Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

From Wednesday Mom – Janelle:
My son doesn’t always listen. I know you’re probably thinking, “my child doesn’t either” or “what child listens 100% of the time?” But my older son is a skilled ignorer. We had a 10-minute conversation about something he did at school complete with nodding yes and no and arm gestures. After the conversation I asked him what he thought about the school activity we were just discussing and he replied with, “Is a pumpkin a fruit?” I was a little irritated and answered, “Yes, it is a fruit, but tell me what you thought about your school activity?” He immediately lost track of our conversation.

Jack’s selective hearing happens rather often. When he was younger, I once thought he was hard of hearing because he wouldn’t respond right away when I’d ask him something. I quickly knew he could hear just fine when I whispered in his room while he was playing one day, “Do you want a cookie?” He immediately jumped up and yelled, “Yes!” I was thankful those little ears heard my voice, but why couldn’t he listen like that consistently?

Over the years, I’ve accepted the reality that my son just tunes things out, mainly his parental requests. I was concerned when he started school because I wanted to make sure he was paying attention and not missing anything. I’ve brought this concern up at teacher conferences and was happy to hear Jack was a great listener. His marks prove it.

I don’t have selective hearing, so it is hard for me to understand. My ears are always turned on and I have a hard time tuning out people or noises. My husband has hinted that he had the same hearing issue as a kid. He says that when he is focused on something, nothing can draw him away from it. I’m sure Jack takes after his father, but I hope he broadens his focus with age.

From Monday Mom – Neetika:
I’m so proud to announce that we had our baby—it’s a boy! For the second time, I was surprised by labor with my water breaking in the middle of the night. By the next afternoon, I was holding my precious, healthy baby in my arms. We named him Hudson. I was so prepared to have a baby that is his own individual person that I was stunned when I gave birth to child who looks exactly like my previous child. Hudson looks just like Haley, in boy version.

Haley clearly loves her baby brother, but there have been the inevitable adjustment issues. She is now saying she doesn’t want to go to school. She sometimes says she wants the baby to go. For a girl who is usually very independent and tough, she has been crying and whining a good bit. The vast majority of the time she is great with him and very excited, but the moments she isn’t can be very grating. It makes performing the simplest tasks incredibly complicated. I keep telling myself it’s just a phase. It can’t last forever, can it?

My patience is wearing thin not only because of Haley’s regressions but also because of the lack of sleep that comes along with having a newborn. Hudson is too young to have any discernible pattern, and is still feeding on demand, but I really look forward to consolidating a few more hours of sleep at a stretch.

So that’s my life these days, fully in the throes of babyhood. It’s not easy at all, but it’s wonderful to have him here and enjoy the new configuration of our family. I’m proud to join the ranks of the “mom of two” club, and thrilled to share the next part of my journey with you.

From Friday Mom – Erin:
Rory sings nursery rhymes with his daycare class every day. We knew this was the case, but this week was the first time Rory has shown any real desire to continue his singing at home. During bath time on Wednesday night, he started chanting “baa black sheep, baa black sheep.”

Once I realized what it was he was asking for (toddler speak isn’t always the easiest to decipher), I happily regaled him with an off-key version of his apparently-favorite nursery rhyme. He loved it. We repeated over, over, and over again until I was able to sneak in a round or two of “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” (or “i-sy spa der” as Rory apt to say).

Then, on Thursday evening, while I was driving home, his daddy sent me a text informing me that Rory had sung all of Baa, Baa Black Sheep to himself, entirely on his own. When I arrived home, I learned that Rory’s most recent rendition was perhaps a bit more chopped up than I had originally envisioned, but, regardless, his dad and I were both tremendously proud of the little guy.

We’re planning to ask his teachers what other songs they sing so that we can work on adding some variety to our bath time vocal set. And we’re also hoping that his love of the song doesn’t mean that he is going to start asking us for bags of wool. . .

From Wednesday Mom – Janelle:
I have not volunteered to be a room mother in the five years my children have been attending school. This year is Tate’s last year of preschool. So, I decided to put forth more effort and team with the other room mothers. I have some time and semi-creative abilities to offer. It is something I never considered in the past because I always had a younger sibling to take care of or I somehow missed the sign up sheets that were distributed at open house. I’m thrilled to be taking on this new responsibility for Tate’s classroom and finally volunteering back to the preschool.

Last week, all room mothers met for a meeting. We discussed our duties, including how to handle events and other activities for the classroom and school functions. I will be a part of the class parties, field trips, weekly activities, fundraisers and school programs. Luckily, Tate’s preschool is very laid back and simple. For example, a light snack, basic decorations, a simple craft (made by the children themselves) and a fun goodie bag is all it takes for the children to enjoy their celebration. I’ve learned over the years that no matter the degree of “pin worthy” parties, the children will never know the difference how much time/money were spent preparing for the festivity.

I hope this new role will be a fun one. I love helping out in the classroom and this gives me an opportunity to be more involved in Tate’s school, as well as more interaction with his teacher… things I’ve missed the last few years.