Of sisters and stalkers...

I spent the day with my girls at a teddy bear picnic. As almost always, it was about Betsy. It was for her Daisy troop. So Felicity and I spent an hour and a half sitting on the picnic blanket while Betsy did the fun stuff. I'm thrilled that Betsy gets to do so many fun things, but I am sad that Felicity mostly just gets to watch. And then, when she is finally old enough to do whatever it is, then Betsy has moved on to the next thing.

That said, I love that my girls are close in age. I purposely didn't want to have them as close together as my sister and I are. (We are 14 months apart.) I always felt like I was just barely an "older" sister, as April always did things either with me or just after me. My girls are 3 years apart. It's nice because Betsy is truly older, but they are close enough in age to do things together. I have just cherished this summer, watching them playing together. They often hold hands, and it melts my heart. (April is still to this day my best friend, but we rarely hold hands, you know.)

Anyway, in honor of all of the sisterly love, here is a list of books that are good for introducing a new baby to your family:

1) What to Expect When Mommy's Having a Baby by Heidi Murkoff. This is an excellent explaining-pregnancy-to-a-toddler book. You can omit stuff if you feel like it's going into too much detail. I personally didn't. I have explained how babies are made to both of the girls many times. I'm pretty straight forward about it, and they ask me questions. It's one of those things that doesn't bother me. I know that not everyone feels that way, but for us, we have found that if we treat it like any other kind of question, it makes it easier to understand and less shameful.

2. What Baby Needs by William and Martha Sears. I like the Sears' because they are very into attachment parenting. I didn't do attachment parenting in this perfect way, but I did breastfeed and have the girls sleep in a bassinette in our room. I mostly liked this book for Betsy because it dealt with nursing as a big part of having a baby, and for us that was a big part of it.

3. What to Expect When the Baby Comes Home by Heidi Murkoff. Another What to Expect book. As always, it answers most questions a child could think up.

4. The New Baby by Mercer Mayer. A cute look at a new baby through the eyes of Little Critter.

5. A Pocket Full of Kisses by Audrey Penn. Most everyone in the world reads The Kissing Hand on the first day of school. This is the sequel, in which Chester's mother gives his brother a kissing hand too. Chester goes bananas. It's a good reinforcement of the idea that there is enough love to go around (as I tell the girls, love is not a pie).

As I wrap this up, I am as always listening to 80s music. Does anyone else find it creepy that so many 80s songs are stalker love songs? I have heard Every Breath You Take, Private Eyes, Sunglasses at Night, now it's on The Flame...

Tales from a sunscreen nut...

Well, it's Saturday night. For me, that means I am listening to 80s music, catching up on my reading, preparing my Sunday School lesson for tomorrow, and realizing that I need to do a blog post to stay with my self-imposed goal of one per week.

I don't have a ton to talk about, but I can think of a few things.

Last week, when I talked about teeth, I wanted to mention that the brand of flouride that we use is ACT. I like it because you only have to use it once a day (once I bought the listerine brand and you have to use it twice a day). Also, to clarify about the singing, I sing a song to the girls while they "swish." It just makes the minute go faster. Betsy suggested it, because the child is ten times smarter than me and she is six.

I also wanted to give the Joy seal of approval to Aveeno lotion. My girls both have really sensitive skin that breaks into a rash pretty easily. This stuff heals it right away. We had always used Johnson and Johnson before, and one day we were somewhere that it wasn't available and we picked this up instead. It just works wonders!

Just as an aside, I am obsessed with sunscreen. That doesn't really have anything to do with anything, but in my mind, someone is reading this who really wants to know these odd things about me. And I do mean obsessed. My kids get slathered in sunscreen every morning. I've done all of this research into the best kinds and what all of the different products available can do for you. If you're interested in my opinion on this, I use Coppertone SPF 50 on the girls. Like I said, they get slathered first thing in the morning. Then, if it is a day that they are swimming, sweating, or the UV index is high, they get slathered again in the afternoon. I recommend keeping sunscreen in the car, near the door, little bottles in your purse-anywhere that you will be apt to use it. I do the same thing with Purell, which I am also obsessed with.

