Teaching Two

Emily has always been a Mama’s girl but lately it’s been a little ridiculous.  Tonight at dinner Chris tried to give her some more milk and she wouldn’t take it because she wanted mommy to give it to her.  Bedtime has been hard too.  She only wants me to read, sing, and pray to her.  I feel so bad for Chris because he loves spending that time with his baby too. 

Tonight, I was reading to Ashlyn and asked Chris to read to Emily.  She lost it!  Emily started screaming and telling Chris no.  It got bad and Chris had to discipline her.  After she calmed down he held her and rocked her.  As I was walking in her room to see if everything was okay, I saw Emily look up at her Daddy and say, “You forgive me Daddy?”  It was the sweetest thing and I almost started crying.  What a sweet little baby God has blessed up with!

If you don’t know what “moon mud” is then maybe you’ve heard of Flubber.  It’s kind-of like stretchy playdoh.  Anyway, my 4 year old brought some home that they made at school.  Her class had been talking about the Earth and space.  She was so excited to play with it and show her sister when she got home.  They ended up playing with it at the kitchen table for over an hour.  It was so neat to watch all that they created with it. 

I’ve always wanted to make it but never did.  I didn’t know it was so easy!  Here’s the recipe.

1 1/2 cups of cold water

16 oz. Elmer’s glue

1 cup of very hot water

2 Tbsp. Borax ( the laundry booster)

In a large bowl, pour cold water.  Add glue and mix well.  In a separate bowl, pour hot water.  Add Borax.  Next add the hot mixture with the cold mixture and knead immediately with your hands.  At first it will feel very messy but within seconds it will become a good consistency. 

This can be stored in a zip-loc bag for a couple of months.  This recipe makes a large batch, but you can cut it in half.  After it is made you can let your child color it with washable markers.  The colors will swirl together.  Playing with it has so many educational experiences.  Have fun!

I know I have posted about this before but I have a few more to add to the list.  Ashlyn loves playing on the computer and is able to do it independently.  I love this because I can either spend some one on one time with Emily or get stuff done around the house.  Sometimes I play with her especially on the websites that don’t read things to her.  These are her latest favorites.  It’s a nice break from noggin and pbskids.org  My favorite is still www.starfall.com  It is the best for teaching letters, sounds, and so much more.   Emily loves it!

www.peepandthebigwideworld.com

www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/fimbles/index.shtml

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/laac/menu.shtml

I don’t know what dinner time looks like in your family but here is a little glimpse of what it looks like at our house. 

Ashlyn spends the entire time talking about her day, when she woke up, what she made at school, and who she played with.  Emily tries to jump in the one way conversation by talking about absolutely nothing, and Chris and I inhale our food and are finished by the time the girls finish their first bite. 

Now I know that the dinner table is the place to sit down spend some quality time hanging out together and catching up.  But all I seem to do is rush through it and continually tell the girls to eat.  I am working on this and today Ashlyn came home from school with something that will help me slow down and really enjoy that time. 

It’s a paper cup full of simple questions that they made up at school.  You pass the cup around and take turns answering the question that you pull out of the cup.  We tried it tonight and had so much fun.  It was neat seeing Ashlyn and Emily really think back on their days to answer the questions.  I told her that after we answered her questions for a couple of nights that I would make up some more that we could do.   Here are some of the ones we talked about tonight.

• How did you help someone today?
• What did you see today that God created?
• What are two things you can thank God for today?
• What was the best part of your day today?