Thursday's Things to Do: Printable Actitivities

I know there are a lot of websites out there to easily google and find what you'd like, but I thought I'd share one I recently found:

PrintActivities.com (yes this is a link)

I'm REALLY liking it.  It has activities, puzzles, dot-to-dot pages, coloring pages,.... you get the idea.  And I love how easily it's catagorized by THEMES.  And of course it's all FREE, which I always love.  :) 

 

Here's a little taste....

 

Let's say you read the story "The Three Little Pigs" today ...why not have a little extra fun and follow it with a little piggie and wolf maze such as this....

Anyway, just thought I'd share...

MOMents

Yesterday as our family was sitting semi-reverently in church, my five-year-old son abruptly said, "What's that smell!?"  he leaned toward me, sniffed, then he backed away from  me and said loudly, "Mom, it's YOU!"  Yep, I actually wore perfume...it's been ages since I've done that.  And obviously he wasn't so impressed....  I'm pretty sure what others within ear-range were thinking.  Slightly embarrassing.  My husband whisper-chuckled.  I sighed.  My son had his nose turned up like he'd just smelled a skunk...at least until his sister stole his crayon box.  Ahhh....MOMents

~Me, the Blog Author, mother of Two

Wednesday's WORD: I Use to Know A LOT

I knew A LOT about marriage and motherhood. 

And then I got married and became a mother and learned that I don't know much.

I've been working on a major project: Organize Everything! 

I may or may not have jumped into a disaster.  You see, I've pulled out all the files from the filing cabinet, every box of papers, folders, notebooks, file boxes, and every pile of things in the house (including in drawers, closets, ...you get the idea).  Some things are recent, and others have been hidden on purpose since we got got engaged almost a decade ago when I had to quickly move out of my college apartment and in with my parents to save money for a couple months, and then there are the boxes of things my mom found in the back of her closet that are "mine".  I think she saved every picture I ever drew.  You see, when I say EVERYTHING, I'm really meaning everything.  Oh yeah, and I also have lots of printed photos from back in the day before digital cameras.  I took all these things into one room, (it use to be where my son read books and played with legos...those activities have migrated temporarily to a different area of the house), and I've banished anyone from that room until my project of overcoming my unorganizedness is conquered.  You see, I use to be quite unorganized.  I married an organized man.  I've been learning from him.  I'm glad.  But now those piles are DRIVING ME CRAZY and I want to get it ALL done.  Thrown away, or put somewhere useful.  I'm sick of the hidden but not forgotten boxes.  I'm tired of moving them each time we've moved (though we're probably in this home for a while since we bought it).  I'm wanting to DE-CLUTTER, SIMPLIFY, ORGANIZE.  You get the idea. 

So, what does this have to do with what I use to know?  It seems totally unrelated doesn't it.  But it's not.  You see, before getting married, and before having kids, and while I was in school getting my awesome possum degree, I kept a lot of things that would help me be the-most-awesome-rockin-mother-EVER!!!  And when I was in school getting my degree I learned tons of great stuff.  And then I worked for a university teaching people how to teach kids and coming up with lessons for preschoolers.... I have a lot of stuff and learned a lot and I have PAPERS to prove it.  As I've been going through things I've been reminded of all I use to know.  If only I could remember all of it each day.  If I did, I'm sure I'd never become impatient with my kids because I'd understand exactly what stage of development they're in and about how long it lasts, how to communicate with them without conflict, how to teach self sufficiency with a perfect balance of obedience, and I'd have creatively fun ideas galore coming out my ears for every minute of the day and would never hear my son say "I'm bored!".  But I guess it doesn't work that way.  Everything I learned didn't stick.  I'm human.  I get tired.  I forget.  I try to remember.  And experience is a completely different kind of knowledge than the knowledge from notes I wrote during lectures in college.

So, I think I'll be okay with not "knowing" as much as I use to.  I'm having the chance to experience what I didn't have before but dreamed about.  And experience is better.  Experience gives hugs, kisses, and a homemade cardboard-box-fishtank gift for Mother's Day.  It doesn't get better than this! 

Experience is a knowledge of the heart. 

Wednesday's Word

"DO SMALL THINGS

WITH GREAT LOVE."

~Mother Theresa

Tuesday's Tidbit: Crawling

When I was in college I remember reading an interesting study done somewhere about teenagers that had problems with math.  They had found out that many of those students who were struggling with math had never crawled as a baby.  They had skipped that step in development and had gone straight to walking.  They taught these teenagers to crawl, did crawling exercises in class, and their math skills improved significantly.   I don't remember the details of the study, but the idea obviously stuck with me and I became VERY excited as each of my children began to crawl.   (Especially my little girl because of all her special therapy that began when she was only 6 weeks old.  Another post for another day.)

Now, I'm not going to say that all non-crawlers will struggle with math.  Neither will I say that all who struggle with math weren't crawlers as a baby (I crawled and am  not good at math at all...I won't mention how many times I repeated math classes.)  But I will say that crawling is a very important part of development.  And Math isn't the only area it seems to affect.  There are many studies that show how it affects the brain development (coordination, memory, etc.), and there are many theories out there including the possiblity that it's a factor in ADHD.

So, basically, don't push walking when your baby is enjoying crawling-this is an important time for your baby's brain to be getting a work-out, but if your baby skips crawling, maybe when he/she is an older child you can think of fun crawling games later in life to get them moving on their hands and knees. 

* And here's a good article if you'd be interested in learning a little more: medcentral.org