I have succeeded in making the girls hyper viligent about using sunscreen (and Purell). Unfortunately for us all, Nicholas could basically care less about sunscreen and I therefore have to worry if he has the girls for a "mom's day off." He's the fun one...

But that's okay. I like being the weird one. Weird is how I define myself. And the girls are okay with being weird too. We like to think that it makes us unique...

Two nights after a toothfairy visit...

Well, the tooth fairy has paid us a visit. It was a long time coming. Betsy has been wanting this to happen for, oh, at least a year. At school, she was one of the only kids who still had all of their baby teeth, so she is elated that she can go back to school toothless.

For Nick, it was bittersweet. She is growing up and there is just nothing to be done to stop it. Anyhow, I thought that I would use this moment to impart wisdom when it comes to kids' teeth and the dentist.

First off, my kids enjoy brushing their teeth. How did this happen? Well, I think two things, in addition to the fact that my kids are weird. I have brushed their teeth (with a toothbrush) since they were each 6 months old. At least twice a day. Usually after every meal. So they think nothing of it. Also, we have a timer in each bathroom. It is like an hourglass, only it only goes for 3 minutes. My kids know that in the morning and at night we are brushing with the timer.

I still brush their teeth. After lunch, they each get to brush their own teeth. And they don't have to use the timer then. I do this so that they will learn and also because they like it, but they are neither one good enough at it to do their own teeth all the time.

Every night we also floss (we use those floss sticks because it's easier) and they use floride (which we call swish) for one minute. That involves singing (it's not always easy to do something for a minute when you are six and three).

We also visit the dentist every six months. If you live in the Zanesville area, I highly recommend Dr. Robert Malek, who is the girls' dentist. They love going to the dentist. He has video games for them to play and they get a toy at the end of the visit. But mostly, and this is especially for Betsy who loves knowing how things work, he allows them to watch everything that he does. He allows Betsy to get right up in Felicity's face and watch all that he is doing.

Finally, of course, some great books about going to the dentist and good dental hygiene:

1. What to Expect When You Go To The Dentist by Heidi Murkoff. Obviously, I love these books. It answers every conceviable question they could have.

2. Just Going to the Dentist by Mercer Mayer. I love Little Critter. This one is cute and it can calm some dental fears.

3. Show Me Your Smile! by Christine Ricci. This is a Dora book. I like it beacuse Dora asks a lot of questions to engage the child in the book.

4. Meet Michael's Dentist! by Lori Froeb. This one is the girls' favorite. It is a Little People book with flaps (they love flaps).

5. I Know Why I Brush My Teeth by Kate Rowan. I like this book because it goes into detail (in a kid-friendly way) about all of the teeth in your mouth and the importance of keeping them clean.

6. This Book Bites by Timothy Gower. This is a cool book. I got it at a book sale at the library. It goes into so much detail about the mouth. Everything that you could ever want to know, it's in there.

Anyway, I hope that my girls always love taking care of their teeth. Most of my back teeth are gone, due to horrific sinus problems. I love that they no longer hurt me, but it is difficult to eat without molars. So I know whereof I speak. They know that there are some things that Mommy cannot eat. So I'm hoping that they put a premium on their teeth...

Of cleaning and allowances...

This has been a hectic week! We had bible school all week long, so in anticipation of being very busy, I cleaned my house on Saturday. This is not how I normally do things, and I have missed my usual daily grind a lot.

So, I thought that I would make a blog about how I normally clean, just because I am convinced that it is the best way to get the house clean and retain my sanity. First off, I'm really nuts about having my house really clean, because I was raised by Dina Watson and she is the most obsessive cleaner in the whole world. My mom loves, loves, loves to clean. And she is perfect about it (my mom is pretty near perfect, period). I am as far from perfect as human beings come. And I definately do not like to clean. But I work really hard to have a clean house because, someday, my mother will agree that it really is a clean house. Someday. I hope. And also because I was raised in this nutso way that everything has to be a certain way.

