What a Mess!

Here is our Green House of Love upon the sun rising this morning.

This post is dedicated to The Prince, whose over-the-top affection for tools (power or otherwise) and heavy equipment proves to me (again) that it really is Nature over Nurture. Boys are Boys, and Girls are Girls - it isn't that they don't enjoy sharing activities but some things are just "magnets" for each. I thought he would get a kick out of checking in and seeing what is going on at Marty's today...

Big Truck in the drive.

The first to arrive is the Big Truck bringing the supplies for the new roof. It takes up all of our little-bitty driveway. The big, tall driver is smoking a nasty smelly cigar - but he is nice and does not mind if we take pictures. The other guy speaks "Smile".

The truck has a big boom on it that has a conveyor belt - once they get the a platform built on the roof and the boom in place they move the supplies off the truck up onto the platform on our roof.

The big, tall man puts out his cigar and loads the supplies onto the conveyor.

The little guy (who is really bigger than this picture makes him seem) also knows some Sign Language too and gives us a big "Hello" from the top of our house.

Very soon after the first crew is gone, a second crew of 5 men showed up in a van and truck. 1 of these guys can speak pretty good English, and tells us they don't mind if we take pictures - the other 4 are fluent in "Smile". They work together and laid blue tarps on the ground all around the house. Then they climb on the roof and seem to be "getting organized". There is very little conversation - I think they know what they are doing. These guys really know about Team Work. They were getting ready to make a BIG MESS. It is too bad The Prince and Smiley aren't here to teach these guys how to make a big mess - and my little guys don't need any organizational time before hand.

This guy is in my husband's favorite spot on the roof (not). Look, Honey! He can do it WITHOUT clutching the house.

Girl4 and I go back into the house because we have pizzas to bake (and a Pizza Party to pack) and take and serve to Girl3's Kindergarten classroom by 11:05. Girl3's Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Idkhsdi (I Don't Know How She Does It), has done an awesome job with the whole class. When school started back in August, there were only 5 children that tested at "benchmark" for Kindergarten. They tested again in December, and 100% (23 children) are at benchmark now! That is some great teaching and some good learning too. They deserve a Pizza Party!

Girl4's Class & Teacher (and Girl3)

The picture below is what we found when we returned from School. Man, those 5 men work fast - not as fast as The Prince and Smiley - but pretty fast for "old guys".

Look! They have installed a sun light in the garage.

And one in the attic - can we say "REMODEL"?

This is just plain inspirational, my wheels are turning...

Well, it is 2:40. Girl4 somehow managed to fall asleep for afternoon nap about an hour ago. I need to go outside and rest my head. Sometimes it sounds sometimes like someone is falling off the roof, then sometimes it sounds like there is a herd of elephants are walking around up there. I WANT to survey the damage. I NEED to get out there now, it is completely silent. Hopefully they are just having lunch or taking a nap and the silence does not mean the last guy has fallen.

Progress on moving to the DR Table for lunch...

One of the many things I love about Montessori Traditions is "Family Style Dining". I've been wanting to incorporate this method of dining for at least our Day Care Lunch. However, we are a much younger group of children than Montessori methods usually apply to, so we will need to develop a little "higher than average" level of table manners before we can move into the Dining Room.

Finally, I have all the dining furniture my dining room can HOLD. My husband will be glad to read this part of the blog. Well, except for the part where we actually have a little TOO MUCH furniture and need to find a spot to move a few pieces to - otherwise cleaning up after the kids will just be too difficult.

Last weekend we got all new Toddler Dinnerware (plate, milk cup, water cup, and silverware for each kid) and we have been working extra hard this week on using good manners at the table. Having silverware that fits in your hands is a bigger help than I had previously thought. Here is some of what we are learning:

