Fun with Learning: What Works for This Mom of Two Under Two

Levi began recognizing some of his colors several months ago.  So, as he showed interest I began having slightly structured learning time. (Think: Sitting down with his colorful blocks and teaching him to recognize one color at a time.) He loved it and, so far, can't get enough of "school." After breakfast he usually beats me to the punch and stands by our "school" cabinets, pointing and saying, "Levi's...School...Shapes...ABCBs!"
Each day Most days we work on:

• Color Recognition: We review colors in a variety of ways. Sometimes using our Peter Rabbit book or Little People farm book. Sometimes we use the colored blocks I mentioned. But doing too much color naming was getting boring (for Levi and me). Some interactive color recognition activities Levi enjoys are his Color Gear Caterpillar, and a clothes pin/flash card match up. For the clothes pin game, I used flash cards I purchased at Wal-Mart, and colored the ends of some clothes pins to match. Levi chose a colored clothes pin, found the matching flash card, and clipped it on. This is a great fine motor activity as well.

He successfully matched up all of the colors!

• Number Recognition/Counting: Levi really enjoys counting the numbers on the calendar. I help him point to each number, up to ten, and he counts as we point. This seems to be working well because he is beginning to recognize the number 3. We also count using his 1-10 nesting boxes and sometimes count items on our flash cards, in our Little People farm book, or our Peter Rabbit book.  And usually at least once a week, we count objects that he can step/jump on...hangers are a favorite! Sometimes we work counting into our day in other practical ways if there are many other things to accomplish throughout the house. For example, today, I gave him some "Gummies" for a snack and before he ate them we counted how many there were.

• Shape Recognition: This is a BIG hit right now! I cut out different shapes, each has a small, medium, and large size, and each group of shapes is the same color. (The small, medium and large circles are all blue, etc.) I chose to laminate mine because of wear and tear. When he masters recognition of a shape I add it to the ones he has already mastered and scatter them all on the floor. I give the following commands (not all at once;) - "Jump on the big circle. Jump on the medium square. Jump on something yellow. Jump on the little star." We also use this as a "practicing obedience" game. He sometimes will stack the shapes from largest to smallest and soon we will begin sorting the shapes by size...all of the big shapes in one stack, all medium shapes in another, and all small shapes in another. The Little People farm book is also useful for shape recognition. The page with shapes is set at a farmers market. He finds a shape-item (for example, the watermelon is an oval) and then lifts the flap to see the shape drawn beneath the item. He enjoys shape puzzles of all sorts and loves to point out shapes we incounter each day (the oven looks like a square).

• ABC's, recognizing one at a time for however many days/weeks it takes, making sure that as we go he still remembers the preceding letters. Nana gave Levi a book called, "A is for Apple," which has grooved letters that are perfect for tracing. We also love the book, "Corduroy's Alphabet Hunt." On each page we are asked to help Corduroy find items and then say what letter each item begins with. In the back there are textured flash cards that we use to practice recognizing the letters we have learned. Sometimes we flip through the rest of our flash cards, naming the letter and sound of each, and some days we just sing alphabet songs.

• Etiquette: Numerous times a day we work on etiquette. After all, love is not rude, but kind, and etiquette is a way to teach children how to consider others before themselves. I keep this posted on my refrigerator.
• Little Man Jobs: Each day, Levi is expected to put his toys where they belong, put napkins on the tables before meals, throw away his diapers (and sometimes Lyla's) in the Diaper Champ, throw away his trash, and put away the dish cloths and towels. We keep this posted as a reminder and he sometimes puts stickers by his jobs to check them off.  He also helps me switch the laundry over and put non-breakable dishes away. When Daddy grills it is Levi's job to hand him what he needs. Sometimes he "helps" sweep the floor, using his little broom.

Little Man Jobs Checklist

• Scripture: This is by far the most important part of our learning because it is only from the Bible that we can gain true knowledge and wisdom. Each time we move on to a new letter, we memorize a verse that begins with that letter. In addition to those scriptures, we daily review Colossians 3:20 and Ephesians 2:8. It is amazing to see how he memorizes the scriptures, as long as Mama is there to fill in the articles :)! We also love to listed to Seeds Family Worship CD's. You can listen online here. You can also find printables to go along with the songs here.

