Our Little World: I've joined the blogging crowd

Our Little World: I've joined the blogging crowd

Ok, if you want to get to know a super mom, then keep an eye on that link. She might just keep me motivated enough to post more often on my own blog! Anyhow, she is a wonderful and beautiful mom, not just to her own kids, but mine as well. I love you and truly appreciate you Abi. Keep up the good work!

My Kids Make Life Worth Living

Of course there is a whole lot more about life that I love and look forward to, but when it comes to the crunch, those times when I feel like my heart is broken for one reason or another(like now), I look to my kids and see that God has given me an amazing mission. And determined that I am, I do not want to fail that mission.

I want them to become the best originals they can be, not modeled after what I think they should be, or what others think they should be, but what they have been created to be. I want them to be able to use the passion inside to ignite the flame that will lead their way up the path of life. God help me to be the facilitator.

P.S. I do have lots of photos that I could post but...well, I will have to get a better computer set up before I will be able to be more consistent.

Cool Links

I've found some interesting sites to enhance the kids' school.

I'll post a few here...I won't describe to much because it's way to late for me to be up (insomnia has hit) and I'm going to have some vigil time as I try to sleep. So, here they are:

Interactives

Cybrarian Kids' Educational Curriculum Site

free art lessons from www.artyfactory.com

The Periodic Table of Videos - University of Nottingham

Alice.org

Welcome to ZipcodeZoo

I hope these sites can be useful to you!

Hiking in the Woods

Hiking in the woods with my kids...
That's one thing I love about apartment living, heh. Well, we happen to have one of the Don Rivers flowing nearby and the area is full of exciting hiking and walking trails. It's quite rugged and lots of fun. Today it was easy to forget that we've moved out of the suburbs to the city.

What else?

Gorgeous sunsets...our apartment faces west and today we saw the sky set on fire...clouds ablaze in every shade of red and orange, even sandy yellow. Then we watched as the darkness crept into the night sky and the clouds turned a deep purple which contrasted beautifully with the fading crimson. We get a light show like this almost every day!

Almost every day we climb the stairs to our 11th floor apartment. We want to climb a mountain someday...I never imagined we would start our training in an apartment! :-)

Photos? None yet. Pray for our camera to get fixed or that we can find a replacement.

In the meantime

May was my most active month. While you're waiting for me to post some new stuff, go ahead and review interesting tidbits you may have missed ;-)

http://thevivacious7.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html

Back, once again

It's been over four months since I've posted. I've never been very consistent with this blog...though I get excited about my ideas for it. This is why I have never kept a diary.

But things may change.

We have moved and started a new chapter in our lives. We've got our own apartment and I am having so much more time with the kids. Since this blog is supposed to be a parenting blog...I hope this will create more inspiration and more topics to post about. We'll see.

My first post should be about the joys of apartment living. I never wanted to live in an apartment. I used to dread the thought of it and usually would get sick when visiting friends in apartments. But now that I am living in one, I must say that there are so many joys about it that I don't think about my complaints much. Since I should be getting to bed now, I will write about it soon. :-)

Problem Solving with My Teen

My oldest is now 13 and I am finding out that my communication with him has had to evolve a bit. He is not the child of a few years back. All of a sudden he is taller than me. Boy, time has flown by; it seems like just yesterday he was the animated two year-old running around everywhere.

I've had to make a shift in my attitude towards him and treat him as a team player in our family. Now, when an issue comes up, I need to take the time to listen to his feelings and ideas and together come up with solutions that will be right for both of us. I see that we need to put our energy into searching for the kinds of solutions that will fulfill both of our needs as individuals and the needs of our family. When I remember this, things go well. But sometimes I forget and try to tell him what to do without considering his side of things.--I see that it squelches his freedom of choice and I end up losing a valuable co-worker.

Communicating with my son is a learning process for me, something that I have been more keen on learning since I've noticed he is growing up and a bit distant at times. I want him to feel respected as I do my best to train him in the way he should go.

As parents, I feel we know what to do for our kids instinctively, but so often the cares of life, familiarity, and preconceived notions can throw us off. God help us to lay aside the myriad of distractions in our lives to focus on what is most important--taking time with our kids and communicating with them effectively.

5 Steps of Efficient Problem Solving:

1. Listen to your kids' feelings and find out about their needs
2. Share your feelings and needs
3. Brainstorm together to find a solution you both can agree on
4. Write down the ideas as you get them, without discussing them
5. Decide together which ideas you like, which you don't like, and which you will follow through on

Neural Connections

I am fascinated by neural connections. In fact, the human brain is an amazing creation that never ceases to amaze me. As a mother and teacher, knowing what's going on in my kids' heads and in my own head, for that matter, helps me to understand the "why" and "how" of our personalities.

