Thinking Chair

                         It has been a looooooong time since I have had to use this concept with my little man. He is nine already (giant gasp), unfortunately for him I still see this little baby face when I look at him. Super unfortunate when his friends are around and I want to smother him with kisses, that are now wiped off. ***But, when no one is around he melts back into that little boy and loves to snuggle his mama (shhh don’t tell).

          Before he matured into the well mannered little man he is today he was a toddler, yikes! Somewhere early on in my parenting adventure I heard of this new spin on an old classic. Instead of  “time out” we adopted a “thinking chair”. It was amazing. I have since passed this trick on to many friends, with tons of positive feedback. My little guy is extremely literal. The thing about this concept is time outs are meant for thinking, reflecting, learning, and growing. However if that is not clearly outlined most kids just sit there wait for the allotted time to pass, and go back to whatever they were doing. Usually their foul mood has passed, but did they learn from that experience, mmm maybe.

When I sent little man to the” thinking chair ” (we had a designated spot everywhere we went) he knew he had to think while he was there. I, of course, did the classic rule of making him wait in correlation with his current age (ie 4 minutes for a 4 year old). Very early on I started asking him questions before he could get up. As he got older the questions and answers became more in depth. It was very important to me that he understood:

What actions led to the thinking chair

How those actions affected those around him

How he would feel if the situation were reversed

How he could have handled the situation in the future

How to right his wrong and apologize

This was a great exercise. He quickly learned what was expected when he was sent to think. There were even times when he sent himself there, and even now that he is older he will say he needs some time when he gets in a mood. That is so important for people to recognize when they just need to step back and gather their thoughts. The one thing I hear across the board from all of his teachers is how well mannered and thoughtful of others he is. He learned early on to think about how his actions and words can affect other people.

Anyone who has met me knows, I LOVE communication! This exercise with little man really developed our dialog in tough situations. To this day he is a great communicator and problem solver, and I thank that little Mator Chair where all of his thinking began! I know this may seem obvious to some people, but I was a YOUNG mom and this helped me a lot.

God Bless

Cassie

How to Care For A Sick Kid

 The influenza jerk hit our house hard this year. So far my poor husband and kiddo ended up with it, I may have squeaked by! The symptoms they had were: high-grade fever, cough, wheezing, sore throat, aches, and head aches. My husband ended up staying home with him one day for his first sick child experience. My hubby, thank god,  asked me what he could give him. DUH Cassie! Between the little guy being nearly nine and me being a nurse the thought never occurred to me, that not everyone knows what to do with a sick kiddo. Bam this post was born.

 Since my little guy was very small, we have had our sick day ritual down. He always gets to sleep in the living room with me or in my bed. We have a special sick cup he uses, and we rent movies. Pretty typical sick day mommy stuff. I baby the crap out of him when he is sick. Whenever there are multiple caretakers involved with my son or any other child I have made a Medication administration record. I know I cant help it, its the nurse in me. It really is helpful. At the top of the page I list the medications that can be given name, indication (what you use it for) dose (specific for this child), and how frequently it can be given. Then below  I put a graph where you can put time, medication, temp, other symptoms, and when this medication is due next. It really makes life easy when you have to give meds around the clock to keep a temp under control. Plus when you bring them to the doctor you don’t forget symptoms, I hate when that happens!

How we survived Influenza:

Pushed fluids

Ibuprofen every 6 hours

Acetaminophen every 4

(don’t be afraid to use generic, it really is the exact same thing for cheaper)

Be Koool gel sheets (these things are great)

God Bless!

Cassie

Parent moments

Parent Moments of the Week

Kids Day

Super Hero: “Why don’t we have a kids day? We have a Mother Day, Fathers Day, and Grandparents day. What about the kids?

Hubby: “Everday is a kids day. “

Funday Monday

Monday night Super hero comes out of his room

Super Hero: “Hey Mom, is tomorrow Friday yet?”

Me (holding back laughter): “No buddy, it’s only Monday we still have four more days this week.”

Super Here: head down, back into his room, “Oh man!”

Hubby and I look at each other, and both admit we feel his pain!

Snow Pants

So for about the tenth time this year my child has lost his snow pants again. This led to numerous conversations at one of our holiday gatherings, because he could not go outside to play in the snow. My aunt was trying to be helpful and….

Aunt: “Buddy, you have to think of them like underwear, because you have to put them on everyday before you leave the house.”

<—–Super Hero: With a disgusted look on his face , “You only have one pair of underwear, gross.”

He is such a literal child!

God Bless!

Cassie

John Deer Birthday

 My best friend is super creative! She is always great about throwing a party together, and coming up with great activities for the kiddos. This year was John Deer themed!

 Check it out:

Here are some snapshots of the decorations! The bottom photo is the cookie bar!!

Sugar Cookies

+

Popcorn Balls

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Chocolate Chip

+

Milk

=

YUMMMMMMMM!

 Activities:

Top: We filled balloons with toys and candy (two person task btw!) then blew them up. The kiddos got to pop them with a BBQ stick. Great substitute for a pinata

Middle: She got these great foam “hats” and farm stickers. All the kiddos decorated their own hat.

Bottom: She made a John Deer tractor and the kiddos played pin the wheel on the tractor

Here are some great pics of the party guest:

 Top Left: Family picture before the birthday boy made his wish

Top Right: He is in love with John deer tractors

Bottom Left:The birthday boy giving his auntie Love

Bottom Right: At the end of the night we made it through the party……We both were working on no sleep

Getting ready to open presents….Isn’t this chair adorable! She found it and tons of other adorable things on overstock.com

These boys were far too cool to smile….So I decided to tell them I was going to smooch them both if they didn’t…Love their reaction

Future prom date?

God Bless!

Cassie

Turkey Day Tradition Numero Dos

We just started this tradition last year! My husband taught us this one, again he is such a smarty. We DO NOT do black friday. I have done it in the past, but I just don’t find it necessary. We are great bargain shoppers at our house already. We do however use the black friday ads as entertainment.

Last year was our first year doing this, but I loved it so much that I have decided it has made the offical tradition list. My husbands family did something similar to this, every Thanksgiving. Each member of our family gets a blank piece of paper, we sprawl across the living room floor with the ads, and create our christmas wishlist. Once each of our list are completed we post them on the fridge until christmas. I actually used these list through out the year for birthdays and for gift ideas for other family members (especially boys). I will share our list once they are established 🙂

 

 

List Rules:

prices must vary

you must make a list

the list must be long (that way you don’t know what you are going to get!)

God Bless! C