Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Family Village Homeschooling Camping


On Saturday we stopped in for a bit of camping with our Family Village homeschooling group. We wanted to stay longer but we had a wedding reception to head over to.
They had a lot of fun. It reinforced how much I want to move out into the wilderness. It was so peaceful and natural. I would love to go camping overnight but we may wait until next yr for that.

You know how they say to never wake a sleeping baby? Well I put Reagan down to play on the floor while I was with Cohen. Minutes later...Voila! Sometimes she can be hard to get to sleep. She gets irritable and fussy when tired. I didn't wake her until I put Cohen to bed. I then gently moved her onto the couch.

Fashion Design

Amelie and Ricky wanted to decorate their clothes. We let their creativity soar.
Ricky - skirt
Amelie - pants

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Learning and Games

Look at your children. Really. Look at them and watch them throughout the day. I cannot believe how much they learn and WANT to learn. Take today for instance. This morning Amelie was playing with a game with different shapes. Then she took out this Dora Slides and Ladders. Her and I played a game and then Cohen and Amelie played with the players. When that was finished we read a book about different animals. Amelie chose kangaroos and spiders. Upon seeing how big a tarantula can be we decided to look it up with the tape measure. I should mention that Ron and Ricky went on a date to the chiropractor and then grocery shopping. Reagan was taking a nice long nap. Then Ron and the kids went and played in the pool for a couple of hours. I got to stay inside because Reagan had had enough and wanted her second nap. They are now stopping to eat and then I am going with Amelie and Ricky to the library to pick out some books and photocopy some lessons. We are then going for some ice-cream (Shhh) and then it will be bedtime. If I was not noticing all of those learning opportunities I would be worrying about how much they *aren't* learning. Hmmm. Do they actually learn on their own?

Monday, July 14, 2008

The Kiddo's

I wanted to get a picture of all of our children together. I guess I could have laid down beside them for a belly shot but I guess 4 is enough for now. Haha.
Other than constantly smacking mosquito's off of all of them it was cute and fun. I love having a big family. It warms my heart.
We had Cohen's speech therapy follow up appt today. He is right on track now. We just have to work on sharing! What 2yo do you know who loves to share??
We have had a great summer so far. Not much teaching but a whole lotta learning. The best way!

Friday, July 11, 2008

Updates

Well Roo had her appt. We were worried about the vax issue considering we heard the ped was very pro vax and forceful about it. She had no problem with us naturally vaccinating which was a relief. We weren't there for that reason and it was refreshing to only talk about the subject at hand.
On to more important issues. We had a choice between a head x-ray and MRI or a CT scan. We chose the x-ray and MRI because of the amount of radiation with a CT scan. Her head x-ray results should be in any day now. Her MRI will be booked within the next month or so. The ped thinks her head is probably right on schedule but because of her slow weight gain it may seem larger. We'll see.
We have her on a special diet. The ped suggested putting butter in all of her food as well as cream. I don't want that junk in my baby. So we are giving her cream but using olive oil and flax seed meal in her food. She will be eating a lot of chick peas and avocado. To be honest I don't think this will help. She has gained 6.5lbs even though she has been eating normally. We went for blood work for her and we will get results for that as well soon.
*funny story*
When we went for blood work the lab technician didn't even want me to be by her head. She said to stand at the end and hold her legs down. She obviously doesn't know this mama bear! Just before she got the needle I jumped up on the table and laid down next to her and stroked her head. The lab technician was surprised needless to say. Haha! I told her to just be happy I didn't pop my boob in her mouth. Take that!!

I went to my first midwife appt on Tues. Everything is going fine. I really liked how they gave me choices. Every pregnant mother should be given choices on her own care. I feel I have more control over my pregnancy and birth (as it should be) We are going for a hospital birth but are hoping for a more natural approach.

Today Ricky took out the abacus and was counting and adding on her own. It is so good to see her loving it. She realized pretty quickly that there were ten beats on every line. She surprises me with the things she knows that were not actually taught.

Cohen has his follow up appt with his speech therapist. He has made excellent progress. I think we need a few more tools to get him to string sentences together.

One thing lately that I have noticed is the compassion my children have. If I get upset with one of them the others are very quick to comfort them. They run up and rub their backs and tell them it is ok. It warms my heart to see. It shows me that they have learned from Ron and I how to be compassionate. I am proud to be their mom.

Monday, July 7, 2008

A Conscience

Amelie was sitting at the table the other day. Out of the blue she told me she has been having nightmares. I asked her what they were about. She was at the neighbour's house last wk and knocked over the little boy's bike. He got in trouble from his dad and Amelie didn't say anything. I asked why she didn't say anything. She was afraid that the dad would get mad at her. So for over a wk she has been carrying this with her. We walked over yesterday and told the dad. Amelie didn't speak and hid behind me but she learned that we should do the right thing and if feels so good afterwards. It feels good that she came to me and it was bothering her after this long. We must be doing something right :)
I bought some books at my homeschooling meeting last night for the kids. They don't know this yet. I am going to break them out soon. They love getting new books. Me too!