…I told Bonny Annie that I’d post something really, really nice about her on my blog.
I’m not sure why, but the other day, she ended up changing three diapers in one day for me. Bonny Annie probably, on average, changes a diaper every other day, so this was kinda big. By the third diaper, she was all heavy sighs and big eye rolls, and she’s made sure to tell at least five people about her fate.
Bonny Annie is a great big sister. She helps with Cap’n Jack Henry a lot. Just this morning, I woke up with a really bad headache, and she took over for me for about an hour and half or so, so I could take some Extra Strength Tylenol and lie back down for a while.
If I have a big chore project going on, she will play with him or put on episodes of “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody,” which for some unexplainable reason, entertains Jack Henry.
If I need to run in the store for just a few items, I can leave the car running with the AC and go in by myself, while she holds down the fort in the car. She only occasionally needs to karate chop Dirty Harry, and all is well.
As a matter of fact, if you have a child, especially a girl, that is about 11 years old or so, you might as well go ahead and plan on having another baby soon. It will be the easiest child you’ve ever raised because the girl child will half raise it for you.
And Jack Henry loves her. He loves her so much that he gives her open mouth kisses…
This is a big step for the Cap’n because just a few months ago, you may remember, when she asked for kisses, she got something else entirely.
Actually, he may be biting her…
…but we have chosen to believe it is kissing.
Because she really is a good sister (and daughter!), one that deserves to be kissed. Not bitten. Or slapped.
…even without the multiple diaper changes.
(Psst…how did I do, Bonny Annie? And when you’re done reading this, I think I smell something…)
I always intend to blog five days a week, Monday through Friday. But it never happens. I usually squeak in three or four posts, but that’s about it. Fridays, in particular, have alluded me. Today, however, I have a few extra minutes, so I sat down at the computer but found myself stumped as to subject matter. So, I started browsing our vast on-line library of pictures…
On the rare occasion that I actually blog on a Friday, I usually like to post something for my “Flashback Friday” feature where I delve into my legwarmered, teal eyeshadowed, BonJovied past and write about something ridiculously old-school. I have something I could post about today that is extremely timely and interesting and bittersweet that would definitely count as a flashback, but I can’t post about it. And I can’t tell you why. I probably won’t be able to post about it for at least five years. Don’t ask…I can’t tell. Yet.
Soooooooooooooo…I’m going to post a little vignette about my three children eating breakfast. Yes, eating. Yes, breakfast. Because these are the photos that inspired me today as I browse Big D’s site.
Big D took this series of photos in February when we were visiting his parents. I don’t know why he took them, but I’m glad he did. Big D and I have very different photo-taking approaches. Usually, I use my point-and-shoot to try to record bits of our history. I take pictures during holidays. I take pictures at events. I take pictures so that we will remember.
Big D takes pictures of emotions. He captures feelings. He records personality. It is art. I love that we have both kinds of pictures of our family. Someday my kids can look back and remember what we did and where we went and what they achieved. But they’ll also be able to look at these photos and know who they were.
They are just eating cereal, for crying out loud. But one can look at these photos and know something about each of them. We don’t just know that we went to Ma and Pa’s house and ate their cereal. We know a little bit about them. We see a little of their souls. Some how, some way Big D clicked and captured a moment and captured their characters at the same time.
Yesterday I was searching through the fridge to see if any of the guacamole from the night before (which I’m blogging about on Monday) was left and fit for consumption. When I closed the door, I saw this…
I knew immediately that Dirty Harry was the culprit. I knew this for several reasons.
Big D wasn’t home and would never put something like that on the fridge.
Clara doesn’t have thumbs, so grasping and placing magnets would be difficult.
Bonny Annie is generally nice and encouraging of her littlest brother and just wouldn’t say things like that. Plus she was on facebook.
I didn’t do it.
Jack Henry, while certainly not dumb, is only 17 months old and doesn’t have a good grasp on the English language yet. Plus he was taking a nap.
Dirty Harry does things like this when he is supposed to be doing his math lesson at the kitchen table. Plus he’s known to randomly insult people…even babies. I think it’s an almost-ten-year-old boy thing.