1. Everyone has their own Eating Bubble. Your bottoms need to be on the bench, your feet toward (or touching if you can) the floor. Your hips should not touch the person next to you, and you do not reach into another friend's Eating Bubble - even if they still have grapes left and yours are gone. It helps when Mrs. Marty sits with you at the table during snack to remind you about this crazy invisible bubble concept.
2. The "all done" signal does not include: Dumping your meal remains from your plate in front of you, shredding your food into tiny bits (or otherwise playing with your food), or dropping bits of food onto the floors. This is not easy to learn. Having to pick-up scattered and dropped food from your area or the floor helps you remember this. We say or sign "all done" when we are finished - its just good manners.
3. There are 2-3 at the picnic table and 2-3 in high chairs right now. Everyone must wait their turn to be cleaned up and excused from the table or to be cleaned up and helped down from their high chair. Patience is a Virtue - but is really difficult for young'uns to learn. But this group of kids is exceptional and for the most part are very patient.
4. Silverware is a Privilege and not a Right. Sort of like driving for big people. You mess up and you may lose your silverware for the rest of your meal. You only get 1 warning, and there is no Diversion Program you qualify for. We do not poke friends/table tops/cabinets/or ourselves with silverware. If you are advanced enough to sit at the Picnic Table, your silverware is not meant to go into/out-of the umbrella hole (that is really germy and considered "playing" at the table).
5. Some foods are MEANT for eating with our hands - like bread, bananas, and tater tots - we don't use silverware on these type things. It's okay NOT to use silverware, if you can do it without making a terrible mess. Hey, this is accepted in many cultures, they are kids, and everybody knows that eating with your fingers makes the food taste better.
6. Under no circumstances do we pound or slap the table tops in unison to try and make Mrs. Marty move faster. This is not a prison. "There are 5-6 of you and only one of me" I say upon the commencment of pounding as I stand in the middle of the general viewing area NOT WORKING on getting the plates distributed. If you pound, I stop - period. I also like to say this phrase upon discovery of an SPI (Sychronized Pooping Incident). And in that situation I don't stand firm in one spot, but rather scurry - but that is a whole other post (or not).

This may seem all to much for such little people. But as long you temper the training with a TON of love, praise, a little humor, and a big smile it really isn't too much for them to handle. And how do I know if I'm not using enough love, praise, humor, or smiling enough? They aren't happily eating their food! WE have come a long way in just a few weeks. Every day gets better and better.

Breakfast & Lunch is a little divided as far as sitting privileges, but Snacks are together at the picnic table (to help the littler ones with the Eating Bubble Thing).

I'm confident that they will be ready for the dining room in a few weeks. And that in a few months, when out to eat some where with their family, someone is going to comment on their INCREDIBLE table manners!

Until next time - CHOW. ; )

That "Perfect Fit"...

Little Miss Sunshine

I had this spot. I'd had it for awhile, but decided in November that I just wasn't going to work at filling it. It was the Holidays, Smiley and Sweetie Pie were "newbies" and I wanted the group to settle in. On a smaller scale, adding a new kid to the group is a lot like adding a new sibling for everyone...especially "The Mommy Person".

I figured if the perfect fit came along, then I'd consider it. The perfect fit being someone for Little - especially with Rosie off a couple days to Preschool. Another little girl, someone close to Little's age, and hopefully a Potty Training Buddy (it is always easier in pairs).

Ring, ring. December 26th. I get a call from another Daycare Provider, she has accepted a job in the Big People World, do I maybe have an opening? We had talked a few times since August (?), I felt like I knew her pretty well just from those conversations (Provider to Provider). We talked a bit more on the 26th - especially about Potty Training. We seem to be on the same page about so many things. While I am sad that JOCO just lost another great Day Care Provider - it seemed the perfect buddy for Little (and the rest of my group) may have just have fallen from the sky.

So Monday was Sunshine's first day. She jumped right in with both feet. She has an extra air of confidence about being here - I think because she was raised in a Home Day Care with her Mommy at the helm. She totally knows what to expect - Mommy drops off and later Mommy or Daddy will be here to pick-up - no worries.

She and Little are already fast friends. In fact, Little hadn't stop talking about her since she came to visit us a couple of weeks ago. Every other day or so bringing Sunshine up in conversation with me. Sunshine's Mommy reports that when they pull up in the morning she chirps "We're here!" or "Yeah!".

She is full of hugs - and not just for me, but for everyone in our group. She has a song in her heart and another one coming out of her mouth just about all the time. With the exception of today (she was too busy with her friends playing with Magnetic Buckets) I have been serenaded every day during lunch preparation. Circle Time music is all the sweeter with two or three girls singing - and the little boys are coming up right behind them soon, inspired by their "Big Sisters".

Welcome Sunshine!

Where Where You on That Historic Day?

