In our church, my husband and I currently have the difficult responsibility of teaching the 3 year olds.  They are adorable and sweet but they are a handful.  We spend a lot of lesson time playing games, singing songs and doing wiggle activities.  We try to make these activities correspond with the lesson, but after a while, our only option is “Ring Around the Rosies,” and it’s quite difficult to tie that into learning about prayer.

Most often, our best efforts go entirely unnoticed by our tiny pupils whose attentions spans make goldfish look like Memory Olympians.

Yesterday, we were teaching the story of Daniel in the lion’s den.  You know, the story where Daniel prays to God, which is against the law at the time, gets thrown into a lion’s den and miraculously is not eaten when angels come and shut the lions’ mouths.  He and the king also pray for his safety.  That is supposed to be the point of the story.

To make the story more interesting and hopefully stick with the little dears, we showed a picture and then helped them act it out.

“Who wants to be Daniel?”

“ME,” said Child #1.

“OK.  Pretend like you’re praying.”

“I want to be a dinosaur.”

“Ok.  Daniel Dinosaur was praying and some bad people took him to jail for it.  Who wants to be the king?”

“ME,” said Child #2.

“Ok.  So pretend to be sad that Daniel…”

“I’m a dinosaur,” we were quickly reminded by Child #1.

“…that Daniel Dinosaur is getting in trouble.”

“I want to be a chicken,” stated Child #2.

“Ok.  The chicken king was sad and he prayed that Daniel…”

“I’m a dinosaur,” came the reminder from Child #1.

“…that Daniel Dinosaur would be safe in the lion’s den.  Who wants to be the lion?”

“ME,” said Child #3.

“Ok.  Roar like a lion.”

“Roar!” from Child #1.
“Roar!” from Child #2.
“Roar!” from Child #3.

“Ok.  So do you think that Daniel was scared?”

“I’m a dinosaur,” said Child #1.

“Do you think that Daniel Dinosaur was scared?”

“I want to be a frog,” said Child #3, our supposed lion, who then promptly began hopping around the room.

Child #1 began stomping and roaring like a dinosaur and Child #2 began flapping and clucking like a chicken.

So, to sum up: Daniel the Dinosaur was caught praying, was sentenced to a night in the lion’s den, much to the sadness of the Chicken King.  We’re not sure why the lions didn’t eat him because we never got that far in the story, but one of the lions did turn into a hopping frog.

And then they all played “Ring Around the Rosies.”

Our 3 year old has no concept of money, so naturally we think it’s the perfect time to start giving her an allowance.  Really, though, we would rather work with a blank slate so we can teach it right.  (Assuming we actually know how to teach it right.)

Our allowance for our pre-schooler plan is slightly ambitious.  There are a lot of categories involved and it may end up being too much, but we need to start somewhere!

She gets $1.00 a week, separated out into ten dimes.

1. We believe in paying a 10% tithing and that is a principle we want to teach to our children. Putting one dime in a jar is an easy way for her to start to understand 10%.  START to understand.  We don’t expect her to get this for a long time, but if the habit is always there, the understanding will come later.

2. One dime goes into savings for college.

3. One dime goes into lifetime savings- retirement. Seriously.  I know this is a huge concept to teach and it’s really early to think about this, but can you imagine if you had put 10% of your money away since you were 3 years old?  She really has no idea what she’s saving for, but again, the habit is being made.  It’s also insurance for us.  She’ll be loaded by the time she retires, so she can take care of us.

4. One dime goes into charity.  I got this idea from a magazine.  At the end of the year, she will choose a charity and we will match her donation.  We did this at Christmas time with a charity gift from my grandparents.  I showed her images of the people or animals that would be helped at 3 different charities and she was allowed to choose one.  She chose to give the money to the animal shelter, so we drove over there and she proudly handed her bill to the administrative people.  They made such a fuss over her that she was positively beaming when we left.  It was a great experience for her.

5. The rest goes into fun. So she puts 60 cents into her fun fund each week.  She is a peculiar girl and doesn’t ask for toys or candy.  We like this about her.  We don’t want to push her towards materialism, and so we explained to her that when she has enough money, she can choose to go out to ice cream or a movie with Daddy.  She is thrilled at that and can’t wait.  As she gets older and starts realizing that she actually wants things, we will explain that she will need to use her fun money to purchase many of those things on her own.  But we just don’t see the point in planting materialistic ideas in her head if they aren’t already there.