So, you can just call me Sherlock from now on. I knew it was him.
I called him to explain himself.
Me: Harrison, why did you put this on the refrigerator?
DH: Because I was just playing around with them when I was getting a drink.
Me: And the letters just magically spelled that your brother….your BABY brother…is dumb???
DH: No. It’s just that it’s hard to spell things with only one magnet of each letter. I was going to spell ‘JESUS ROCKS’, but you need three S’s for that.
I was still clueless as to why he still felt the need to spell something insulting about Jack Henry, even if he was lacking needed letters, but the whole JESUS ROCKS comment momentarily threw me. I told him he should not spell things like that, even to be funny. And I also told him that he could stand at the fridge and spell four more non-insulting sentences about Jack Henry before he could get back to his previous activity. He groaned and complained, but he finally came up with four more.
Okay, I was still not pleased with this effort. If you are telling someone to fix Jack Henry, then obviously you’re implying that something is wrong with him in the first place. But I let it slide. I guess it might imply that Jack Henry needed a Band-Aid or something.
Another imperative sentence…but a nicer one. If Jack Henry can be quizzed, then one is perhaps a little more confident in his cognitive abilities.
This was probably the nicest of all of Dirty Harry’s statements. While Jack Henry does not literally glow, one sometimes feels he does when he flashes you one of his big grins. I suppose Dirty Harry could have plans of coloring him with a neon highlighter as well. I wouldn’t put it past him. Just last week he colored on Clara with blue permanent ink.
Since this sentence lacks a direct object, it’s open to interpretation. Jack Henry does indeed dump whenever he gets a chance…food on the floor, baskets of books, boxes of toys…you name it, and he dumps it. And then, if you go the crude route, which I’m sure was Dirty Harry’s intention, Jack Henry does dump in his diaper…usually twice a day.
When I was done with all my picture-taking, I asked Dirty Harry what the “She”, written in dry erase marker, with an arrow meant in one of the pictures above.
DH: Oh, I wrote that when it still said, ‘JACK HENRY IS DUMB’. The arrow was pointing at Sis, since I couldn’t spell her name. I’d need two A’s and 2 N’s for that.
Something tells me he hasn’t exactly learned his lesson yet.
This is generally a hot topic among homeschoolers, especially newbies. A large percentage of the time, people begin home schooling when their oldest child is early elementary age. They either know they are going to try home schooling from the start and begin formal education in kindergarten, or they went the public or private school route for a year or two and then pulled them out and brought them home. Sometimes there are other, younger kids at home already and them sometimes they might come a bit later. Either way, at some point, most home schooling moms (and dads) will wonder how to continue to educate their school-age child(ren) with a dependent baby/toddler/pre-schooler needing their diaper changed or nose wiped or sippy cup refilled every five minutes.
For me, this dilemma came a little later in my home schooling adventure. When I first began home schooling Bonny Annie, Dirty Harry was two, but I don’t remember ever having many problems. I did strap him into a spare highchair for an hour everyday to watch Sesame Street. This allowed me to do some math and language arts activities with my first grader, but he pretty much was right there with us for everything else, and by the time he was three, I was doing a little preschool program with him.
But Cap’n Jack Henry has been a different story. Continuing our educational pursuits with him around has been interesting to say the least.
But we are doing it. And so to that end, I though I’d share whatever wisdom and insight I have on the subject, hoping that it might help a newbie homeschooler to hang in there while their little monkey scribbles on their worksheets and eats their glue sticks. Or, after reading this, some of you may log off your computers and head straight to your nearest school’s office to enroll your youngsters immediately. Either way I feel I will have done my part to be informative and honest.
1. Use the littles’ naptimes wisely.
This is probably the single most important piece of advice I can give. Sure, you may think you need a little nap yourself or perhaps you have your eye on the five loads of laundry that need to be folded. STOP! Step away from those ideas! Use the baby’s nap for the subjects that are hard to do when he/she is awake. For us this is usually our history and literature read-alouds, science experiments, spelling tests, and language arts lessons. I try to cram us much into that hour and half as possible and then usually I can still find a few minutes to work on my blog or, yes, as much as I hate it, fold laundry.
