Books of the Week - {#5}

Matthew’s absolute favorite this week is Minerva Louise and the Red Truck by Janet Morgan Stoeke.This is the first book we’ve read in the Minerva Louise series, but we will definitely be back for more of them! Minerva Louise is a very silly, very loveable chicken who thinks a handkerchief is a cape, upside down flower pots are a table and chairs, and work trucks grow on truck farms. For some reason the silliness that this book is filled with really appealed to my child. Go figure. :) He even took this book to church with him and it kept him occupied and quiet the entire time so it is a winner with me too! :)
My favorite this week is a classic – Ten Apples Up on Top by Theo LeSieg (aka Dr. Seuss).This book somehow escaped my notice until I had M, and I am so glad I found it. It’s been mentioned in a few blog posts by other bloggers doing apple themes with their little ones, and I just had to get it again, so off to the library we went. The last time we had this one M was pretty small and he wasn’t crazy about it (although hubby and I thought it was hilarious!) – something about the mop scared him. He talked about that mop for a long time, silly boy. This time around he loves it as much as I do. A lion, a tiger, and a dog keep piling apples on their heads and do all they can to keep them there, despite some angry bears who are chasing them out of town. The crazy idea of having to keep apples on one’s head, no matter what, just tickles my funny bone. :) I highly recommend this one if you haven’t already read it!
For more Books of the Week posts on other blogs, click here.
Have a beautiful day! :)

Thursday Thinking – Focusing on What’s Important

Last week I rambled on and on about how to make our fall schedule work and getting everything I want to do fitted into our days; and it occurred to me after reading my post a few times that my focus was entirely on the wrong things.

I’ve been way too focused on tot-schooling / pre-schooling M. Way, way, way too focused. I love planning school activities, but when I’m totally stressed out because I just don’t know how I’m going to get it all done, something is very wrong.

M is only 3. He has the rest of his life, well his childhood at least, to learn about patterns, color shades, the sounds “C” can make, and so on… he doesn’t need to learn it all right now. Especially if Mommy is grumpy about it. He'll be going to school at age 6 (we will most likely not homeschool), and I only have a few more precious years with him. This thought has hit me with force the past few weeks. I don’t have time to work on getting my act together and figuring everything out. I need to be kind, patient, and gentle with him now, love him now, and help him to grow in love now.

I get a great amount of enjoyment and energy from putting things together to do with him, but my focus has shifted from “I want to have fun one-on-one time with you and maybe help you have fun learning in the process”, to “we’ve got to do this because I spent 2 days putting it together and I want to blog about it.”

Putting things together for him and planning our tot school time together is something I’ll continue to do as I can find the time, after all the important stuff is done. I want to keep it in our life, just not at the top of my list of priorities. It never should’ve risen to that spot in the first place.

Housework is another stressor for me – I don’t like cleaning (*news flash!*). But I do love the feeling of having the household running in an orderly manner. It’s important to me and so I’ve come up with what I want/need to have done on a regular basis. I hope to post about that some time soon (because this post is already too long and you are probably sick of these long rambling posts of mine!).

This post was a real eye-opener for me and I hope you’ll click over and read it – It says all my heart needs to remember as I “mother” M. I’m going to print it out so I can read it every day.

Have a beautiful day! :)