I do realize this is a lot to teach a 3 year old.  I really don’t expect her to grasp the whole picture, but I think it will slowly sink in as time goes on.  Eventually, we want to teach her how to invest her savings, how to work for money and other things.  We think that by starting with this basic concept of saving, we’ll open the doors for many teaching moments and it will even force us to become better stewards of our own money.

How do you do allowance with your kids?  What works and what doesn’t work for you?

We went to the pool last Saturday.  Aside from the fact that there were 10 dozen too many people there (oh, to have our very own pool…), we had a fabulous time as a family.

We spent most of our time on the pool’s waterslide.  Ryan told me I exit the slide gracefully, like a Disney princess.  So the next time down, I channeled my inner Disney princess, threw my hands in the air and sang some “la-la-las” without even getting my head wet.  He didn’t notice.  But other people did.  So I didn’t do it again. 

After each successful exit from the swirly wirly vortex, Lydia would shout, “Wanna go again!”  Even though the line kept getting longer and longer, even though the slide kept getting more and more mundane, and even though the steps up to the top seemed to reach higher and higher, we kept going. 

And at the top of the slide one time, while waiting behind little termites (aka unsupervised children) who had cut in front of us, Ryan turned to me and said, “I had no idea a family would bring this much joy.”

And truthfully, I didn’t either.

We all know grandparents love getting cards from toddler grandchildren with scribbles and special stickers on them.  Even though toddlers don’t know what they’re doing, it’s still fun to receive a homemade card with the “signature” of that cute two year old.

Lydia loves scribbling away while chattering about Grandma Diamond or Grandma and Grandpa Brown.  She is even at a stage where she adamantly chooses which card goes to which grandparent.  Somehow, each scribble has meaning to her.

Until now, scribbles, stickers and glued on shapes have been the means of making cards for our family members. 

But we’ve come across an even cuter way to do personalized toddler cards.

This is a Valentine Lydia received from her almost 2 year old friend, Jack.

Making a card this way serves so many purposes.

1. You can see that all the letters of her name are used in the card, so it was made personally for Lydia. 

2. You can also see that it was made personally by little Jack because of the way the letters and hearts are arranged.

3. Jack got a lesson in letters and shapes while he applied his stickers.

4. Lydia loves picking out the letters of her name while she carries the card around the house. 

It’s cute, it’s creative, it’s personal, and it inspires learning.  It’s the perfect way for a toddler to make a card!

I’ve come to a realization.  I don’t know how to play with my daughter. 

I’m a super fun mom when it comes to planning outings.  We go out nearly every day to do something new.  We’ve picked berries, explored historic sites, visited museums and libraries, attended more festivals than I can count, tried out bazaars and cultural events, watched parades, wandered around cemeteries, played in nearly every water feature in Salt Lake City, and gone on oodles of nature walks.

But as the temperatures keep dipping, my creativity (and enthusiasm) for outings is sinking as well.  So we’re spending more time in the house.

Not knowing what else to do, I keep finding myself doing chores and trying to involve the Little Dear.  Since she’s 2, this actually works.  She loves to dust with me or help me push the vacuum.

But, really?  Chores?  That’s all I can come up with?

So I’m making a decree.  I’m putting a ban on chores (I know- it’s going to be SO hard to keep myself away from the broom).

I am forcing myself to get creative.  Today, I think we’ll construct a tent in the living room where we’ll read, watch movies, craft and maybe even play imaginary games with toys.  Wish me luck.  I don’t know what I’m doing.

Every Halloween season, I get a certain urge to go to a cemetery.  It’s kind of similar to the urge I get at Christmas time when I just itch to get to a mall.  It goes along with the season, but it’s a little morbid.

It’s not that I want to be spooked or that I harbor fantasies of the undead rising from their grave.  It’s just the season.  There’s something almost romantic (do you recognize the Anne of Avonlea reference?) about walking around a cemetery in the fall with all the colorful leaves scattering around.

Normally, I push the desire aside because it just seems…well…creepy.

But this year, I thought I’d make an educational field-trip of it.  I come from Mormon pioneer heritage, and since I live in Utah, there are plenty of ancestors’ graves to visit.

The Little Dear and I traveled to the oldest cemetery in Salt Lake (I’m pulling that statistic from somewhere in my memory- it may or may not be true).

We found the graves of two multiple great grandfathers and a multiple great grandmother.