Now, as to how I go about doing it: On Mondays, I clean the bathrooms. (I do this on Mondays because I feel that this is the absolute most important thing to get done in the week. If something happens and my week goes all wacky, I will have this done.)

Tuesdays, I run the vaccum and sweep/mop the floors. (I do this on Tuesdays because I hate doing it and I want to get it out of the way.)

Wednesdays, I do the girls' laundry. (In the summer, I do all of our laundry, for two reasons. One, there is less to do with mostly t-shirts and shorts, and two, I hang things on the line.)

Thursdays, I dust. Fridays, I do our laundry. (In the summer, Friday is a day to catch up on strange things, like, for example, I clean the windows a lot in the summer to let the sun shine in). And on Saturdays, I wash the whites. Sunday is my day off, every week, no exceptions.

I use Saturdays to do odd things that need doing once a month. On the first Saturday of the month, I give the dogs a bath. On the second, I clean the refrigerator/kitchen. I'm supposed to wash the sheets one of those Saturdays, but sometimes that gets pushed to the back burner.

Also, the girls have chores every day. They are age appropriate things, like making their beds and setting the table. Every Saturday night they then receive an allowance of five dollars. I know that's kind of a debated thing, to give them an allowance. But I feel that it's important for a lot of reasons. First of all, they receive four dollars bills and four quarters. Fifty cents (ten percent) goes into their Sunday School envelopes. Fifty cents goes into their piggy banks to save. And the remaining four dollars is theirs. They can use this to shop, if they want. If they are invited to a birthday party, the money for the gift comes from their money. I am hopeful that this is teaching them to be responsible with their money.

A poem a day...

Okay, every single morning I read my girls a Bible story and a poem. And every night I read them a book (chapter books for Betsy, a board book and a picture book for Felicity) and then another poem. I'll do another one of these for my favorite bedtime books, but today I want to talk about the poems.

I firmly believe that every single person in the world would benefit from reading at least one poem every day. Poetry, in my world, opens my eyes to things, says things in ways that I sometimes just couldn't wrap my arms around otherwise. I am not all that great a poet myself, although I do like to think that I learned at least a few things in my creative writing class in college. But I love and admire many, many different kinds of poetry and I want to instill a love for that in my kids, just the same way I want to instill an appreciation for art and music in them.

With Felicity, who is 3 years old, I stick mostly with nursery rhymes. My favorites are:

1. Animal Crackers edited by Jane Dyer. I love love love this book. It is full of all different kinds of nursery rhymes, and Jane Dyer's drawings are beautiful. I highly recommend this, and I think that it makes a great baby shower gift too.

2. Lucy Cousins' Book of Nursery Rhymes. Lucy Cousins' writes the Maisy books. I love all of her books because she uses such bright colors. They really resonate with the girls.

3. A Pop-Up Book of Nursery Rhymes by Matthew Reinhart. This is a special book that has to be put on a high shelf. But it is lovely to look at.

Now, Betsy is 6 and a half years old, so we have moved on to harder poetry. Here's what we love:

1. A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson, illlustrated by Tasha Tudor. I was introduced to the world of Tasha Tudor through this book. It goes without saying that eveyone should have this book, and most people do have it in one form or another. But I love this one especially because of the beautiful pictures that Tudor adds.

2. A Family of Poems edited by Caroline Kennedy. This is a great book of poems, with pictures by Jon J. Muth, who is a fantastic illustrator.

3. Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein. Must-haves. They are perfect for Betsy's age. They are a wonderful, funny way to introduce poetry to your kids.

