Thankful
One of the things I’m truly thankful for as I sit looking around at all the clutter that I’ve been meaning to get to this last week, is my very down to earth, understanding Mother in law.
We leave tomorrow afternoon to pick her up. I’m so thankful that a clean kitchen (check), clean linen (check), and a clean bathroom (on list for tomorrow) are really all she expects.
She remembers what it’s like with a toddler/small boy, she raised 2.
She gets that stuff piles up in your life and until you have a large chunk of time to devote to weeding through and trowing things out, it just sits there waiting and collecting more stuff.
I’m really thankful knowing that while she is here, she will help with the day to day keeping of the house so that I can do the weeding out.
I’m just really thankful for my Mother in Law.
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WFMF-Toddler TV
I have a wonderful, inquisitive, imaginative, experimenting 4 year-old. In many ways we have gone against what seems to be main stream parenting today.
We are raising him free-range, which means something totally different than for a chicken. How that looks changes from week to week as he is growing. Last year I wouldn’t have let him play outside in our backyard by himself, this year I don’t always know whether his inside or out at any given moment. But, this year, he has proven himself trustworthy and stays in our yard. We live in the corner of an L shaped street in a very quiet little town.
I feed him mac and cheese for breakfast because he’s not a big breakfast foods person. Frankly, all three of us would rather have breakfast food for dinner than first thing in the morning. The mac and cheese is a step up from the carnation instant breakfast. From 18 months until he asked for mac and cheese that was all I could get him to do for breakfast. I can’t tell you how much food we threw away until I figured that out. Some days it’s not mac and cheese, it’s a hamburger. Works for him, protein.
But the TV thing. I know that everyone else is trying to move away from electronics for the young. My question is, WHY? We live in an electronic society. We are not going to wake up tomorrow and hot have computers or cell phones or any of the other gadgets we’ve come to rely on. Why would we not teach our children to navigate in that world? One hundred years ago, children were taught to ride horses because that was the normal mode of transportation. While I’m not suggesting putting a 4-year-old behind the wheel of a car, I do explain the rules of the road and why I do certain things while I’m driving.
My son has his own smart phone. It is not connected to a phone number, but daddy puts games and movies on it at home and when we are out I give him his phone and child headset with volume limiter on it and he entertains himself for how ever long I need to do whatever it is we are doing. Doctor appointment, car repair, chatting with a friend, shopping. He knows how to turn it on, navigate between games and we are teaching him how to get to his movies.
Television for children seems to be another of those dividing topics. Many limit the time with timers for the day or week. Some banish it completely and talk of not allowing technology to babysit and we should engage our child every moment with teaching games. I disagree, vehemently!
I do not want a child that cannot engage himself in play. I have other things that must be done, housework, cooking. And things I need to do to maintain myself, reading my Bible, quilting, reading for enjoyment, last but not least, talking with my spouse.
Our house TV rules are pretty non-existent. There are days the TV is on all day. There are days it’s off all day. We do not have cable but we do torrent downloads on the xBox and we have a roku with Netflix instant watch. Most often The Boy asks for Mythbusters or Dirty Jobs. He will watch the same episode all day and run around recreating what he was with his legos and hotwheels. Not only does he recreate their experiments but he also makes up his own. I’d say that’s educational.
As far as the Dora, Diego, Backyardagians, Land Before Time, Disney movies type of stuff, I say it’s also learning. Dora and Diego teach counting, spelling, spanish, teamwork, and many other traits I approve of. Backyardagians, if you haven’t seen it, is my favorite for teaching imagination. It’s 5 cartoon animals that all live on one block and meet up in the large area where all their yards intersect. They then negotiate what scenario they are going to imagine and play in that day, from outer space to the old west, then after the “game” is done, they all go to one house for a snack. The music is great and the dialog and vocabulary wonderfully non-condecending. The Boy will appropriately use words well above his age level and I will recognize that he learned it from Backyardagians.
Some days he stays in the family room watching TV and playing with his toys all day. Now that it is summer, he usually runs in and out between the TV and his sandbox. Yesterday he did just that, watched some Mythbusters and used his legos to build what he saw, then went out in his sandbox and did his experiments.
I think that’s wonderful. And I know it Works For My Family.
Linked in with We Are That Family WFMW.
Gratituseday
What I’m thankful for this week…
1. Lazy Holidays
2. Watching a little boy watch his first parade.
3. Friends who feel comfortable enough to just stop by for the weekend and don’t care about the mess.
4. Spending time outside and just letting my house be.
5. A Husband who is fine with #3&4.
6. New friends close by who own a restaurant…
7. and have adopted us as family The Blues Concept
8. A husband who will talk me out of a cute kitten… they turn into cats!
9. New screen doors for the house, even though it is taking way longer to get them painted and hung than anticipated…. dark color choices require MULTIPLE coats to be the color you chose
10. portable crafts like crocheting
11. napping little boys.
12. Cuddling up with my son as we watch fireworks for the first time
13. Ear plug that allow a little boy with sensitive ears to enjoy fireworks.
Linked it with Gratituesday.
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Treasures Found
You may not be remembered for your sacrifice
True Intimacy
Enjoy beauty and inspiration where you find it.
I want to make a quilt from this picture
Never forget the cookies.
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Spicy Scalloped Potatoes with Ham
Dinner tonight….
1 vadillia onion thinly sliced
1 large slice ham diced
3-5 potatoes thinly sliced, I left the peel on
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded
1 stick butter
1 1/2 cup milk
2 TBS flour
3 TBS dehydrated buttermilk
1 TBS minced garlic
2 TBS paprika
2 TBS cumin
1 TBS franks red-hot sauce
1 egg
salt to taste
1 cup mexican shredded cheese
Shredded parmesan cheese
Mix potatoes, onion, and cheddar cheese in a casserole baking dish (I used my Pampered Chef stoneware dish). Slice one stick butter (I’ll probably cut that to half a stick next time) and lay evenly over potato and onions. Mix milk, flour, buttermilk powder, garlic, paprika, cumin, hot sauce, egg, and salt until well blended. Pour over potatoes and onions and cheddar cheese in baking dish. Sprinkle mexican cheese on top, cover with foil and bake at 350 for one hour. Remove foil and sprinkle with shredded parmesan cheese. Return to oven until all cheese is melted and top is a nice bubbly golden brown.
Not very spicy, no burn, but nice flavor. I’d probably cut the butter and add more spice next time. Even my 4-year-old ate it up, which is always a good thing.
involuntaryhousewife 