My earliest memory of a historic event was Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. I was seven years old. My Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister, Aunt, Uncle, and 3 of my Cousins were crowded into our modest living room in Tonganoxie, KS. We were watching it on our black and white TV - snowy picture - but very exciting. I will always cherish this memory.

I rarely share political beliefs with anyone. I come from a family of political debaters - they can so ruin a good party. I learned a very long time ago to keep my opinions to myself. My own husband did not know who got my vote for President (nor did I know his) until after the polls closed. You will never change my ways on this - my Closed Mouth Policy has kept me out of too many "family discussions" - the policy is tried and true.

Today was historical - and it doesn't matter who you voted for. Not that my Daycare Kids might remember today - but I wanted to catch the moment for them, for their Baby Books. They are going to grow up in a world so very different than the one I did.

In 1980, I graduated from a High School in a very "forward" and large MS city. We did not have a school dances because blacks and whites might actually dance together. If you wanted to socialize like that you joined one of the race-divided Fraternities or Sororities. I did not join one, and not because my mother would have ever allowed me too.

I married straight out of High School. My husband's Mom & Dad were from a very rural MS town and in 1980 the "colored entrances" were still in use at the theatre. There were still "colored only" signs on the main drag!

From 1982-1985 I worked for a prestigious old-family real estate company in this large MS city. For the first two years I managed the most exclusive apartment complex in town. I was pressured to rent to "certain people" and not rent to "certain others". Certain others included couples who lived-in-sin, seemed of morally low standards, and people of any other color than my own. Of this I am not proud. I did not like it at the time. I knew it was wrong. That was a very different time in my life - I was young and trying not to be myself.

I had an incredible handy-man at this complex. He had worked on a oil-rig until being hit in the head by something that fell from very high up. He suffered permanent brain damage. He spent the settlement money on a small home in the "colored district" just below a levy that flooded with every big rain. He stuttered very badly - especially when he talked to me. Eventually, my boss told me why.

I was not suppose to look him in the eyes when I talked to him - it made him nervous because whites and blacks shouldn't look each other in the eyes. He was taught not to look me in the eyes, and I made him uncomfortable when I looked him in the eyes. "Just look at the ground" they told me. I looked him in the eyes out of respect for him. And he looked me in the eyes too. It took us awhile sometimes to communicate - but we managed.

His wife had been my bosses' housekeeper. She was a wet-nurse to both of their children. My boss had her sit on a newspaper in the backseat of her car, she did not use the arm rest either. A woman she trusted in her home, to cook her meals, to NURSE her children - wasn't worthy to ride in the front seat and had to sit on newspaper? I hated riding in that car.

So, if I felt so bad doing things I knew were wrong -

if I still carry guilt for doing things that I did when I knew better -

guilt for not speaking out -

I can only imagine the pain from the other side of discrimination and how horrible that must be.

I hope things change. Not just the economy, health care, and education. I hope change comes from a bigger place (our hearts) and on a bigger scale (our lives) and in a bigger place (our nation and world). I hope things change for our kids - today I believe "Yes We Can".

Girl4 Off to Preschool...

Wahhhhhh.....

Everyone has been warned.

I'm crying today.

AND I have an Interview this morning!

My Baby is heading off for her first day at Preschool.

I know that she is in excellent hands,

just not mine (alone) anymore.

Well, at least for two days a week she is in someone else's hands.

Baby Steps you know - not so much for her, but for me.

As good as it is for her to learn that other people (adults) are teachers too -

it is good for me to experience what my Daycare Parents feel some times too.

While I am so excited for her - this hurts.

Maybe I warned my Daycare Families too well.

It is 8:15 and only one child is here.

I suppose they think the Tide of Tears will subside.

Wrong.

Everytime one of them says "goodbye" to their baby this morning,

I'm going to cry again.

I can't wait until she gets home (and she literally just walked out the door).

Marking Time with a Snow Globe

A favorite holiday tradition of mine is to mark the year with a picture next to a particular snow globe. Never mind that the snow globe's music box was broken by a daycare kid the first year in business, it's the globe not the music, that holds the true meaning of the season and the reminder of each year passing for me...