We have some more, including some seasonal poem books, like poems for winter and poems for Thanksgiving. I've never really found a poem book that I didn't like. Now for bedtime we do two different things. Felicity gets her poem from one of 3 books, which I just cycle through all the time. They are Animal Crackers Bedtime (this is a board book version of Animal Crackers), Care Bears Book of Bedtime Poems, and Mother Goose Bedtime Poems.

With Betsy I use Good Night, Sleep Tight: A Poem for Every Night of the Year edited by Ivan and Mal Jones. I like this one because it gives you a new poem for every night of the year (there's even one for February 29). We've read it so many times we have our favorites. (I think that I've read it to her since she was 2.) I intend to start reading this to Felicity eventually, but some of the poems are long and wordy, so for now I'm sticking with the easier ones for her.

I hope that this inspires you to read a poem to your kids. It's easy and fun and I think that it's so beneficial to them...

Books and breastfeeding...

Okay, to start, I am fully and one hundred percent behind breastfeeding. I breastfed my own kids until they were each 2. However, I try very hard not to be a bully about breastfeeding-my sister does not breast feed at all, and that's okay. I can reem off lots of facts about it, and why I chose it, but I realize that it's not for everyone.

That said, there are precious few books that portray breastfeeding as natural, so far as children's books go. I was adament that we have at least a few, since my children were each only given a bottle a handful of times. These are the best of the paltry bunch:

1. I'm Made of Mama's Milk by Mary Olsen-this is a board book, seemingly made of fuzzy digital photos. This is the absolutely only board book I could find on this topic. It's a bit...off, really, but my girls liked it and we read it until basically each of them had given breastfeeding up.

2. We Like to Nurse by Chia Martin-again, this book is a little odd. There are all kinds of different animals shown nursing, and the text basically matches the picture. Not great, but okay.

3. Only the Cat Saw by Ashley Wolff-this is one of my favorite bedtime books with the girls. It is about all the things that the cat sees at night while the family is sleeping. I am including it here because there is a nice, normal picture of the mom nursing the baby included near the end.

4. Michele: The Nursing Toddler by Jane M. Pinczuk-Michele is pretty much a normal toddler and this book is about many normal things she does. She nurses one time near the end of the book. Again, it's okay, since there isn't much out there on the topic, but it is by no means great.

5. Maggie's Weaning by Mary Joan Deutschben-I really like this one. Maggie is an older sibling telling all about how she breastfed for a long time, and then eventually gave it up. This helped in our house with the transition to not nursing any longer. The pictures are all black and white, but beyond that it's a good book.

And that's pretty much it. Like I said, it's a kind of weird lot. But if you're looking for these books, this is bascially the best you can do...

Just like a merry-go-round...

Okay, we have started something new this summer as far as discipline goes. We have adopted a behavior wheel. This is nothing new, as most schools have something at least similar. But it is the first time that we have tried it. It is working well.

Green means good. (I'm sure that there is a much more psychologically sound way of saying that, but, for all intents and purposes, it means good.) Yellow is a warning. Red means a 15 minute time out. Blue means you get no dessert. And gray means you have to give up a dollar of your allowance for the week.

And so, we start the day with everyone's clips on green. Then, if there is a behavior problem, your clip moves. We have a list of rules, but it basically boils down to-no hitting, no yelling, no whining, pick up your mess...that kind of thing. We have been as far as blue on one particularly bad day, but most days not.

I also instituted a reward wheel. If the girls end up the day on green, they are allowed to spin it. (It's from Twister and the colors coincide with the reward.) There are 4 rewards: go to the Dairy Duchess for a treat, have a popsicle, get your toenails painted, or get to stay up an extra 10 minutes. (To my quite sheltered kids, these are big time rewards.) They decided that they like to do things together, so they only spin the wheel one time and they both get the thing (unless one is not on green, then she does not get to participate in the reward).

Anyway, it is working out well. They are behaving well, I am not having to yell, and best of all they pick up their stuff without being asked several times.I'm liking it...