We use this book for A to Z scripture. Each verse accompanies a short story. Levi loves to "retell" the stories!

In addition to these basics, I like to do a fun, creative project at least every two weeks! (I know it doesn't seem like much but with a 20-month-old and a 3-month-old creative projects can take more time!) We also like to learn on the go, making learning a part of life. When we go for a walk, we talk about street safety, fast and slow, stop signs, birds, bunnies, and whatever else we see. I know this post is long, but believe me, nothing on this list is extremely time consuming. Remember I usually pick one activity per section per day. It's just what has been working for us! In September or October we may begin to do some thematic units as Levi nears the age of two, and as we incorporate other foods into Lyla's diet, meaning we'll have a bit more times between feedings.

Lyla enjoying some tummy time while Levi practices with colors!

I'd love to hear how you incorporate learning into your toddler's day! Any tips on fun activities to do with an infant would be welcome as well!!!

Encouragement for Homekeepers

"Home is the grandest of all institutions." ~Charles Hadden Spurgeon

"You are as much serving God in looking after your own children, and training them up in God's fear, and minding the house, and making your household a church for God, as you would be if you had been called to lead an army to battle for the Lord of hosts.

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9

"Thank God, O women for the quietude of your home, and that you are queen in it. Men come at eventide to the home; but all day long you are there, beautifying it, sanctifying it, adorning it, blessing it. Better be there than wear a queen's coronet. Better be there than carry the purse of a princess. It may be a very humble home. There may be no carpet on the floor. There may be no pictures on the wall. There may be no silks in the wardrobe; but, by your faith in God, and your cheerful demeanor, you may garniture that place with more splendor than the upholsterer's hand ever kindled." ~ T. DeWitt Talmage

 "The career of motherhood and homemaking is beyond value and needs no justification. It's importance is incalculable." - Katherine Short"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."- Psalm 19:14

Building Up My Marriage: Make Him Feel Special

Although Father's Day is long past,I still thought it would be a good time to explore the idea of making our husbands feel special. There are many ways we can do this and each husband may appreciate different ideas. So this is really about knowing your husband and using what you know to make your hubby happy. To get your creative juices flowing, these are a few ideas that I have put into practice:
Meet him at the door with his favorite drink.
Meet him at the door with a sensual kiss.
Set a reminder on his phone that says, "I love you, Babe!"
Wear clothing you know he finds attractive.
Leave him a note with a lipstick kiss.
Let him lead.
Pursue him ;)
Tell him how wonderful he is!
The following pictures capture what I did for my The Man of My Dreams on Father's Day but could easily be done any day of the year! So have fun, ladies... And however you let your husband know what he means to you, do it out of the love God has placed in your heart!

You are the best Dada ever because...

Building Up My Marriage: Submitting to My Husband

Ephesians 5:22-24 "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands."

