We're very lucky.
Jack is the sort of child
we all assume we'll have
when we decide to have children,
and the sort of child
less experienced parents
congratulate themselves for.January and February 2004
March and April 2004
May and June 2004
July and August 2004
September and October 2004
November and December 2004
Blogs we read:
Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2006 - 4:20 P.M.
Time
Jack has gotten to the stage of life where he is developing his first glimmer of understanding about time.
It started with his asking every morning whether I was staying home today and progressed to his �what day is it�. In this case he wasn�t looking for Monday or Tuesday, but rather, �Playgroup� day� or �John� day. He had begun to realize that some events were repeating regularly and he wanted to know what was going to happen when.
When it dawned on me that he wasn�t just asking questions, he was actually trying to understand the rhythms of his life, we got a calendar with room to write events for each day. I write in the regular events of his life, and then we started putting a gold star on each day as it passed. Occasionally, I write in a special event, too. Since Jack can read pretty well now, he likes to announce to everyone what today is. I have mentioned the names of the days of the week to him, but so far that doesn�t seem to be registering. For Jack, it is enough that this is playgroup day and it�s three days until John comes to visit.
Now that we have been keeping a calendar for a month or so, he has started to ask us �What time is it�. It�s time to find a way to talk about the hours of the day, but that�s not something we can do once a day and so it�s harder to find a solution. We have a wind up clock � that�s probably where we�ll start once day soon.
Red light, green light �
Someone asked someone on one of my parenting lists (Arbor Parents) about nutrition books for little kids � I missed most of the conversation, since lists each go into their own folders and I haven�t had time to go and catch up lately � but the list was only copied on one message, so it ended up in my in box � and it recommended a book that sounded pretty good! So off I went to Amazon�
The recommended book was �Good Enough to Eat: A Kid's Guide to Food and Nutrition� by Lizzy Rockwell. I ordered it, and it�s pretty good, but a bit beyond Jack just yet. Excellent information, but too much detail for my little scientist. I think it�s actually aimed at five year olds.
Fortunately, I also ordered �Eat Healthy, Feel Great� by William and Martha Sears. That one was spot on for Jack � it�s simple, but not simplistic. It gives various level of detail for different moods, as most of Jack�s favorite books do. (Larger text that flows well for a quick read, and then smaller text to add lots more detail when that�s what we�re in the mood for.)
The first part that Jack has latched onto was the idea of �green light foods�, �yellow light foods�, and �red light foods�. He is very familiar with traffic lights, and so the analogy struck him immediately. He�s still sorting out the details � I think he�s confused by the page about food additives and he was horrified to find his beloved �chips� (French fries) on the red light list -- but most of his favorite foods are on the green light list, which he thinks is very cool. The book comes with a poster, which we have posted on the refrigerator so Jack can let us know where the food we�re making belongs.
Some of my vegan friends may be dismayed to find animal foods given full standing, but the Sears have a thoroughly modern approach so plant based healthy fats and proteins are right up there.
Even better, there is a comment on a red light foods page that says that some families have red light foods that may be green or yellow for other families, giving an opening to discuss food allergies and vegetarian concerns.
Three is pretty young to really �get it� about food, so I expect it will be a long time before it really starts to make a lot of sense to Jack. I would expect he�ll be five or six at least before he can tell me whether a food that isn�t listed in the book is a green light food or a red light food. That�s OK. He has the idea now that some foods are better than others and that�s plenty for three.
I love living in the country
Well, autumn has brought another Box Elder Beetle infestation.
We knew to expect it, and they�re harmless, so I am learning to live with it, but I was just horrified when I realized after Karen left that the guest room seems to have the worst infestation in the house! Ouch! I�ll have to figure out what to do about that �
At least we did know to stop using the door they favour as soon as they started to swarm, so we�ve kept the infestation outdoors for the most part.
But on the bright side, living in the country has been so entertaining!
I bought some dried, multi-coloured corn to hang on the front door to celebrate autumn. I never figured out a way to hang it, so I just put it on a table by the door�
A few days later, I saw it on the floor of the porch with serious amounts of corn missing! Every time I picked it up, it ended up on the floor again within a few hours. Mysterious! (But I had a hunch and was really pretty amused.)
Several days later, Karen spotted a squirrel knocking the corn off the table and then chowing down. She had never seen a squirrel in action before, and Rod reports that she was highly entertained. Squirrels are nature�s clowns, so I can imagine.
Then, this morning, Jack and I watched a mouse have her turn at the corn � it was so much fun! Of course, Grace assured us that should the varmint try to get in, she would find herself made into a tasty snack in short order.
Of course, that our furry neighbors are making themselves right at home on and under the house could be a bit of a problem � so I am planning to get a bunch of the produce they sell in huge lots for deer hunters and spread it out in the bag 40 to try to make that at least as attractive as the house is. It also means we have to be very careful not to leave anything out if we don�t intend to share it, and not to let the critters into the house or garage by being careless.
I really enjoy country living. Truly.
Magazines
I mentioned a while back that I was looking for a magazine for Jack. I did a lot of hemming and hawing and trying to decide � and then my friend, Terri, loaned Jack a couple of issues of Lady Bug. Jack loved them�and even I, who am awfully hard to please, was very impressed. The next day, I subscribed to Lady Bug for Jack.
Jack got his first issue a few days ago � he happened to have joined me to get the mail that day, and he thought that it was VERY exciting to get a magazine just for him! He made us read it to him a dozen times that evening!
Jack had been begging to take a dance class for weeks, and this issue had a story about a child who thought she needed new dance shoes and her dad said she didn�t need new shoes, she just had feet that needed to dance. Jack thought that was immensely insightful and clever and now he alternates asking to take a dance class (just not the one he tried) and just telling us that his feet need to dance!
