The Mom Crowd

It’s that time again: the start of school.  For many of us moms, it’s the start of pre-school.  My kids have been in pre-school for about four weeks now (and my mental health is the better for it!)  Lucy is in the 2-year old class, so she brings artwork or little projects home twice a week.  Eli, 1, goes once a week, and doesn’t bring anything home yet.

I love that the kids get to do fun projects at pre-school.  I love seeing how proud Lucy is when she shows me what she did, and listening to her cute voice describe it: “What did you make, Lucy?”  “A col-LAGE!”  Another new word in her ever-expanding vocabulary.

So this is just the beginning.  Soon, artwork is going to start piling up all around us if we don’t have a plan of action for what to do with it.  I’m sure lots of you moms know what I’m talking about.  What happens when there’s no more room on the fridge?

Thanks to ideas I’ve read in various magazines over the past couple of years, I’ve acquired some helpful tips for this issue.  I don’t really take credit for these ideas - except for #1 and #3, which I just thought of as I was writing this post.  I hope this helps you prevent mountains of construction paper from forming in your house & car!

1. Turn your laundry room or spare wall into a gallery.  As I mentioned last week, my house has out-of-date wallpaper.  In our laundry room - a place where I spend a fair amount of time each week, and also the room we walk through to get to the garage - the wallpaper is pretty busy.  So I started taping up the kids’ artwork and projects.  Every day that Lucy brings home something new, she helps me pick out a spot on the wall, and up it goes.  It’s her artwork-central.  She loves it.  I get to appreciate it, and the less of that wallpaper I see, the better.
2. Take pictures of the artwork as it comes in, and save them in a special folder on your computer.   Then the opportunities are endless:  use the pictures for your screensaver, or make a photo year book for each school year!
3. Create a blog just for their artwork.  Give the address to family members and friends so they can comment.  The kids will love the praise on their own special webpage!
4. Mail pieces of artwork to distant relatives.  Not only does this get it out of your house, it gives Grandma a special surprise amid her bills!
5. Keep a special portfolio, box or file for each of your childrens’ work.   At the end of each quarter or semester (or any time you feel is necessary), sit down with your child and the artwork, and do a cleanout.  Have them choose their 5 best pieces, and save them in the portfolio with the dates and their signature.  Then decide what you will do with the rest.  Tell your child that any of options 2-4 are acceptable, but it’s time to make room in the portfolio for new things that come in.  Not only does this whittle down the amount of paper you’ve got at home, it gives your child ownership in what is kept, and even helps develop a critically-thinking mind.
6. Frame your favorite pieces to be hung on the walls.  I saw a picture of this in the latest Real Simple; the decorator created a collage on the wall of framed family pictures and artwork.  It was really cool and colorful.

Surely there are other ideas and tips out there for cherishing the work of each of our little Picassos, Monets, or better yet, Dalis.  :)  What have you done?

We have been having some drama with our cat, Samuel, recently. It all began when he peed in our friend’s car seat. I even wrote about it here. Since then about once a week we would something else he peed on - a blanket, t-shirt, an empty plastic toy bin on floor. The last straw was when he peed in Annabelle’s toy basket in her toy corner. In an emotional response my husband threw him out the back door. I didn’t see him for at least two days.

On the third day we decided to take him to the vet and get him checked out and make sure that it wasn’t an infection or anything. I saw him on day four and brought him inside. About three hours later I was on the phone with the vet and I heard Annabelle scream like I have never heard her scream before. I immediately got off the phone and found that she was messing with the cats and Samuel scratched her. He scratched her inside her left ear and down her cheek. Samuel lost his second chance.

We took both Samuel and Elizabeth to the vet and they are both fine. We got them updated on their shots. The vet agreed that it was a behavioral problem. Last night I posted them on Craigslist. Hopefully I can find them a home without young children. If not, then our only other option is to find a no-kill shelter that will take them.

We never took the pets and a new baby class. Maybe I would have learned something. What I know is that our cat doesn’t like having a toddler in the house messing with him. With a second baby on the way we can’t take any chances. We have had our cats for 5 years and love them. They used to be my babies, until Annabelle came home. It was a tough decision to find them new homes, but in the end we have to do what is best for our family.

Have you ever had a problem with your pets and your children getting along? Have you had to find a new home for your pet when you brought your baby home?

UPDATE:

In the end Samuel scratched our daughter at least twice. We honestly couldn’t trust him with her and her safety is important to us. I feel that it would be impossible to keep them separate at all times. I don’t feel like Annabelle was doing much to entice the scratching. After two people were interested in looking at the cats, but never showed, we placed them back on Craigslist. A lady who only wanted Samuel came and adopted him. He has the most perfect home now. Her last cat just passed away last month. She lives by herself in a huge house and I know that Samuel is going to be spoiled beyond measure.

I did have hard time letting him go. I was very sad after he left, but I prayed about it. I feel like God told me that he sent the lady and that Samuel is fine now. In the end I realized that Samuel wasn’t acting like his usual laid back and loving self. Now I hope without a baby bugging him, he is more relaxed and happy.

We still have his sister, Elizabeth. My husband caved in and let me keep her. She isn’t pee’ing or scratching Annabelle. I think it is much easier to only care for one cat.

Months ago, Amanda posted a great peek into her daughter’s beautiful nursery.   I was so impressed with how cute and practical it was.  Recently, another friend of mine redecorated a room in her house to create a second nursery for her new son (nursery #1 is now her todder son’s bedroom).  I was practically drooling at the colors, the theme, and the pristine, matching furniture.  This weekend, I read the new People magazine, which featured “Baby Yearbook 2008″, covering celebrity baby lifestyles from fashion to nursery decor.  I marveled at J. Lo’s extravagant nursery for her twins, and then imagined what it must be like to have two other houses with two other nurseries decorated exactly the same way (Max & Emme won’t be confused at any of their three homes.)