2. Train your school-age children to work independently.
My kids know that when Jack Henry is up and needing some attention that they will need to work by themselves. For us, this might be silent reading, handwriting, or math. You might want to have a folder or a plastic tray set up for them to place their completed work, so that when you get a chance, you can check it later. Establish specific assignments that they are capable of before hand, so that when the baby is fussy or is being fed, that the older ones can just fall into their independent routine without any drama.
3. Provide the baby/toddler with age appropriate activities in your school area.
Our school area is the kitchen table. This area opens right up into our living room. I’ve pretty much made this area baby-safe so that Jack Henry can roam around while I read a history lesson. You have to just allow the kid to wreck the place during this time though, or you’ll never get anything done. Jack Henry usually has floor time for about an hour in the later mornings, and this is usually what my living room looks like at the end of that hour…
Nice, huh?
When he’s done pillaging and ransacking, I usually read him a story or two and then put him down for a nap. The big kids then will pick up the room for me. They are usually ready to stretch their legs a bit, and it really doesn’t take as long as it looks. Everything has a place, so it’s a pretty simple clean-up. Magazines and books in the basket, blocks in the wagon, Fun-Dips back in the box and put away in the cabinets, etc. Yes, Fun-dips. We have a box leftover from Valentine’s Day, and they are one of his favorite toys at the moment. He just likes to take all of them out and put them back in, over and over again.
Since the weather has been so nice, I’ve opened up the windows, and this has bought us even more precious time as he loves standing there watching the birds in our yard or the cars pass by.
3. Use your highchair.
Our highchair is right at the table where the kids school, so it’s very convenient to pop Jack Henry in and give him something to do. But if you do most of your home schooling away from the dining room, I’d suggest investing in another one or a travel booster or something like that. There’s simply nothing like containment! I’ve just discovered that Jack Henry enjoys watching old “Blue’s Clues” episodes on our laptop from his highchair. Or if I just need about ten minutes for a lesson, I might just give him a snack that he can feed to himself.
Okay, strawberry applesauce is probably not the best example.
No, definitely not the best example. Give him Cherrios.
You could also make your age 1+ child some of these crayons for highchair time.
4. Use a pack-and-play.
Begin putting your baby in a playpen when they first start sitting up, so that they will be used to it and not feel like they’re in jail. Also try to never use the playpen for a punishment. You may also want to switch the toys that you keep in there regularly so that they don’t get bored. We’ve followed these principals, and we get about an hour or so of playpen time from him everyday before he starts throwing things at us. See….he loves it…
Ha, ha. I just threw that one if for visual interest. Here’s a short video to show you how content Jack Henry is in his pack-and-play…
He’s got some moves, doesn’t he? And, yes, you will just have to learn to tune out whatever musical toys they may have in there.
5. Don’t take everything so seriously.
Some days are just going to be bad. Your baby may scream through your child’s recitation of the first sixteen Presidents. The toddler might color on your entryway floor while you’re giving a spelling test. He might only nap for thirty minutes. It’s okay. It really is. These days do not mean that you can’t be successful at home schooling. Your baby’s antics will not keep your other children out of college. As a matter of fact, the baby will only be a baby for a little while, so just allow your family to slow down and enjoy this season. They may even learn a more valuable lesson from this experience than what is within the pages of their textbooks.
Yes, baseball means a lot of different things to me and my crew.
First of all, it means (and I’ve covered this one before) red dirt and grass stains on white pants because guess what a baseball diamond consists of? Red dirt and grass. And guess where your son (or daughter) will be most of the time? Yes, in the dirt and grass.
It means that Big D is the assistant coach this year. It means that you will see him less and less, that he will hibernate on baseball coaching sites, and that packages from UPS will be delivered almost daily to your doorstep containing practice tees and other coaching paraphernalia. It means that you can’t call his cell phone while he’s at a practice because he won’t answer you, of if he does, he will have no idea what you’re saying to him. It means that Dirty Harry is thrilled to have his dad as a coach. It means that I’m extremely proud of him for sacrificing his time and energy to fill the gap…but that I still wish he’d pick up that darn phone!
