This week brought out the teacher in me. I feel perpetual guilt at not constantly imparting knowledge via direct instruction to my children. Most times I reassure myself with ideas about contextual, or hands-on, everyday experiences but this week I decided to put my teaching degree and those magnetic letters to good use. I took the letters off the fridge that were being used as actual magnets, gathered up the ones the boys had scattered under the stove and rug and found a couple of brownie pans. I showed Liam the word "at" and then we practiced word families, reading words like Cat, Fat, Pat, Mat and Rat. I threw in some nonsense words like Zat and Gat just to be silly. I seized a teachable moment to talk about syllables, which Liam took to immediately (not to brag, but he figured out that Joshua was three syllables, let's not quibble over the fact that the syllables he clapped out were "Jo- shu- wa"). Later in the week we reviewed "at" words and moved on to "it" words. It was fabulous. And then afterwards the kids took all of the letters and scattered them all around the room for me to pick up. Terrific.
This week we started to redirect our children's behavior. I wanted them to be more helpful but, as I mentioned in a previous blog, I felt that Liam was being too rewards-driven. So we formalized the whole deal by making a chore chart and agreeing on a hefty allowance ($1). Crazy as it is, it actually worked (this week). Liam watered plants and seem to take it as a given (with 4 or 5 reminders) that he was responsible for the silverware drawer. So what if my spoons are all muddled together regardless of size! I can handle it! Even Joshua is in on the fun (for 50 cents a week), drying the dishes. Hmmm... now that the week is over though... I should probably actually write down the chores we all agreed to and make a chart. I'm not sure how long I'll remember this whole $1 a week thing and not to be down on Liam, but he's kind of a flake with money.
This week we tackled potty training. Yes folks, we did it. Well, actually I did it and then it seems to be unraveling already. Before this week, Joshua was very hesitant to use his potty but we did get him sitting on it more often. Over the past two weeks, he's earned 16 stickers and that's just for home potty-use. He actually seems to prefer the thrill of going on other people's potties. I think it's the anticipation of feeling like he's going to fall into someone else's toilet. So that leads us to the regression, while I must have been doing something right (I feel like I actually earned those 16 stickers), clearly I was also doing something wrong because the last two days Joshua has been defiantly pooping in that diaper again. Dag nab it! I know the right way to handle it... but I ignored my instincts and slipped into guilt trips like: "No motorcycle stickers for pooping in your diaper" and "Big boys use the potty, look at Liam using the potty!" Oops. Apparently Joshua isn't the only one who regressed this week.
This week we did scientific experiments. Seriously, Liam was so excited about making a bouncy ball that when we bought the Borax at the grocery store, he was giddy with excitement. The experiment failed but it was just a good lesson on trial and error. We also did experiments with lava lamps (kind of a waste of a lot of oil, next time I'll use a smaller container) and oobleck (cornstarch + water = fun times and a messy carpet). Of course, the teacher in me couldn't help but hound Liam with questions like, "Is it a solid or a liquid?" and "What do you observe?". He ignored both questions completely.
This week I made goldfish out of carrots, an octopus out of noodles & cheese and clams out of sugar snap peas. But by the end of the week I was so hot and so exhausted that it was all I could do to make the kids a bowl of Mac & Cheese and shout, "IT'S NOT HOT! EAT IT!"
It takes a lot to be a Best Mom. I'm not sure anyone was meant to be a Best Mom for good. If there was someone taking notes, he/she would note all of my lapses. But now that I think about it, the only person who really takes all those notes, I"m afraid, is me. I notice every mis-step along they way, every shriek, every poor choice of words, every little thing that could disqualify me for super mom status. I even used that old word "annoying" again this week. So what if I'm not the best mom out there anyway. Would the best mom do something as stupid as giving one kid a plastic baseball bat and the other a plastic golf club and then tell the kids to start hitting the water in their kiddle pool to see who could make the biggest splash? No, probably not. So it's worth it sliding down in status and, for now, I'll settle with being the Worst Best Mom.
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