Josiah's Swing Friends

Josiah hangs out in the swing in the kitchen when I'm cooking or eating (or when I just need to put him down for a minute.) He has recently started noticing the giraffe and bear that are attached to the swing and has even started "talking" to them.

Playing School

It's cold and snowy here. Many of the schools were closed or on delay. For some reason, Silas school was scheduled to begin as usual and I didn't feel like braving the bad weather first thing in the morning, so I let Silas stay home from school. I was probably just going to let him watch TV or play video games all day - I'm such a good mom. But when I mentioned letting him stay home, Steve asked if I didn't want to take him just so I could have a break for 3 hours. For some weird reason, that motivated me to not only keep him home, but to plan a full day of activities with him.

So today we played school. I was the teacher and Silas was my student. I kept to the schedule that he is used to and we had a wonderful day together. Everything became a learning activity just by giving it a different name. We had circle time by sitting on a blanket on the floor. We discussed the calendar and the weather. I introduced telling time using a clock puzzle he has played with for a year. I realized he will have to master the concept of counting by "fives" before he will be successful, but at least he's been introduced. And Silas set up "centers" with various puzzles and games.

After circle time, we had snack. And since I am the teacher, I chose the snack and he came to the table and ate what he wanted (the orange) and not the rest (organic string cheese is not very string-y). He didn't argue about what was for snack because I had taken control and made the decision. Why don't I just make those descisions more often and just tell him how it's going to be? Why am I constantly giving away control and setting us up for a battle? I guess I learned something today too!

We practiced writing the letter "K", which is the letter of the week at school. And then I did an activity with him to discuss "stranger danger". I got the idea out of the book Kitchen Table Play and Learn. I cut out pictures of people from magazines, some sinister and some not, and we pasted them on a poster board under the titles "safe" or "danger" and discussed why. I also talked to him about what to do if he's lost in a crowd (which happened two weeks ago at the local children's science museum we frequent), how to choose a stranger to ask for help (a grandma type or a parent with little children) and who would NOT be as good of a choice (a man by himself). Then we talked about what he should do if someone tried to take him from our backyard, that it's okay to hit (and he added kick or bite), and that it's not okay for ANYONE to touch him wear his bathing suit belongs. Oh, that's an awful conversation to have, but a necessary one.

For "Art Time" I introduced modeling clay. During G'ym Time" we kicked a soccer ball around the basement. "Music Time" involved a turtle shaped whistle I brought back as a soverneir from Mexico. And Home Living we learned how to give a baby a bath - Josiah was kind enough to play the role of the baby.

All in all it was a lovely day, one that I wished we had more of.

josiah smiles

The Big Brother

Silas has really impressed us in his role as a big brother... We weren't sure we would have such a smooth transition. I've recently starting using the term "high needs child" when referring to Silas - it seems like there are fewer negative connotations to that over "strong willed child".

Silas is a GREAT kid, and I wouldn't trade him for the world. We have learned that we have to be extremely intentional with him and that the smallest things are hard for him to overcome. What works for some parents hasn't worked for us and so we have learned to adjust our tactics - which some people interpret as "walking on egg shells" around him or catering to him. Well, he's our son and we're doing the best we can.

Anyway, we weren't sure what it would be like for him to have to share mom and dad, especially mom. Would he be jealous? Impatient? Would he ask us to take the baby back to the hospital? All of these thoughts ran through our heads and became part of our prayers as we prepared for the birth of number 2.

Thankfully, it has been such an easy transition that we are silently holding our breath still. Silas is a FANTASTIC big brother. He hasn't shown any signs of jealousy and really seems to enjoy the cute little baby that belongs to our family. And I think the ownership aspect has been key. Whenever I'm busy with Josiah and can't get to Silas right away, I tell him that I'm helping "his brother" at the moment, but will be with him as soon as I'm finished. And one of Silas' newest nicknames is "Big Brother" (other nicknames include Vern, Bubba, Siley, and Chief).

And Silas has become much more affectionate since we've brought Josiah home. I used to go days without unsolicited affection, but now we get lots of hugs, kisses and "I love you's". I said all along that Silas really needed a sibling and apparently, I was right. Seeing this loving little boy emerge is very gratifying.

I am so blessed to have two wonderful boys, and I am even more thankful that the expansion of our family is off to a great start.