7 Quick Takes (Vol. 1)

I just wrote up my first 7 Quick Takes post at our family blog Wonder and Will, but thought it might be fun to do one just on what the kids are exploring in Jammies School of late:

~1~

Nina and Luke both need me to create some pounding work for then. They have been using the golf tees from their former hammering work activity into just about everything, including cardboard boxes and – much to my chagrin – a couple holes they noted in the walls. Then – yikes! – they absconded with a meat thermometer from the kitchen drawer and tried to start pounding it into the kitchen floor while I was putting laundry away. Oh no! Follow the child, Mom! Get that new pounding work activity put together, soon. (And, yes, that pciture is an old one - of their former hammering activity.  I was too --um, angry, dumbfounded to take a photo of their self-created ones lately.)

~2~

Nina loves her practical life work. As soon as she sees me doing any spray-cleaning, she runs for her little spray bottle and cloth to do doorknobs and light switch plates. Too cute! And, a great boon for keeping winter germs at bay.

~3~

Luke is ready for career exploration at four! This week he informed me that he no longer wants to be a priest. He wants to be a paleontologist so he can be around “lots of dinosaurs all the time”. But, since Nina wants to be a Mommy who marries God (a layperson of some sort perhaps? Or a Mother at a Convent working with orphans???) he is going to be paleontologist Daddy. And, he wants a big house. Why? For all his children. How many? Sixty! Yep, Luke thinks big!

~4~

Nina loves practicing homemaking skills already! I just mentioned baking the other day and she ran for her apron and kerchief. I didn’t even have the ingredients and bowls on the table when she told me she was ready – and she was... so cute in her cooking attire. My little lady!

~5~

Nina needs me to put together some fine motor work for her. Otherwise, I am going to continue to find her doing cute, but annoying things like sticking paper clips into the little hole at the bottom of the plastic leg from a Lego table or sticking Hi Ho the Cherry Oh “apples” (she calls them apples, not cherries) into the base of Luke’s punching bag. Again, follow the child, Mom! Provide the work they crave so they don’t create their own...

~6~

Luke has started reading – a little. Mat. Cat. Sat. He read me the entire first Bob Book the other day even when I covered the picture cues on him. It’s slow going, but so exciting. As much as I cannot wait for him to just explode into actual reading, I also treasure this just-beginning stage.

~7~

The kids chose to sit in the car the other day while I unloaded groceries, so they could watch the birds flying to and from the bird feeders we put out. Well, when I unbuckled Luke, he immediately got out to follow a “chickadee-dee-dee” while excitedly telling me he’d seen a titmouse and a black crow. It’s so much fun to have them learning to name and appreciate God’s many creatures... Then, when we called Daddy later in the day to say hello, Luke told him he doesn’t want any scarecrows anymore, because he “learned to like them” by feeding them. I guess been internalizing something about kindness to all God’s creatures as we say our prayers and read about saints. Yay!

See other folk's 7 Takes over at Conversion Diary.  Fun to see what is on everyone's minds...