Alma has started using a pencil the correct way but she has also been trying this same grip on her toothbrush, silverware and drum sticks. Obviously she is taking the Montessori training to heart.
Also, she can now snap with both hands.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
13 Months
Because I'm a sucker for celebrations and Joshua is a sucker for cake, we celebrated James birthday again while Grandma Chisholm was visiting. My parents came over and we all had dinner and cake. All the pictures of the grandparents caught them in less than flattering angles so I'm sad to say that I'm not going to share those pictures here.
Updates:
- James is shaping up to be such a happy little toddler. He is constantly walking back and forth in the house with a big smile, a toy (balloon, book or drum stick) and usually a wild laugh of joy. He loves watching Alma dance and will start doing his own squatty dance with spins whenever he hears a beat he likes. He also still loves to be held -- both to give a sweet hug (head on our shoulder while he sucks his fingers) or to get a better view of the action. His love of books rivals his sisters and he can spend long chunks of time sitting on the floor pointing and "talking" to the imagines.
- His first words seem to be "Simon", "cat", "Shanti" and "sister". (Joshua and I are obviously chopped liver around here -- ha!) He can also sign "milk", "more" and "all done". And he certainly knows the word "bath" as he usually drops whatever he is doing and starts crawling up the stairs to the bathroom as soon as he hears the word from Daddy at 6:30 every night.
- Our weekday schedule has adjusted a bit since Alma started at her new preschool and we are still figuring out the best way to do things. We went from her gone two mornings week to five mornings a week. Previously, on the days when Alma didn't have preschool, after James's morning nap (10-11:30am) we would go out for a walk before coming home for lunch and Alma's 2pm naptime. But now, since we have to leave the house at 11:30 to pick Alma up from preschool, I'm often waking him up from his nap, bundling him up and putting him in the car. We come home and the kids eat lunch. Then James joins Alma for her afternoon nap. So by the time they get up from their naps around 4pm, we are getting into our dinner routine which runs into our bath and bedtime. Occasionally we can squeeze in a walk before dinner, but not always. This schedule change, along with the bitter cold weather, has made it more difficult to get outside time. While James seems okay with this, I'm feeling a little trapped by napping kiddos and looking forward to warmer days.
- At night, he sleeps from 7:15pm - 7:30am but I go in to nurse him at 6am every morning. He also wakes up and cries for a bit around 3am and 5am. I would love to cut out all night crying and nursing but it seems like it will be a gradual adjustment. Just last month I was still nursing him 2-3 times a night, so this is an improvement.
- James is still a good eater. No longer interested in mushy food, preferring instead sharp cheddar, homemade bread, peas, pears, apples, carrots, rice, kale, Cheerios and pretzel rods. Although, honestly he will eat anything after a proper introduction.
- His hair is still incredible blonde and his eye lashes are long but so lightly colored they are difficult to see. This is the opposite of Alma's which are dark and short.
- James is loving his swim class and can go under like a champ. My favorite thing is seeing how he closes his eyes and mouth when being guided through the water.
- James loves his baby doll, who Alma named Baby Beau Beau. Whenever he sees the stroller, he puts the baby inside and walks him around the house a bit before taking the doll out to give kisses. Then he usually offers the drool-covered doll to me for kisses.
- Speaking of his walking, James is ultra steady for his age. The dog rarely knocks him over, he can walk briskly when especially excited to get to a toy and even his dancing includes arm movements like a ballerina at times. It's been fun taking him for walks outside because he is so keen on crunching leaves under his feet and if he sees something interesting (balloons or a flag) he will stand there and point at the object indefinitely.
- When tired, sad, bored, snuggling, falling asleep or relaxed (most of the time he isn't walking or eating), he still sucks his middle and ring fingers with his right hand and twiddles his earlobe with his left hand.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
Kevin Easterling: Remember Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy on this special day
(from The Morning Call)
Every year, some people commemorate the birthday of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Many forget that 45 years after his assassination the struggle to make this day an official holiday took a "movement" in itself.
While the campaign for a holiday in King's honor began soon after his assassination in 1968, it wasn't until 1983 that President Reagan signed the law creating the federal holiday; even then it wasn't observed until 1986. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. The holiday wasn't officially observed in all states until 2000.
In Allentown, the heated 1998 debate to close municipal facilities and corporate headquarters on the official holiday hit its crescendo when Richard Burton, then-eastern sectional director of the Pennsylvania branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, pushed publicly for the King holiday while engaging in — and threatening to heighten — "tactical, nonviolent resistance activities" if city officials did not respond. Burton, the Allentown branch NAACP president from 1980-1996, was the driving force in the holiday initiative during that time. "We protested and marched for 20 years," Burton later said.