It will mean that your teenage daughter just got a lot more bored. She will need endless change and dollar bills for infinite trips to the concession stand. She will need to have her cell phone charged so she can make lots of phone calls to her friends. She will ask you about ten times in an hour and half if the game is almost over. She will be flirted with by her brother’s teammates and friends, which will make you sick to your stomach and willing to comply with her requests to stay home.
It means that your child might pitch. And subsequently that will mean that I, as a nervous wreck, will bite off all my nails (and I don’t bite my nails). It means that I will drink a shot of whiskey (and I don’t drink whiskey). It means that I will go to the parking lot to smoke a cigarette (and I don’t smoke). It means that I will retreat to my van and eat a whole box of Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls (okay…I’ve been known to eat a few of those).
It means that I have to carry a twenty pound sack of taters on my back. It means that he will cry and fuss a lot. It means he will appeal to total strangers in the stands to free him. It means that he will want ice water and Cheerios on demand. It means he can’t have it because I’m not made of rubber, and I can’t reach him. It means he’ll throw a tantrum, banging his head against my back. It means I take him out of the carrier and hand him over to the bored teenager, killing two birds with one stone.
And speaking of birds, I never would have guessed that baseball would mean that we would have dirty birds. But it does. Because Big D and Dirty Harry…those stinkers!…broke my birdbath while playing catch in the backyard. Dirty Harry threw the ball. Big D missed it. And my birdbath, which used to belong to my grandmother, was smashed in the process.
I’m proud of him and his strong arm, but that is ridiculous.
Don’t you just love baseball season? I do. I really do.
I think we’ve established here on The Pirate Mom Dot Com that Cap’n Jack Henry is pretty cute.
And he’s sweet. And he does funny things. And all in all, he’s been a fairly good, easy baby.
But in order to maintain integrity here on this blog, it’s only fair to let you know that the Cap’n has another side. A more sinister side. It’s sad but true.
For the record, we are trying to break that habit. It has caused some uncomfortable situations. He did this, not once but twice, to the kids’ TaeKwonDo instructor’s wife. Mrs. Rodgers, if you’re reading this as you occasionally do, again, I’m VERY sorry for that incident. So far, he’s only slapped people that he truly likes and greatly admires.
While, I did stop the taping to give him some baby discipline, one has to ask, “Did Bonny Annie deserve that?”. She is thirteen years-old, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.
I have heard many, many times that one will not take as many pictures of their subsequent children as they do of their first. This has proved wrong in our family. Way wrong.
We did take a ton of pictures of Bonny Annie. She was cute. She was a little red-headed girl. She was the first grandchild. On both sides. She was oft-photographed.
But we took even more pictures of Dirty Harry. He was cute too. He was chubby. He was the first boy grandchild. On both sides. But it was mostly because we had a better camera.
But Cap’n Jack Henry wins the prize. He is undoubtedly the most photographed child in our family. Possibly in the whole world. He’s cute. He’s little. He has extra-long eyelashes. And super-curly hair. He’s the 6th grandchild. On both sides.
Allow me to demonstrate this dynamic…
Yesterday was Easter, right? All three kids got a little bit of candy in their baskets. See…
So far, so good.
So, how many photos does it take to document each child’s consumption of said candy? Let’s take a look…
Specimen #1, Bonny Annie:
One…
Two…
(and she’s probably going to kill me for posting that one)
Three…
Three…not bad. Sufficient. To the point.
Specimen #2, Dirty Harry:
One…
One? Just one? And I was lucky to get that one. He doesn’t like to sit still for picture-taking.
Specimen #3, Cap’n Jack Henry:
One…
Two…
Three…
Four…
Five…
Six…
Seven…
Eight…
Nine…
Ten…
Eleven…
Eleven. Eleven!!! Excessive. Superfluous. And I deleted the blurry ones.
So, as you can see, it is possible to take more pictures of your second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. children than you did of your first. It can be done. I believe that I also proved that it would be crazy for us to try to have a fourth child. We simply do not have the time or energy to take and process all of the potential pictures.