My reality is altogether different.  Here are my true confessions:

• We’re renting a house.  This means major decorating is not only restricted, it’s kinda pointless.  Therefore, we make do with what we have.  And what we have is funny.  It’s hilarious watching peoples’ reactions to the wallpaper in my son’s room.  Three walls are a masculine, somewhat dark pattern, which is fine.  One wall, inexplicably, though, is a repeated pattern of pictures of colonial American buildings.   Let me say that again:  it’s a repeated pattern of pictures of colonial American buildings.   It’s a bit like having a giant, permanent history poster in your bedroom.  On the plus side, Eli has a better sense of our country’s past than I ever did at that age.  So, bonus!
• The crib bumper is adorable.  It’s green, blue, and red, which we bought at Wal-Mart.  It doesn’t match the wallpaper, of course, or anything else in the room, for that matter.
• There are no curtains for the window.  I wouldn’t even know how to hang them if I had some.
• I find random baby room decor at Target when it’s marked down, and occasionally, I buy it.  So Eli’s room has a few animal plaques here, some safari animal clings there, and a wooden sign that says “Thank Heaven for Little Boys” over his window (this sign was a gift, actually).  All of this is hung on top of that wallpaper.  (Sometimes, if you stare at the walls long enough, you can make out new images, like those old Magic Eyes books.)

• We’ve moved a few times since my kids were born.  Therefore, Eli’s room is also our storage/junk room.  This is fine for now, since he only uses the room for sleeping.  Other than the crib and wall decor, it’s pretty much my dumping ground for extra books, picture frames, and boxes.  His closet is our extra storage closet.

     

   

• My daughter Lucy’s room is painted blue.  Go figure.  :) 
• I try to stay away from Pottery Barn Kids, Babies R Us, and other baby specialty shops as much as possible, to keep my envy in check.

As much as I wish I could have a nursery that is airy and bright and serene and precious, with gliding rockers and lullabies playing, it’s just not in the cards for me.  And frankly, the kids just don’t even know any better.   

Have you got any confessions you’d like to share?  Anyone out there in a similar boat?

p.s.  I recently painted these letters to add to the decor, and I am pretty proud of them.

This summer, my daughter had the opportunity to play with lots of her friends’ toys, but one of her favorites was the water table.  She likes dipping her hands in water and playing with sand.  On this same day, she couldn’t even be pulled away from the table to take pictures with everyone; she stuck by that table with great determination, as seen on her face.

When I asked the other moms in my playgroup if they liked this toy, they said yes, but one mentioned how she didn’t like the sand.  After these pictures were taken, they removed it from the table.  Apparently, it attracted bugs.

I recently noticed a water table offered on my local Freecycle, and I wondered if I should go through the trouble of acquiring it.  How many of you have water/sand tables?  Is it a must-have for your toddler?  What inconveniences have you noticed with keeping one?  What other toys were indispensible for you this summer?

I think I have a record player, or should I say cd player, implanted in my brain.  It causes my voice to repeat things over and over.  Does this happen to you too?

I enjoy the tracks where my mouth says things like “I love you”.  Things like “we don’t put pillows over the baby’s head”, not so much. When it comes down to it, sometimes I get so tired of repeating the same things over and over, know what I mean?

Things like:

• Stop whining!
• Get off of your brother; He is asking (okay screaming) for you to stop sitting on him.
• Please follow mommy’s directions.
• Will you please stop leaning on me and sit all the way in your chair (at dinner).
• Trowing a fit will not get you what you want.
• Pick up your toys or they will be taken away the next time I come in here and they aren’t picked up.
• We don’t hit in our house, we use our hands to show love.
• Don’t run away from me!
• If you get up from time-out before the timer goes off there will be further consequences.
• Get in your car seat!
• Why are you out of bed?
• Because I asked you to do ________.
• Go to the potty BEFORE any pee-pee gets in your underwear!

I think I might have said all of those things in one day!  The trick is to say all of these things in a voice that isn’t angry.  And boy does that get hard when I’m tired–or just sick and tired of repeating the same things over annoying behavior.  The truth is that I should not be surprised that my children misbehave and don’t do everything they are supposed to do.  Shocking, I know.  They are kids and they aren’t perfect–just like I am not.  But in all honesty, sometimes I wish that they never misbehaved. I have to remind myself that their mistakes are chances for them to grow in their character (mine too) and opportunities for me to show them that I love them despite their misbehavior or bad choices.

Sometimes when the broken record is playing I have flashbacks into my own childhood when my mom would say some of those same things to me.  So weird.My hope is that on the days where I am repeating all the “behavior correction” tracks that I can squeeze in the tracks that tell them:

• I love you.
• Let’s have some special play time.
• You are important to me.
• I’m so glad you are mine.
• I love how God made you.
• You are significant.

I once heard that for every criticism you tell a child they need to hear 5 positive things about themselves.  That is hard to do some days.  I find it too easy to get into the pattern of just correcting behavior and being nitpicky rather than enjoying the day given to me and cherishing the everyday moments with my child. I mean, if I ask one of my kids to put something away and they want to spin in circles instead of walk on the way to putting it away, does it really matter?  I’m learning how to let some of those things go so I can spend more time loving on my kids and laughing with them.

What phrases do you find yourself saying over and over again?  Is there anything you say now that your parents used to say to you?  And tell me your secret about how you speak kindly to your kids when they are whining about wanting to watch TV for the 150th time that day!