Knowing about the brain also keeps me motivated to make each minute in my kids' lives as well as my own life, meaningful and challenging. Neural connections are stimulated, expanded, and strengthened when we take part in activities that challenge our brains. This neural activity continues throughout our lifetime, which is why we should never think it's too late to learn a new skill. But the most pronounced opportunities for strengthening and growth are between the ages of 2 and 11! Can you see why parenting and teaching are among the most important jobs on this planet?

Here is another interesting tidbit for you to chew on: When children enjoy what they're doing, they're more apt to devote more time to it. We always need to be looking for ways to make learning (school time) fun.

Believe it or not, playing, which encourages creativity, is one of the best brain exercises. As parents we need to create and environment where creative thinking flourishes. When kids are actively engaged in playing, their connections get stronger. Every time they are successful, their motivation to learn is further enhanced. This is mostly made possible by a cool, "feel good" hormone called Dopamine.

More about Dopamine later! ;-)

Kids Have the Best Humor

Note: I found the following snippets while looking through old files on my computer. These are from back in the day in Africa...aah the simple life! ;-)

Funny Things That Our Kids Blurt Out

The other day I was telling Brandon (4 years old) a bit about all the relatives that he hasn't met yet. I told him that I would get out some photos and show him his uncles, aunties, and grandparents that he didn't know.

I said, "Brandon you have lots and lots of relatives!"

Then he said, "yes mommy, and I have lots of girlfriends too!"

"Really?" I answered, with a quizzical expression. "Where are they all?"

"Oh mommy" he said in a knowing way. "I haven't met them yet!"

Elena told me that one time, she asked Brandon to put his shoes on, but when she looked to see if he had done it, she noticed that the shoes were on the wrong feet. She said, "Brandon! You've got your shoes on the wrong feet!" Brandon slowly looked down at his feet, pondered a bit, and then looked up again. "But Elena" he said, "these are the only feet I have!"

A conversation overheard between Angali (9), Laura (5), and Kimby (3)…….(overheard by my sister in-law, Lili)

A: You shouldn’t swallow gum because it’s bad.

L: Yes really bad…but why is it bad Angali?

A: Um… because when you swallow the gum it gets stuck in your stomach …. Or somewhere… & then it gets stuck for seven days …. No longer than seven days, a longer time.

L: So Kimby shouldn’t have gum because it’s bad to swallow gum.

K: But then I’m sorry. But I bad because I swallow gum.

A: No but swallowing gum is bad because if it gets stuck then you can die. When it gets stuck then the white blood cells stick to the gum to try to unstick it but they can’t so it takes seven days or more.

Conversations between Lili and her daughter:

Kimby: Mommy when I was bigger than you I had shots.

Mommy: You were never as big as Mommy because you’re still growing.

K: But Jesus made me stop growing.

M: If you stop growing now then when you’re a Grandma you’ll be such a funny short Granny.

K: But little Grandmas still love you.

K: Mariah taught me to go pee in my pants.

M: You’re older than Mariah, how can she teach you to go pee in your pant?

K: She made me go pee.

M: How did she do that?

K: She pointed her finger at me or something funny like that and said "aaa doo-doo" and then I went. She made me.

More stuff from Brandon--

I told Brandon that after we finished lunch clean-up, we would start our diary. Later, I said to Brandon, "ok, let's go now!" He looked up with a very serious face and said, "are we doing our diarrheas now?"

I had to reprimand Brandon for putting his hand prints all over our newly painted wall. When I asked him why he had done it he said, "someone should paint the wall with hand prints! It'll look really nice!"

Brandon always has funny things to say. When he has a fever he says that a rhinoceros is running around in his head.

He also says that his feet sing when he runs (he's talking about the pattering sound they make when they hit the ground).

ISN'T LIFE FUN WITH KIDS ALL AROUND US??

They Grow So Fast

They grow so fast...when I think back over the years, I smile. We've been to Heaven and back together; they've always been my angels. Life has been really good, even through the hurricanes in my life and I have to say that my children have played a big part in pulling me though.Anika and Ryan, turned 8 years old last week. I still remember when I was holding my little cherubs in my arms. They were cute little chubs and they are still gorgeous! I'm a proud mom!

We mothers (and daddies) are definitely artists. We are molding human beings...everything we do for them, with them, contributes to who they are. As the years go by and they grow up they become masterpieces.