I love old pictures. My grandmother had a large stash of old sepia prints, and I remember as a child begging her to get them out and let me look through them. She wouldn’t comply that often, and that would frustrate me a bit. Now, though, I understand her hesitation. For one, the pictures were mostly of people in her life who had passed on, some in tragic and sudden ways. Looking at the pictures was an emotional roller coaster for her. Secondly, it was sort of a hassle to lug all those books and boxes out of their storage places. And, finally, they were fragile. The last thing she wanted was for my grubby little hands to damage a one-of-a-kind heirloom picture. I totally get it now.
Now, my mom, Indiana Mimi, has most of those pictures, and she’s been bringing me some of the old pictures as she’s been sifting through them. After all, my hands are decidedly less grubby these days.
One thing that I’ve realized as she’s brought me some of these photographs is that Jack Henry definitely looks like me. See…
Jack Henry…
Me…
Very, very similar. Right down to how our hair lays down on our foreheads.
But do you know who he really looks like? Who could have been his twin? My Uncle Larry, Indiana Mimi’s younger brother, who died in his early twenties. I’ve always been told that Dirty Harry looks a lot like him too. Most of the pictures I’ve seen of him were taken when he was a school boy or a teenager, and Dirty Harry definitely favors him. But my mom recently brought me a picture of him when he was a toddler that made me gasp. Check this out…
My uncle…
And Jack Henry…
Isn’t that amazing? Even the curls are in the same places! And the foreheads….I wish I had this picture when we went to see the neurologist last fall.
Yes, Grandma….I do understand now why you felt bittersweet over your photos because this whole trip down memory lane has made me wish so much that you could see and know Jack Henry. I think you’d be quite proud that he looks so much like your own precious little boy.
Do you have any look-alikes in your family? If you’re not sure, take some time to paw through those old trunks in your attic or those dusty shoeboxes in your closet. I think you’ll find a fascinating exercise in genetics.
It dawned on me recently that I never posted pictures of Cap’n Jack Henry’s nursery and that a few people had asked me to do just that. But then it also dawned on me that we never quite finished decorating his nursery either. I’m blaming that on having my third child in my mid-thirties when my other two children already had created quite a busy schedule for me.
But seriously there were a couple of minor projects that I had in mind for Jack Henry’s room that just needed to get accomplished. I worked on those over the last several weeks and nagged Big D about a couple of them, and then just last week we finally put it all together.
Best of all, the walls in his room are a light sea green, so this can also count as a legitimate St. Patrick’s Day post. Erin go braugh!
Here we go on the official tour of the almost sixteen month-old Jack Henry’s nursery…
Above is a shot of his changing table/dresser combo which has been up and functioning since he was born. Recently we added the black valance to dress up the window and the shabby chic star on the wall. I didn’t really intend to have a lot of blue in his room, but the basket and ceramic truck were gifts, and I actually ended up liking the splash of bright color they give. In the basket I keep books and small toys that Jack Henry can play with while being changed in efforts to keep him from throwing himself off the table and keep his hands out of his waste material. Both seem to be immediate goals of his. The wicker basket is his clothes hamper.
We had the wrought iron stand for a while. I think we used to keep CDs in it. It has worked great as a diaper stacker thingy.
I found these wrought iron hooks at Hobby Lobby and got them half price. They are hung just to the right of his doorway, so it will be a great place for jackets and hats and such.
This little cart is located right below the hooks, and while it isn’t that attractive has been handy for holding a CD player for his bedtime music, his shoes and extra blankets.
This room has kind of a funky shape, and I thought this little nook would be the perfect place to create a little reading corner. We got the miniature wingback for him for his birthday.
Above is a close-up of the picture in his reading corner. It is some framed artwork from Big D’s elementary school days. It was a piece that had been chosen to be framed to decorate the school cafeteria. I just love that we have this and that the colors were so complemetary to the room. I also love that it has a nautical theme because I thought we might transition this room into a pirate theme in a couple of years. I also love that Big D wrote his name with lightning bolts. That is so creative…and hot! And, finally, I’m sorry my reflection is in this picture. It was unavoidable.