I know I've taken about a month hiatus from posting on Building Up a Marriage, but with things beginning to settle down after the birth of our daughter, I think I'm ready to dig back in. Please feel free to catch up by reading posts 1 and 2 about building up a marriage. Remember in the first post of this series when I mentioned the strange looks we get when people learn of our views on submission? Well, today I'm going to try to tackle that subject.
In our culture, the word submission has become synonymous with the word subservient. But when we look at it biblically, we see that there is nothing about submission that makes us inferior, but instead that it displays imperishable beauty. God chooses women to display, in tangible terms, a key element of the Son's relationship to the Father, and the church's relationship to the Son, and to do this through biblical submission to our husbands.
1 Corinthians 11:3 says, "But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God." Now, nothing about Christ is inferior to the Father; Indeed, we can all agree that they are equal. Yet they have different roles. Time and time again, we see Jesus submit Himself to the Father's will, even to the point of death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8, Mark 14:36, Luke 22:27, John 6:38)
In Ephesians 5:22-24 we see that biblical submission in our marriage is also a picture of the wonderful relationship between Christ and the church. Just as the church submits in everything to Christ, we should submit to our husbands...in everything.
Christ's submission to the Father and the church's submission to Christ don't include lackadaisical attitudes, "door-mat" mentalities, or silent subservient positions. These examples of true biblical submission require radical action, through the attitude of love and servanthood, that makes a radical difference.
Let's get practical...What about those times when we know our husband is not making the best decision (assuming he's not sinning)? For example, I may have great, justifiable reasons for thinking...no, knowing, that our family would benefit much more from investing in a camper rather than pouring money into an old cabin in the middle of nowhere. We could visit different state and national parks, the kids could experience so much history, we could hike trails and go canoeing, we could have family worship around the campfire, pass out tracts in the campground, and the list goes on and on, convincing my heart that I am right and my husband is wrong.
So what do I do? Voice my opinion over and over, doing everything in my power to convince him that my idea is better? Or do I submit to my husband by the power of the love that God has placed in my heart for him, have a positive attitude about the fixer-upper, see it as a way to make memories with our family, an opportunity for glorifying God, try to catch my husband's vision through this? The latter option requires action. It is through this attitude that a wife can have a wonderful, loving impact on her husband and children. Because, whether we want it to or not, our attitude sets the tone for the whole family. A wife's attitude can turn a junky, old hunting cabin into a sweet family cottage, a delightful haven, full of fond memories, peaceful moments, and wondrous adventures.
But many times, I chose the first option: Convince myself of my husband's "faulty judgement," maybe convince myself that his motives are impure, and nag (or should I say "complain" since "nag" sounds sinful) him until I get my way, taking his role as the leader upon myself because "I know better than he does." So who really has the faulty judgement and impure motives: the husband with a vision or the wife who stomps her husband's vision into the dirt?
This may be a seemingly insignificant example, but in my experience it is in the small, daily encounters that I have the most difficulty submitting to my husband in love, while the "big" decisions usually require me to cling to a biblical perspective.
Oh wives, that we would see the joy that results from submitting to our husbands before we start with our constant dripping (Proverbs 27:15). Wifely submission is key to a biblically functioning marriage and becomes extra-crucial as children are added to the family. Submission (along with the other actions we'll discuss in this series) boils down to love and respect, considering our husband's desires before our own. When we have children, especially young children, who require much time and energy, it is this display of love and respect that shows our husbands where they rank in our hearts, even if our attention toward them can no longer be constantly undivided.
My self-challenge this week is to, by God's grace, be submissive to my husband in the little things, whether that's what we have for dinner, how we spend our Saturday, or what shirt he wants me to wear. I pray that I will be aware of my heart attitude and times that I'm not submitting to my husband's headship so I may quickly repent.
Submission really is a beautiful thing. I hope that through biblical submission, the Lord will use my marriage to reveal an aspect of a living Christ to a dieing world.

The Blessing of Birds



We found this bird craft from No Time for Flash Cards and
had a blast making it!

Before my husband leaves each morning, he puts our 18 month old in bed beside me, gives me a sweet kiss, and heads off work (or wuk, as Little Mister says). Then, around 7:00, Little Mister and I awake to Little Lady telling me that she's ready to nurse and the sound of the birds chirping in the trees in front of our house. While Little Mister sits in bed with me for the twenty-ish minutes that I nurse, we spend a lot of time listening to and talking about the birds: how they sound, what they use to build nests, how many eggs they may have, the food they will feed their babies, etc.  Since birds are such a hot topic in our house right now, I thought it might be fun to do some bird crafts! With the help of my sister, Brittney (Auntie Boota), we gathered supplies for a fun afternoon of bird crafting!

These tasty bird nests from Mama Jenn were super easy and fun
for this mama and her little one! (The only thing I would change would
be to use milk chocolate chips instead of simi-sweet chips, but
this is just a personal preference.)

Levi's favorite part was eating the "eggs"
or M&Ms out of the nests... notice the
blue lips...

