2010 – Page 3 – a hippie with a minivan

My Khéna is 4…

4 years ago today I my little boy was born unassisted in our living room. My biggest baby and my easiest labour.

Today he turned 4.

His favourite food is Mayonaise with cheese.. he loves Sushi and Pizza, burgers and poutine. He won’t even try nut butters or citrus.

He love cars and trucks, and planes and helicopters an anything that has and engine. He still runs to the window each time the Garbage truck comes…

He is a charmer, he is sensitive, he is expressive, he is independant, he is handsome, he is funny, he is smart, he is cuddly , he is boisterous, and he is just happy…

He loves to blow kisses and give the biggest hugs…

My roley-poley baby has grown into an amazing little man.

10 months…

She is sweet… she is sensitive… she get cold easily… she is busy at discovering…

she is beautiful…

she loves to be part of the gang…

She is 10 months old today…

Not yet….

I can’t say that she is walking…

but I don’t think it will be long..

Re-post: my favourite parenting books…

After a comment was posted last night asking for book recommendations I thought it would be a great time to do a repost of my favourites.

I would guess that many of you already know and love these books but if you don’t, and you have kids, or have kids around you, you need to read them..

The difference between these books and mainstream parenting books are that these are not all “how to” books… they are not books meant to give quick fixes while putting parents into an “us against them” frame of mind with children. They are not all-in-one manuals and instead all compliment each other. These books will change the way you think about children, will help you communicate with your children and will give the tools to recognize that “bad behaviour” is often a symptom of an underlying need that is not being met.

Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason: this book points out what is wrong with the system of rewards and punishments. Kohn focuses on parenting with unconditional love and respect and giving children the chance to make their own decisions.

Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More: This might be a bit more geared toward the older child, but it is a great book to read while children are still young. Neufeld and Mate talk about how society has been putting an emphasis on opportunities to socialize and as a result children are forming attachments to their peers. They point out that attachment doesn’t stop in infancy and it is important to keep our attachment to our children, to be a strong and positive primary role-model until they are able to stand on their own as an adult….

The Continuum Concept: In Search Of Happiness Lost
: Jean Liedloff spent 2 1/2 years in the south american jungle and this is her account. The focus here is to be a very present parent by always having your baby with you but at the same time being very passive and not child-centered.

Playful Parenting: As a play-therapist Cohen shows you how to communicate through play. The book focuses on the importance of attachment in infancy and all the way through the teen years, and goes through all the problems of rewards and punishments, and permissive and over-authoritarian parenting.

Child Honouring: How to Turn This World Around: This was written by Raffi, yes, “Baby Beluga” Raffi. Read his Covenant for Honouring Children.

Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane): This is not a parenting book per say, but it is a great read. This book gives you the tools to deal with fears we have as a parent and how to teach kids to be safe, without being over-protective. Listen to your intuition.

More Cleaning and Organization…

With my post the other day about toy clutter and clutter in general, I wonder what routines other parents (and non-parents) have.

There are way too many times that the weekends are for cleaning and we don’t have much time to do family stuff or get beyond the normal housework. I have never liked to clean and used to have a lot of trouble letting go of stuff. When I finally decided to make a change, and started to get rid of clutter I realized how much easier it was to take care of the house and how much better I felt.

I used to have a great routine at keeping on top of things but things happened, pregnancy, change of routine etc and that routine went out the window and the house became messy again. Of course, the more messy the house is, the less motivated I become and the cycle continues…

Now I am getting back into a routine…

I never got into Flylady (she lost me at wearing shoes in the house… to me that is a great insult) but one thing that I do think helps in keeping up a good routine is for the sink to be clean. When the sink is clean, the rest of the kitchen naturally follows. I hate to get the sink dirty again so I keep on top of things and the more I do so, the less daunting the task becomes and it only takes a few minutes to get things back in order. Because the kitchen is so central to the home, when that is done it feels easier to do the rest and it too naturally follows. Then I have time to do some of the “extras”…

Having kids in the house all the time of course can make thing harder because mess gets created often faster then it can be cleaned up. But they are also a great help and when they work together it goes quite quickly. We don’t do “chores” per say, but, everyday the kids have the job of cleaning up the stuff on the floor, and I follow behind with the broom, sweeper or mop. After eating, they put their dishes away and then all I need to do is clean up the table. I also ask them to help clean off the counters, put things back where they belong etc. I have also been asking them to head downstairs before supper and clean up the playroom/their room before we eat. I don’t see these things as “chores” and they don’t see the as chores… it is just part of being a family and having so many people live together.

Though I don’t put housework above the family, I do realize that when the housework is done, we are more inclined to just do stuff together. I also feel that when it is all done there is just less choas in general (or maybe I am just more patient) and that makes things just run more smoothly.

It takes time and effort to keep a routine in place but I really think that it is worth it…

What is your routine? How do you get it all done? Do your kids help out? Have chores? I want to know!