Lehigh County Court was the first to close its offices in the late 1990s. Then-County Executive Jane Baker eventually closed all county offices. Allentown, however, refused to close City Hall until January 2002, under the leadership of Mayor Roy C. Afflerbach.
Over the last 13 years a new phenomenon — connecting the King holiday with the honorable deed of a day of service — has become the norm. The holiday has morphed into a National Day of Service synonymous with picking up trash, painting homeless shelters and donating blood. While community service is not a bad thing, some argue that identifying Dr. King's legacy with charitable acts has negated his connection to the civil rights, anti-war and poor people's movements. To reduce the courage, hard work, deaths and sacrifice associated with striving to attain equal rights under the law for all — a goal still not realized — to one day of community service is like encapsulating more than 400 years of history, with its blood, sweat and tears, into a commemorative coin.
English novelist George Orwell observed that political language serves to distort and obfuscate reality. In "1984," he wrote how people changed the words and then they changed the meaning.
In a post 9/11 world, where certain words don't have a clear meaning or where Hollywood movies filled with historical revisionism serve as modern-day history classes for the masses, it's even more important that we raise the bar to the true historical understanding of what the King holiday represents. But it won't be easy.
"Teaching the Movement," a 2011 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, examined the state of civil rights education in the United States. It tells a dismal story about teaching civil rights in our schools: Only 2 percent of high school seniors in 2010 could answer a simple question about the Supreme Court's landmark Brown vs. the Board of Education decision. And it's no surprise. Across the country, state educational standards virtually ignore civil rights history. And the farther away from the South, the less attention is paid to civil rights teaching. (Pennsylvania received an F grade in the report.)
On Jan. 17, 2011, our organization, along with the public, Allentown, county and state officials, unveiled what has become known as the only statue in the world depicting both Dr. King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, in a memorial — located on the Harry A. Roberts Plaza at Union Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
One of our goals is to help foster the importance of teaching the civil rights movement. Along the way I've increased my knowledge and appreciation for Dr. King and those who sacrificed so much — and still do. People like Bruce Hartford and the Civil Rights Movement Veterans, which has a website http://www.crmvet.org/ created by and dedicated to the Veterans of the Southern Freedom Movement (1951-1968). The website serves to "tell it like it was, the way we lived it, the way we saw it, the way we still see it." The insight into the annals of the movement is unlike any other civil rights website I've visited.
I'd encourage everyone to take a break from community service projects today and learn more about what Dr. King stood for. That would be one of the best birthday presents you could ever give him.
Kevin Easterling is executive director of the Martin Luther & Coretta Scott King Memorial Project of the Lehigh Valley Inc.
Every year, some people commemorate the birthday of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Many forget that 45 years after his assassination the struggle to make this day an official holiday took a "movement" in itself.
While the campaign for a holiday in King's honor began soon after his assassination in 1968, it wasn't until 1983 that President Reagan signed the law creating the federal holiday; even then it wasn't observed until 1986. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. The holiday wasn't officially observed in all states until 2000.
In Allentown, the heated 1998 debate to close municipal facilities and corporate headquarters on the official holiday hit its crescendo when Richard Burton, then-eastern sectional director of the Pennsylvania branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, pushed publicly for the King holiday while engaging in — and threatening to heighten — "tactical, nonviolent resistance activities" if city officials did not respond. Burton, the Allentown branch NAACP president from 1980-1996, was the driving force in the holiday initiative during that time. "We protested and marched for 20 years," Burton later said.
Lehigh County Court was the first to close its offices in the late 1990s. Then-County Executive Jane Baker eventually closed all county offices. Allentown, however, refused to close City Hall until January 2002, under the leadership of Mayor Roy C. Afflerbach.
Over the last 13 years a new phenomenon — connecting the King holiday with the honorable deed of a day of service — has become the norm. The holiday has morphed into a National Day of Service synonymous with picking up trash, painting homeless shelters and donating blood. While community service is not a bad thing, some argue that identifying Dr. King's legacy with charitable acts has negated his connection to the civil rights, anti-war and poor people's movements. To reduce the courage, hard work, deaths and sacrifice associated with striving to attain equal rights under the law for all — a goal still not realized — to one day of community service is like encapsulating more than 400 years of history, with its blood, sweat and tears, into a commemorative coin.