We bought some inexpensive bookcases to house his books, toys and stuffed animals. The shelf we’ve had for years, and Big D recently painted it black. I decorated the cardboard letters with some scrapbook paper. I don’t think the “It’s a Boy” announcement is going to be a permanent part of the decorating scheme, but for now, I just don’t know what else to do with it.
Finally, we have by far, the most important part of the room: Jack Henry’s crib. This is one of the models that will convert to a toddler bed and then a frame for a full size bed. I hope he likes black. The rocking cow was a toy that my mom and grandma got for Bonny Annie’s first birthday, and I’m so glad we held onto it.
I just love his bedding! I really wanted to use toile, but Big D thought most of it was too girly, but when I found this in black, he gave his blessing.
Well, that’s it….Cap’n Jack Henry’s nursery! I apologize to the inquiring minds who wanted to see it about twelve months ago. I hope it was worth the wait!
No, I’m not about to blog about last night’s Oscars. I’m blogging about crayons.
My two older kids are coloring snobs and will no longer color with crayons. They have moved onto bigger and better instruments like twist-up colored pencils and fine-tip markers. So, we were left with an entire drawer full of beautiful Crayolas.
When I found this…
…while shopping this past weekend, I knew that I wanted to make Cap’n Jack Henry his first set of crayons, using all of those old, forgotten, discarded wretches pictured above.
Here’s how I did it…
First, remove the paper from the crayons.
This would be a good job to enlist some older kids to help, but unfortunately mine were busy. Bonny Annie was making soap, and Dirty Harry was playing baseball with his dad, so I was on my own for all of the crayon peeling. I thought the pile of crayon paper shavings was very attractive and tried to think of some creative craft project for them, but I couldn’t get beyond hair for one of those Fandango paper bag puppets, so I just threw them away.
Then you will need to break up your crayons in 4-5 pieces each and place then in the muffin cups.
As you can see, I went with more monochromatic tones for Jack Henry’s since he doesn’t even know his colors yet, but one could get wildly creative with all kinds of combinations, depending on what colors of crayons you have on hand.
Then you just pop them into a 200 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Obviously, oven temperatures vary from household to household, so just start keeping an eye on them at about 15 minutes in. The crayon pieces need to be completely melted. Also, since I was using a silicon muffin pan, I placed a cookie sheet underneath to prevent spilling the hot wax.
When they are melted, you will then need to let them cool completely. This took about an hour. With the silicon trays, they came out rather easily, but I think you could have success with a regular muffin tin as well.
I loved how they turned out! So bright, so swirly! (But I was a little bothered by this picture where the orange one is not point-to-point with the others. I didn’t realize that until I was uploading the pictures. I apologize for the imperfection of this site and its author.)
Jack Henry, at fifteen months old, is probably a little young yet for crayons, but we tried them with him anyway.
I found the star shape to be perfect for his little fingers. He liked holding and feeling them just as much as coloring with them. These types of muffin tins are available in all sorts of shapes and sizes. I’ve even spotted some seasonal ones in the Target dollar section from time to time. Wouldn’t egg shapes be the perfect thing for an Easter basket? When I find some more, I’ll definitely be experimenting because I think a set of these would also be a great birthday gift, tied with some pretty ribbon and accompanied by a thick pad of drawing paper or a fun coloring book.
You had to know this was coming, but the Cap’n did think they were edible. But then he thinks everything is edible these days.
Aren’t we all glad that crayons are non-toxic?
He did make some scribbles on some paper and giggled at their effects.
I gave him two of the stars, and he enjoyed clapping them together.
And then, of course, he did a little more taste-testing.
They turned out so well and were so easy that I made six more colors this morning: teal, pink, brown, white, black and gray. I’m going to look around for a nice little tin to keep them in, and I’ll have one more activity in my arsenal to keep Jack Henry busy while we try to do our lessons.
I was originally inspired for this craft by the website www.dollarstorecrafts.com . When you have a minute, you should browse around this site. They have a lot of handy ideas for things to make and do using very inexpensive materials.
Now, go forth and have a meltdown. (I’ll bet you won’t hear that again!)