Benjamin Brown and Sarah Mumford Brown are my great great great grandparents.  They were the first ancestors on my father’s side to join the Mormon church.  Benjamin suffered great persecution for his beliefs, even being beaten almost to death by a mob.  In fact, the only reason he wasn’t killed is because he faked dead, sufficiently satisfying the blood thirsty desires of the hateful mob.  Benjamin and Sarah made the trek from Illinois to Utah along with the other Mormon pioneers.

Homer Brown was his son.  He trekked to Utah as well, but as a younger boy.  He married my great great grandmother, Hannah, in Utah.  She is buried in Idaho.

There’s something very reverent about visiting your ancestors’ graves.  Even Lydia picked up on it.

I’m sure she didn’t understand the meaning of the cemetery, but I do believe she understood the feeling.  As I told her that these were her grandpas, she became quiet and…well…reverent.  Which is saying something, considering she’s under 2.

Contrary to my fantasies, there weren’t very many romantical leaves swirling around on our Halloween season trip to the cemetery.  But the increased connection to ancestors made the trip quite worth it.

We went on a fieldtrip to this lovely place with some neighborhood kids and moms the other day.

Can you see why I’ve decided to fall head over heels for Utah?

This lake has a nice boardwalk around it.  I thought that would be a perfect way to enjoy nature without a hassle (nobody would get dirty so cleanup would be non-existent).

Lydia loved the boardwalk.

She loved the rocks, trees, and flowers (although, she wouldn’t sit still long enough for my inferior camera’s slow shutter speed to capture an image of that love).

She was staying amazingly clean.  We were having a great time.

See that sweater?

Isn’t it adorable?  Hand made, by my wonderful mother-in-law.  I love it.  A lot. 

And apparently, Lydia loves it more than life itself.

As we were nearing the end of our “hike,” Lydia fell backwards into the shallow marsh.  (Thank goodness it happened in the marsh, and not the deep lake).  I scooped her out while she cried and screamed.  I removed her soaking, muddy sweater so she could dry off.  I held her face close to my face and whispered soothing words while I walked away from the offending marsh.

The screaming continued for a quarter mile.  This is uncharacteristic behavior for Lydia, so I began to worry that maybe she had seriously hurt herself.

Until she was able to compose herself enough to belt out a long, loud, pleading, sobbing, “SWEATERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”

Oh. 

I put the sweater back on and the crying ceased.

Grandma Diane, you better never stop making sweaters for this girl.

Just got back from a whilrwind 4 day trip of milestones and fun.

I got to spend time with my bestest high school friends who I don’t see nearly enough…

(I’m that tall one in the back trying to make myself look shorter- maybe I should have left the 3 inch heels at home if that was my goal.)

…in celebration of this fabulous girl’s big day.

Lydia finally got her mullet cut off (more pictures to come)

and wore floaties for the first time

She got to raid Grandma and Grandpa’s toy closet.

And I got to finally go to a place that really has a sign that reads

And means it!

Tell you all about it once I unpack, unwind, and uncover the mysteries of taking care of speeding tickets from another state.  Sigh.  If you would like to donate to the “Rebecca’s ill-timed drive into a speed trap fund,” feel free to contact me!  =)

This morning, as I was hunting for my shoes, I began to question their whereabouts out loud to nobody in particular.  The little dear, however, upon hearing my wondering expression, set about on a search for my shoes.

She found them both in record time (probably because she had hidden them herself).  What I found exciting about this little incident, however, is that she understood what it means to search for a specific thing- an understanding she previously has not demonstrated (perhaps as a way to get out of helping me?). 

But you know what this means: Time for treasure hunts!  I’m miserable at playing “pretend,” but my Treasure Hunting skills are going to knock the socks off my almost 2 year old. 

We decided to make her first organized treasure hunt educational, by “hiding” the letters of her name.  We placed the letters around the room in plain sight.

On the piano bench, the couch, the coffee table, even the floor.  (I know- we like to make things difficult).

We then let her loose with the instruction: “Find the letters!”  Before we had even finished the oh-so-lengthy instruction, she had gathered all the letters together.  Note to self: do next treasure hunt in a bigger area to use up more time.

We then helped her arrange the letters to spell her name.  Every letter is “A,” according to Lydia.

Now it’s time for Easter egg hunts!  Fortunately, we haven’t taught her the order of holidays yet, and she’ll have no idea she’s doing springtime activities as fall holidays approach!