English novelist George Orwell observed that political language serves to distort and obfuscate reality. In "1984," he wrote how people changed the words and then they changed the meaning.
In a post 9/11 world, where certain words don't have a clear meaning or where Hollywood movies filled with historical revisionism serve as modern-day history classes for the masses, it's even more important that we raise the bar to the true historical understanding of what the King holiday represents. But it won't be easy.
"Teaching the Movement," a 2011 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, examined the state of civil rights education in the United States. It tells a dismal story about teaching civil rights in our schools: Only 2 percent of high school seniors in 2010 could answer a simple question about the Supreme Court's landmark Brown vs. the Board of Education decision. And it's no surprise. Across the country, state educational standards virtually ignore civil rights history. And the farther away from the South, the less attention is paid to civil rights teaching. (Pennsylvania received an F grade in the report.)
On Jan. 17, 2011, our organization, along with the public, Allentown, county and state officials, unveiled what has become known as the only statue in the world depicting both Dr. King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, in a memorial — located on the Harry A. Roberts Plaza at Union Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
One of our goals is to help foster the importance of teaching the civil rights movement. Along the way I've increased my knowledge and appreciation for Dr. King and those who sacrificed so much — and still do. People like Bruce Hartford and the Civil Rights Movement Veterans, which has a website http://www.crmvet.org/ created by and dedicated to the Veterans of the Southern Freedom Movement (1951-1968). The website serves to "tell it like it was, the way we lived it, the way we saw it, the way we still see it." The insight into the annals of the movement is unlike any other civil rights website I've visited.
I'd encourage everyone to take a break from community service projects today and learn more about what Dr. King stood for. That would be one of the best birthday presents you could ever give him.
Kevin Easterling is executive director of the Martin Luther & Coretta Scott King Memorial Project of the Lehigh Valley Inc.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Misquoting King
A great letter from Father Jud (of the church where Alma was baptized in Camden, NJ) that we had to share...
Dear Mr. Obama:
Dear Mr. Obama:
I was disappointed this morning to see that you misquoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Everybody wants to be first, everybody wants to be a drum major. But if you're going to be a drum major, be a drum major for service...be a drum major for looking out for other people."
If you check the actual speech from Feb. 4, 1968 http://mlk-kpp01.
King said "Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness."
And it was in the context of criticizing the United States for its involvement in Vietnam.
We at St. Anthony's in Camden are not opposed to community service. But we can do that the other 364 days a year. On Martin Luther King Day, let's remember what he really stood for. We know your inauguration is tomorrow, but next year, please join us on Martin Luther King Day for what will be our 5th annual Martin Luther King Day of Community Organizing.
If you check the actual speech from Feb. 4, 1968 http://mlk-kpp01.
King said "Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness."
And it was in the context of criticizing the United States for its involvement in Vietnam.
We at St. Anthony's in Camden are not opposed to community service. But we can do that the other 364 days a year. On Martin Luther King Day, let's remember what he really stood for. We know your inauguration is tomorrow, but next year, please join us on Martin Luther King Day for what will be our 5th annual Martin Luther King Day of Community Organizing.
Peace,
Fr. Jud Weiksnar, ofm
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Heritage Day
We had the opportunity to celebrate Heritage Day at Alma's new school while Grandma Chisholm was visiting. It was neat to see Alma's cubby, classroom and fellow students. But it was especially nice to see her engage in the classroom. She seems to love the switch to the new preschool.
We snapped a quick family photo before we left the house for the event. I wanted to get a picture of James in his kilt. [Joshua keeps claiming that men with mustaches always look like they are smiling ... I beg to differ. Ha!]
Friday, January 18, 2013
Grandma Chisholm
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Alma Quotes
(As Joshua walks in the back door at the end of a work day around dinner time and finds the kids eating popsicles.)
Alma: Daddy! We are eating dessert because we didn't have any cheese!
(Alma and James in the downstairs bathroom while she washes her hands. She points to a sheet of paper covered in stickers that is hanging on the wall.)
Alma: James, I earned those stickers by completing my pooping lesson.
Alma: I'm Cinderella. Daddy, you are a cracker.
Alma: Daddy! We are eating dessert because we didn't have any cheese!
(Alma and James in the downstairs bathroom while she washes her hands. She points to a sheet of paper covered in stickers that is hanging on the wall.)
Alma: James, I earned those stickers by completing my pooping lesson.
