Projects stuff and more stuff

I do like a good project. This past week it has been Quiet Books. I am hoping it quiets my not so quiet children so I can go to church and not break a sweat for at least until they have remove all the felt pieced that I spent hours tacking down with fabric glue. Sentence run and be free I say!!

I am still in school and trying to finish. I am taking three Online courses this semester and hopefully finishing my degree sometime in the next 2 years. That will full conclude my 7th year as a college senior. At this point I have been really wondering if I want to finish or just keep going. There are so many fun things to learn. College is now apart of my hobbies as well as a life long goal.

I am looking into the field of Physical Therapy, Studio Art, and Literature. I figure if I just keep going there will be time for all three.

The three classes I have now are :
Ed Psych 6930 - Forgiveness and anger reduction.
Fam. Consumer Studies- Financial Planning.
Physical Therapy 1010- Intro to PT.

I can't imagine the world without learning new things all the time. I want to be like the founding fathers and have 5 vocational skills. The aspirations of my heart is to help my children with any type of home work they are trying to manage. My math skills could use some brushing up.

Of all the aspirations I have the one that is the most taxing and most challenging is the title of mother. I came to some really big AHHHHHAAAAA moments recently when my kids started mimicking. Using baby signs I have abated most of the terrible tantrums of the twos, until lately. Last week as we were waiting in the waiting room to be seen by the pediatrician (who is spectacular) my wee little Thing 1 has a melt down. In the mist of this one he starts hopping on his knees and clapping very hard. His face is red from the high pitched scream that is now filling the waiting room. And the guy next to us says.

"That's kinda funny. He looks like one of those Toy monkeys."

Now I am in my head trying to stay calm and at the same time giving the signal of cease and desist. This signal is not being read. With in 15 long seconds the nurse comes and calls our name. Saved.

Well it got me thinking where did he pick that one up?? The clapping mad monkey dance? Then I got mad and it all played out like this. ...

When Thing 1 first started pushing limits things I tried diaper spanking. He laughed. Only making my frustration worse. Then we tried a new tactic take the toy away. Much more effective and behavior stops almost immediately with big time crying. AHHH. Well evidently I still have some work to do when Thing 2's cereal (gerber powder stuff) is completely blanketing the kitchen floor. Instead of spanking my child I start socking the inside of my palm. I guess from that freshman year of softball in High school. Then it hits me he is just doing the things I do. His mad clappin monkey dance was mine.

That got me thinking about a conversation that I had recently with a good friend. She mentioned that one day I would eventually get out of diapers, and beable to instruct my children on the finer points of laundering their clothing. But she mentioned an interesting point that she wished she would have learned or thought of as she was my age. She said to parent with an end goal in mind.

When you teach your children, teach them with goals in mind. Goals of their character and who you want them to be. Yeah, they ultimately decide if they want to follow your goals or their own, but you have the opportunity to implant those seeds early. Now I needed to chew on that one for awhile.

For me and my family I think it is a matter of example. I believe the qualities you want your children to have are ultimately the ones that you model for them. That means if I want to build a well rounded being I need to show how a well rounded being behaves, thinks and acts. (I can't tell you how much trouble my children are in) So I decided to start with some trigger words.

Trust
Love
Respect
Honor

I will practice those for now. It starts with quiet book in church and ends with quiet books for my great- grand-babies.