figured that meant we were good for another hour if we wanted to eat out, so we did. Of course, it took her a good thirty minutes of fussing again to take an afternoon nap, but she slept hard once she fell asleep. Finally had to open her door at 4:30pm so she'd wake up and be ready to go back to bed at bedtime! J worked with the girls in the garage painting something or other for my mother's day present. I spent the quiet time in the house catching up on emails, clearing my paper stacks from the kitchen counters and gearing up for a new week.

And here it is, Monday! C went to sleep without complaint today. Woo hoo! Don't want to make a habit of fussing to sleep. I think they were both pretty tired from the weekend as evidenced by a nap time long enough for me to get my work done and still have time to blog. I'll second that woo hoo! Registered A for swimming lessons this morning and ran a few errands. Laundry. Potted some mystery beans brought home from Sunday School a few weeks ago from their plastic cup into a real pot with dirt. Chatted with the neighbor about her new grandson. More laundry. Blew some bubbles. Made grilled cheese. Fought the great eat-your-fruit battle for the day. Tuned in to Little Einsteins. Put girls to bed. Updated the budget. Sent overdue emails. Wrote a blog post!! Time for more laundry. Thank you, Lord, for the calm and normal.

Who knew?!

In case you didn't believe me about all the belly button and banana peel jokes that go on around here in a given day...

If you didn't catch the original lyrics, I think the real moral comes at the end, "God is a belly button and he has belly button hair, too. He has banana peel slippers. Ooo." I don't know about you, but I'm glad my theology can handle a little belly button hair. Ew.

Official Video

Here ya go, only a couple of weeks late...

I think it was the chocolate milkshake that motivated her.