Alma: I'm Cinderella. Daddy, you are a cracker.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Milestone: Staying in bed
Alma recently got a clock that determines when you toddler wakes up. We moved Alma's wake up time from 5:30am to 7am (over the course of the last few weeks). It's awesome!
We first set the "bunny wake up time" (which isn't an alarm, but just the light silently switching from highlighting the sleeping bunny to the bunny-about-the-town) to a time earlier than she was getting up (5 am) and then moved the bunny wake up time back 5 minutes every day. She is either excited to see the bunny awake when she gets up or, if she gets up before it is "bunny wake up time," she stays in bed and waits for it. She knows that she doesn't get the reward unless she waits for "bunny wake up time."
Alma is a very rewards-driven child so it works well for us. Rewards in our house are such thrills (ha!) as singing her favorite song (once everyone else is awake), reading an extra book in the morning, getting to give the dog his bowl of food, etc. They don't have to be extravagant and we have even phased them out because she is just excited to follow the rules of staying in bed until bunny wake up time.
http://www.amazon.com/KidSleep-KSCLB-Classic-Blue/dp/B000VVIHPS/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1359574020&sr=8-13&keywords=clock+toddler
[This post is a follow up to Milestone: Getting up from bed]
We first set the "bunny wake up time" (which isn't an alarm, but just the light silently switching from highlighting the sleeping bunny to the bunny-about-the-town) to a time earlier than she was getting up (5 am) and then moved the bunny wake up time back 5 minutes every day. She is either excited to see the bunny awake when she gets up or, if she gets up before it is "bunny wake up time," she stays in bed and waits for it. She knows that she doesn't get the reward unless she waits for "bunny wake up time."
Alma is a very rewards-driven child so it works well for us. Rewards in our house are such thrills (ha!) as singing her favorite song (once everyone else is awake), reading an extra book in the morning, getting to give the dog his bowl of food, etc. They don't have to be extravagant and we have even phased them out because she is just excited to follow the rules of staying in bed until bunny wake up time.
http://www.amazon.com/KidSleep-KSCLB-Classic-Blue/dp/B000VVIHPS/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1359574020&sr=8-13&keywords=clock+toddler
[This post is a follow up to Milestone: Getting up from bed]
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Alma's First Week of School
I received a message from Alma's teacher on Friday giving a report of Alma's week.
Hi! I just wanted to let you know a little about Alma's first few days at XYZ. She has been very busy in class painting, doing art projects, and working with the pink tower and knob-less cylinders among other things. She has had snack daily and seems to adjusted well so far to the basic routine of the day. She has started to get to know a few of the children by either having snack with them or by interacting with them on the playground. These are all positive steps.
As you mentioned, she is very independent and happy to do the things she able to on her own without assistance. She also appears to be very adamant about how she prefers things to be done and what she rather not have to do. Thus, the battle of wills today. She forgot to clean up a gluing work that had gotten messier then she expected and then probably felt a little overwhelmed, so she was upset about that. Then, when it was time to get ready to go home and I wanted to help because you were waiting she became upset again and would not allow me to help.
All of this is fine and adjustments will be made as we progress. I just wanted to let you know what happened today. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to let me know.
Sincerely,
XYZ Teacher
Hi! I just wanted to let you know a little about Alma's first few days at XYZ. She has been very busy in class painting, doing art projects, and working with the pink tower and knob-less cylinders among other things. She has had snack daily and seems to adjusted well so far to the basic routine of the day. She has started to get to know a few of the children by either having snack with them or by interacting with them on the playground. These are all positive steps.
As you mentioned, she is very independent and happy to do the things she able to on her own without assistance. She also appears to be very adamant about how she prefers things to be done and what she rather not have to do. Thus, the battle of wills today. She forgot to clean up a gluing work that had gotten messier then she expected and then probably felt a little overwhelmed, so she was upset about that. Then, when it was time to get ready to go home and I wanted to help because you were waiting she became upset again and would not allow me to help.
All of this is fine and adjustments will be made as we progress. I just wanted to let you know what happened today. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to let me know.
Sincerely,
XYZ Teacher
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Second first day of school
Alma started at the Montessori school today. She was excited to go!
When I picked her up at the end of the school day (8:30-12noon) and asked her if she liked it, her eyes got big(ger) and she said in awe, "yes!" Then she told me how the paper towels to dry her hands were at a level she could reach. Love that that was her favorite moment from her first day.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Happy New Years!
Lesson learned: If you tell a three year old to put her arm around her brother for a photo, make sure you mentioned that she has to let go if he tries to move away from her. But please note that she is still trying to smile!
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