Picky eating

My children have started telling me "I don't like to eat that" when I serve them foods that they've always eaten in the past.  I'm hoping this is just a phase.  I've always heard it takes 10-15 times or so of being served a new food before a child will sometimes try it.  I'm not sure how this applies to food they have eaten before.  I try to just ignore them when they say it, and serve it to them anyway.  Today my 4 year old told me "I don't like grilled cheese.  I won't eat it." I ignored her and made it for everyone anyway.  She ate half of it, which I considered a victory.  I'm hoping they don't get in the habit of saying they don't like something and never eat it, only to find out as an adult that, what do you know, they really do like it.  I'm pretty sure that's what happened to me and tomatoes.  Any suggestions?

See me spin...

Do you remember twirling as a little kid? I remember having so much fun just spinning until you dropped.  It makes me happy to see my kids spinning around in circles, trying not to run into each other, until they get so dizzy they drop or have to stop.  Wouldn't it be great if we adults found such great pleasure in simple things like children do?

This video reminds me of the old 8mm home movies we had when I was a kid. It was taken on my phone, so the picture and sound are a little grainy, but still captures the fun fairly well.

Organizing my stress away

When I get stressed, I organize.  I think I inherited this from my own mom.  When she was angry, we all seemed to start to clean.  I don't know if it's because she made us clean, or if we were just trying to stay out of her way and give her space.  Either way, it's what I do in my own life now.  If things seem stressful or out of control, it calms me down to organize something. 

Today I categorized and alphabetized the books on my bookshelf.  If this is something I did on a daily basis, I'd probably start to be worried.  In many ways, this is mindless work for me that helps me feel like I accomplished something, without exerting too much effort. 

I think my sister describes this well in her blog. http://cluffamily.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html

Baby math

2 self-employed parents + 0 maternity insurance coverage = 1 expensive pregnancy
2 self-employed parents + 1 recession = 0 new houses

1 baby due mid-March + 1 CPA mom = 1 pregnant woman in denial
4th kid on the way + 1 kids bedroom = -1 home office

Nonetheless: 2 parents + 4 kids = 1 happy family!

Oops

Oops.  Apparently his diaper was fairly wet and needed to be changed, because it fell right off through the shorts. 

Swinging Monkeys

Folding laundry is a fun time in my family.  Weird, huh? I always hear people complain about laundry, but I guess I don't have enough kids yet or big enough kids yet that it is overwhelming for me. Or maybe I just don't wash things enough!  I do one load a day 3 or 4 times a week.  (Not counting those small quick loads where someone has leaked onto their clothes and they need to go right into the wash). Doing it this way, putting a load in just becomes part of my morning routine and it never gets overwhelming. 

In the late afternoon, in that time period before I need to start getting dinner ready and when the kids are starting to get tired, we all go upstairs with a basket of clean laundry to Mom & Dad's bedroom.  I dump the clothes on the bed, and the kids all climb onto the bed with all the clothes. (Note: I rarely buy clothing that needs to be ironed.) They run around on and jump off the bed while we do the little rhyme of "Five little monkeys swinging in a tree, teasing Mr. Crocodile".  I pretend to be Mr. Crocodile and "snap" them off the bed in a hug.  It's so much fun, that it makes folding laundry (which comes after the rhyme, while they're jumping off the bed onto the pillows on the floor) so much more bearable.  They even ask if they can go to Swinging Monkeys. Granted, they're not folding all the laundry for me, but they see me doing it, and the older ones will try to find their clothes in the pile and even attempt folding them all by themselves.  I keep hoping also that this is one of those things that if I don't make it seem like a horrible chore to do, they'll be more willing to help with it or do it themselves as they get older.  More of the "spoonful of sugar" helping the medicine go down, I guess!

And the answer is...read a book.

I've found that the answer to many problems with my children is "read a book".  If my children are fighting, I'll say, "Why don't we read some books." If we have time before bedtime but need to keep things calm, "Let's get our library books out." If we're waiting for dinner or lunch to be ready, "Let's read some books until the timer goes off." If I'm too tired to do anything that requires any effort, "Why don't you bring me a book to read." Even if one of them says they don't want to read a book, if I start reading aloud, they wander in and start listening.

I really believe that reading is the answer to a lot of problems.  Obviously there are educational benefits for my children if I read to them, but it's also just a lot of fun.  We go to the library every week and get new books, and it's like buying new toys for my children.  Sometimes we do get some of the same books over and over, but usually I know I only have to read a book over and over for a week.  (This is especially comforting for some of the really poorly written or annoying children's books out there).

I used to limit the number of books to 2 or 3 for each child each time we went, but I decided I'd rather have them get 6 or 7 and read through them and decide whether it's a book they like or not.  Thank goodness for the receipts the library prints that list all the books you have checked out.  And thank goodness for the library.  They've saved me thousands of dollars and lots of tears.