SuperMom Quest - step 3

There are a few things you need to know to understand this post:

1) It hit me one day that a good day care will do structured activities on a regular basis. And if kids in day care do that kind of stuff, my kids, who have a stay-at-home, wannabe SuperMom, really ought to be doing them too!

2) Initially my kids weren't accustomed to anything structured and they refused to sit down or participate. (They're awesome now. At least most of the time. :)

3) I started with one activity and added another every few weeks. I knew if I started them all at once, I'd face plant.

4) I am a check-list motivated person. I need to write things down to actually do them. I keep a whiteboard list of these on my fridge and check each one off as we do them.

5) Each activity takes about 30 minutes. Which adds up to three hours. Of a twelve hour day. I've been cautious to not over structure and to give them plenty of free play.

6) I don't do the activities at any specific time or in any specific order. I just wing it.

7) I am doing the best I can with the talents I've got. This plan will not work for most people, I know that. But you can feel free to copy what works for you. :)

8) I fail miserably more often than I care to admit!

Step Three
In SuperMom Step Two I made rules about my time so that I would actually spend quality time with my kids. So much of my day is filled with the day-to-day grind (fixing meals, doing dishes, doing laundry, cleaning up, feeding the baby, etc.) that it seemed my kids were being neglected. So, after I got used to my Step Two rules, I started filling my empty time with these activities. I try to do each one, each day.

Reading Time - I switch it up between our books, library books, and some children's poetry anthologies I have. After I read to the kids, I try to do silent reading time for another 30 minutes. (Where I read my own adult books and they quietly look through theirs.) Seara and Enoch do great during this, Elijah is a bit more restless. As in he kicks people during it. But he's acclimating.

Singing Time - Sometimes we sit in a circle and sing songs with hand movements. Other times we'll sing along with a cd or sing while we do something (like sweep and mop the floor). I have also built up a set of song toys - musical instruments, finger puppets, flashlights (to shine on the ceiling while we sing all the star and moon songs), etc., that we use a couple times a week. (This activity was really hard at first. I actually started doing it with a list of songs on my lap because I couldn't come up with songs on the fly. We'd sing the alphabet and twinkle, and then I'd be dumb struck.)

Dancing Time - We either sing the songs or else listen to them on my computer while we dance around. Songs include Ring Around the Rosies, London Bridge, The Ants go Marching, Shake My Sillies Out, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, I'm All Made of Hinges, I'm a Little Tea Pot, and any other songs that have a good beat for wiggling around.

Outside Time - Seara, Elijah, and I go out while Enoch takes his second nap. (Sam studies from home, so he listens for Enoch.) We have winter clothes for snow and umbrellas for the rain. We go to the playground if the equipment is dry. And if it is super cold outside and I feel lazy ... we walk up and down the hallways and stairwells inside our apartment complex. :)

Drawing Time - We have some coloring book stuff, but mostly we draw on blank paper. I try to vary between markers, pens, pencils, and crayons. When I really want to shake things up we do sidewalk chalk, draw on butcher paper on the floor, or do dry erase markers on the mirrors.

Project Time - We do some sort of special project, activity, or craft. On tough days we do simple things like play with playdoh, blow bubbles, or put stickers on paper. On adventurous days we'll play with shaving cream, cook a treat, or make some kind of craft. I've taken pictures of a bunch of these (you'll recognize some from my movies), so I'll post what I have now and try to do a monthly post of anything extra fun or creative that we do.

I know, it sounds crazy. Who honestly needs to make a checklist so that they will read to their children? Um, me. Yeah, I'm raising my hand. I already told you that I don't just come by these things naturally. If I don't plan it, it won't happen. I won't tell you how many times I read to Seara in the first three years of her life. But the fact that I can count it should be hint. My hope is that after doing this for a few months (or years) that I will just naturally think to do this kind of stuff. Then I'll nix all these silly rules and checklists.


DECEMBER

Shaving Cream

Sink & Suds

Eensy Weensy Spider (with straws and spider rings)

JANUARY

Helium Balloons (with strings cut so they had to reach to get them)

No, Seara is not doing what you think she's doing. She's just pulling the balloon down.

Race Track

Self-Portraits

FEBRUARY

Reading Together
Don't Eat Pete

Box Trains

Swimming in the Bathtub (They put on their suits, brought me mine, and asked
to go swimming. It was 30* outside, so we opted for the bathtub rather than the pool.)

Playdoh People (This one is Seara. And she absolutely insisted that she had those eyebrows.)

Bubble Wrap

Just FYI, I started this post a month ago. The original post - which I edited quite a bit yesterday and today - contained this gem: "I'd rather not talk about how much blood Elijah drew from his siblings today. Or how many times he kicked me in the face. Or how much time he spent in his room. Or how Seara dumped jello powder all over. Or how Enoch wants to be held every blessed moment of the day. Really. Let's not go there." So, if you (like me) sometimes tend to compare yourself with others, realize that life in this house is FAR from perfect!