Sam and Priya, the proud owners of some freshly picked cat tails and their picked-on kitten.
Anneka's favorite post in the kitchen - on the counter where the view is the best.Monday, July 28, 2008
summer church
So, if summer school is for people to catch up on academics, why is Sunday School suspended and Sunday's church activities abbreviated for the summer?
What a relief to know that God doesn't take off the summer from us even though we do it to Him.
What a relief to know that God doesn't take off the summer from us even though we do it to Him.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
play
I think there are two kinds of playing that kids can do: formal and free.
In the formal kind of play, there are activities set out or formally organized for children to keep themselves entertained for a certain period of time. This might be craft time or playground time or Barbie doll time or anything. Disputes are settled before blood, high-decibel screeching or crying can evolve. The organized adults who plan such play time also have rules and keep track of when the children have completed their stint at the planned activity and make them pick up the mess before they move on to another play area or activity. Everything is labeled and has a container.
Free play time is short for free-for-all, sort of. Children are turned out of a room or the front door of a house to entertain themselves. The adults involved here get involved when there is blood or there is a dispute or someone starts to cry profusely. Free play might involve a sculpture in the front yard constructed of dogfood, sand, the tops of carrots just picked from the garden and some leftover boards placed end to end in a triangle. Other times lots of random animals and dolls are dressed in a varying wardrobe are tied up in a tangle of blankets and pillows where they may be going to church or driving in a car. Sometimes vegetables and cooking utensils are involved. The adults of these kids are thankful that the kids aren't fighting too bad or nagging for snacks and sneak off to attempt to get a thing or two done leaving the kids to mix activities and strange little messes. When these activities are cleaned up, everything is supposed to fit in some big tubs.
I've observed one of these forms of play and have attempted mostly unsuccessfully to coordinate it. It might be something best left to the professionals. The other I am quite familiar with.
In 50 or 60 years, I will have a brilliant theory about which combination is most effective in producing quality. profitable members of society.
In the formal kind of play, there are activities set out or formally organized for children to keep themselves entertained for a certain period of time. This might be craft time or playground time or Barbie doll time or anything. Disputes are settled before blood, high-decibel screeching or crying can evolve. The organized adults who plan such play time also have rules and keep track of when the children have completed their stint at the planned activity and make them pick up the mess before they move on to another play area or activity. Everything is labeled and has a container.
Free play time is short for free-for-all, sort of. Children are turned out of a room or the front door of a house to entertain themselves. The adults involved here get involved when there is blood or there is a dispute or someone starts to cry profusely. Free play might involve a sculpture in the front yard constructed of dogfood, sand, the tops of carrots just picked from the garden and some leftover boards placed end to end in a triangle. Other times lots of random animals and dolls are dressed in a varying wardrobe are tied up in a tangle of blankets and pillows where they may be going to church or driving in a car. Sometimes vegetables and cooking utensils are involved. The adults of these kids are thankful that the kids aren't fighting too bad or nagging for snacks and sneak off to attempt to get a thing or two done leaving the kids to mix activities and strange little messes. When these activities are cleaned up, everything is supposed to fit in some big tubs.
I've observed one of these forms of play and have attempted mostly unsuccessfully to coordinate it. It might be something best left to the professionals. The other I am quite familiar with.
In 50 or 60 years, I will have a brilliant theory about which combination is most effective in producing quality. profitable members of society.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
night
Well, it was another eventful night. By that I mean 12 a.m. to 4 a.m.. The good thing is that they don't happen every night so I kind of appreciate them in a strange sort of way.
The sleeping patterns of my children never cease to amaze me. No amaze isn't the appropriate term. They amuse me, they baffle me. I've long ceased being frustrated at my night interrupted. Just two days ago, I awoke at 6 a.m. to realize that Anneka had slept a good 8 hours straight. Last night she was up at least three times. Two nights last week, Priya slept all night. Last night, her dreams were haunting her or she has bedbugs in her quilts or maybe she heard the sheep out eating grass in the pasture. Now with Sam, the most successful method of getting him to sleep soundly is quite simple. If he should wake in the night and come tumbling, stumbling from his bed around the corner to our room, situate him comfortably and leave him be. There's no sense in putting him back after he seems sound asleep, he will repeat the stumbling thing and be back in an hour. An an hour after that. It gets to be rather exhausting.
Experts might advise me that I should have let them all cry it out as young babies. But there's no telling my mental status after five nights of two hours of howling or whatever it takes. We rarely watch creepy frightening or disturbing television before bed. (I might add that when we have watched something that might be a bit concerning at least to the kids, Priya sleeps like a rock) I've never left the house for the evening and expected the kids to put themselves to bed. I've never put them to sleep drunk or high on anything. They listen to nice music. We read non-disturbing stories before bed. There are only a couple of nights a month, I can blame a full-moon.
But it seems that our house wasn't the only happening place last night. At 3:30 I looked out to see what sort of vehicle might be passing through at such an hour. I was confused to see a tractor pulling something pull into our driveway, until the ambulance sped past shortly thereafter.
By four, we were all sound asleep. Priya took my place in our bed. I think I was in the spare room bed with Sam. Anneka was in her crib.
I only hope whoever took an ambulance ride last night fared as well.
The sleeping patterns of my children never cease to amaze me. No amaze isn't the appropriate term. They amuse me, they baffle me. I've long ceased being frustrated at my night interrupted. Just two days ago, I awoke at 6 a.m. to realize that Anneka had slept a good 8 hours straight. Last night she was up at least three times. Two nights last week, Priya slept all night. Last night, her dreams were haunting her or she has bedbugs in her quilts or maybe she heard the sheep out eating grass in the pasture. Now with Sam, the most successful method of getting him to sleep soundly is quite simple. If he should wake in the night and come tumbling, stumbling from his bed around the corner to our room, situate him comfortably and leave him be. There's no sense in putting him back after he seems sound asleep, he will repeat the stumbling thing and be back in an hour. An an hour after that. It gets to be rather exhausting.
Experts might advise me that I should have let them all cry it out as young babies. But there's no telling my mental status after five nights of two hours of howling or whatever it takes. We rarely watch creepy frightening or disturbing television before bed. (I might add that when we have watched something that might be a bit concerning at least to the kids, Priya sleeps like a rock) I've never left the house for the evening and expected the kids to put themselves to bed. I've never put them to sleep drunk or high on anything. They listen to nice music. We read non-disturbing stories before bed. There are only a couple of nights a month, I can blame a full-moon.
But it seems that our house wasn't the only happening place last night. At 3:30 I looked out to see what sort of vehicle might be passing through at such an hour. I was confused to see a tractor pulling something pull into our driveway, until the ambulance sped past shortly thereafter.
By four, we were all sound asleep. Priya took my place in our bed. I think I was in the spare room bed with Sam. Anneka was in her crib.
I only hope whoever took an ambulance ride last night fared as well.
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