And just for some added sweetness!

Something Beautiful: Lyla's Birth Story

     Around 1:30 in the morning on April 23rd, I woke up wondering if my water had broken or if my baby girl had strategically kicked me in the bladder, causing me to lose control as I slept. After calling the OB floor of the hospital (and learning from the nurse that there was no good way to distinguish ruptured membranes from bed wetting unless I was evaluated), my hubby and I packed a few last-minute items into our hospital bag, loaded our sleeping 17-month-old into the van, and headed 40 minutes south to our hospital. As we drove, my contractions began, tightening my abdomen every five minutes, then every three, and I was fairly certain that we would be meeting our little lady sometime within the next 24 hours. We met my mom (Nana) in the parking lot, transferred our big boy to her van, and I was wheeled to the delivery room.

Mommy loving on Lyla Rae

     To my relief, the test revealed that my water had, in fact, broken and labor was under way with my cervix dilated to two-and-a-half centimeters. I tried to rest, but the contractions intensified. I figured that this labor would reveal a similar timeline to my first, which lasted ten hours after I was given Pitocen, so I asked for an epidural and received it around 5:00 A.M. Partial relief came, however the pain continued to grip me in the lower right section of my abdomen. Anesthesiologist-number-two came in and administered more medication at 7:30, which caused my pain to cease along with any feeling left in my legs.
     At 8:00 my Obstetrician arrived to check my cervix. I was hoping to be dilated to five centimeters and planned on resting for the next several hours since contractions would no longer keep me awake. My doctor reminded the nurses that when I was fully dilated I had requested to "labor down" or allow the effects of the epidural to diminish before pushing. (I had requested this so I would be able to feel that I was actually pushing. With my first delivery, I was unable to feel if my pushes were effective. I think this was a contributing factor to my son getting slightly stuck in the birth canal, which required the use of a vacuum to assist me in pushing him out.) As he began to check my cervix, my doctor let out a little chuckle and said, "Speaking of which... You're fully dilated! Let's turn off that epidural."

My sweet babies, Levi and Lyla

     It took me some time to actually begin to gain feeling back. Around 9:30 my nurse instructed me to push through a few contractions as my husband helped me lift one of my legs and she lifted the other. These were "practice pushes" to check if my pushing would be effective. We made it through two contractions before I was asked to stop pushing while she called the doctor. The room then buzzed with familiar activity: Preparing the baby station, elevating my bed, my doctor scrubbing up. I felt as though it was just yesterday that I was in this same room, preparing to deliver my son. And here I was again, awaiting the arrival of my sweet baby girl, ready for the rush of excitement and love to flood over me.

Lyla's precious going-home outfit

     Finally, it was time to push. Contraction one: I pushed with all my might and the doctor showed my husband the top of our baby's head. Contraction two: I pushed with all my might and Hubby told me I was doing great and that our daughter was almost here. Contraction three: I pushed with all my might and Lyla Rae was screaming before her shoulders even emerged! I shocked that she had come so quickly (I was expecting another two-hour pushing marathon like I experienced with my son) and I was, of course, overwhelmed with love for this lovely little girl.

     Isn't it amazing that the Lord uses the process of something painful to reveal something so exceedingly beautiful! I am loving life as a mommy to my two, precious babies and a wife to the most wonderful husband and daddy in the world. I feel so undeserving of the blessings the Lord has lavished upon me and all I can do is give Him thanks and praise. What a wonderful Savior we serve, who gives us life, and life abundantly, in so many ways! "Marvelous are His works, and that my soul knows very well!"


Our car ride home

Bath Time!

Our little lady in her lovely room!



Sweet little smiles!

Big brother checking on baby sister!

Sweetness

Lyla Rae

Introducing our precious little lady...

Lyla Rae

 Monday, April 23, 2012

10:00 am

7 lbs. 7 oz.

20 inches

What a beautiful gift from God! His bountiful blessings have overwhelmed us! I'll be back to post Lyla's birth story in a few days.