Girl4 2007/2008

Girl3 2007/2008

Little

2008 (right)

2007 (below)

The Prince 2007/2008

And a "fresh batch" of babies in 2008 to start marking with our snow globe: Baby Cakes, Smiley, my 1st God Baby, and Sweetie-Pie.

And, if your head is "absolute perfection" - you can get you a second picture on the post...

I would say that I can't wait to see Baby Cakes Snow Globe Picture next year, but I know too well that babies grow up way too fast. I'm going to savor every day of "baby-dom" with her that I can - I can wait until next Christmas - and I will love every minute of the wait.

And, even if you move on from Marty's you may come back anytime (especially at Christmas) to visit, play and to "Pose with the Globe".

Mister C

2008 (right)

2007 (below)

Ham-samwich 2007/2008

Miss Bliss 2007/2008

And I couldn't resist these next two pictures. The Prince as "Daycare Baby 2007" (right) and Baby Cakes "Daycare Baby of 2008" (left, and yet a 3rd spot on this post). And what of 2009? We await the arrival of The Princess - goose bumps.

And then, there are always my "biologically involved group" of babies - My Girls.

• Girl1 - home from college for Christmas Break. (upper left)


• Girl3 now firmly established in her role as a Kindergartner Diva. (upper right)


• Girl4 about to head off a couple of days a week to Preschool. (lower left)


• And Girl2 about to graduate and leave the nest. Too fast, way too fast. (lower right)

Merry Christmas from our Daycare Home (and Home) to you.

2nd Annual Children's Holiday Party

2nd Annual Children's Christmas Party - 2008

What a fabulous time we had Sunday afternoon! Here is a shot of all the children - minus our two babies who had reached their personal limits on the amount of flash they can tolerate in two hours. Santa sure did notice all that "extra weight" this year - everyone has been busy being good and GROWING...

1st Annual Children's Holiday Party - 2007

And I just can't resist posting these two shots of my "second set" - Girl3 & Girl4. On the left is last year, this year on the right. I especially wanted to post the shot on the right since I don't think I will be able to figure out how the heck to purchase prints off Flickr and create Christmas cards this year....

This is such a season for traditions. Ornament making, cookie baking, the giving of PJs (Girl2 absolutely HATES this tradition - Christmas presents should not be practical), just to name a few. One tradition I think especially sweet is the tradition of Little's Family - Santa bringing a special book - now this will make some PRECIOUS MEMORIES.

We will be so busy this week and next following a crazy blend of my own childhood/family traditions with some of my "daycare" traditions. As each year passes, the lines between these blur more and more and there seems to be no real line between the two - my family and my daycare family. Maybe I'm just an old softie, maybe it is the Christmas Spirit, but the blurring of this line feels good to me.

And I just can't help but post about this year's Christmas Party Miracle. Last year, too young and niave to know better, The Prince posed fearlessly with Santa. You see, The Prince suffers from a unexplainable ailment known by those who witness it as Man Fear. Nobody knows where it came from, what started it, but it is definitely a "pure baby fear".

Even with ongoing exposure to many BABY MAGNET MEN, such as my husband and other daycare daddies, The Prince becomes quite nervous when one of them enters to close to (or into) our primary daycare space. The Prince has just recently begun to accept "treats" from my husband. However, as soon as The Big Guy offers to pick him up (usually with the promise of a better treat, or maybe airplane races on TV) he runs for cover behind my legs. Secretly, I kind of like this reaction - the running to me part - not the baby feeling fear part.

So the miracle part? This year, when Santa arrived and was swarmed with greetings from a dozen little children - The Prince was right in midst of it all. He went right up and checked Santa out! As I like to say, "He knows who butters his bread."

Something about a BIG RED FUZZY BEARDED ELF with a bag big-enough-to-stuff-you-in doesn't freak him out? Go figure, chalk this up to a Christmas Party Miracle (my husband was noticeably upset).

Next post? One of my favorite traditions of this season is my annual Snow Globe Shoot to mark the growth of my kids each year so stay tuned and MERRY CHRISTMAS...

P.S.

Thank You to The Queen (The Prince's Mommy) for updating your blog and linking to mine. That was what it took to take this post out of "drafts", finish it - and then publish it. Linking, that's cool - but over my head. Oh yeah, watch for a slide show of Santa and Kids Pictures. It's been a long time since I made a slide show and I will try and "re-learn" it out today at nap time.