High Maintenance Mom

I'm working a night shift on the big island of Hawaii watching the Halema`uma`u vent and data feeds. My 16 days of working 8pm to 4am are almost over and while I love being here, I miss my family. I have to admit that not being able to talk to the kids because of my hours has been really hard. I've been sending pictures by email and writing postcards but it's not the same. If ever do it again, I will spend more time setting up video calls with our computers for the weekends.

Knowing the night shift was going to be hard, I brought several comfort items from home.

Summer Reading Programs are an excellent way to introduce kids to the joys of libraries and reading. Many libraries now have Listening and Parent programs too so everyone can participate. Reading to your kids is one of the best ways to prepare them for school and help them develop lifelong reading skills (Reading is Fundamental). Last year was B's first year in the Reading program instead of the Listening program and it was very exciting. We still read to him but we also had him read a little bit almost every night. Reading the same books over an over really helped as did finding a very simple series that he found interesting. Each child learns to read at a different rate and making the process enjoyable is very important. N and I snuggle with books in the evening. I let him finish the words at the end of rhyming sentences he knows and I occasionally point out words so he starts to learn more about how I read. Check out Read*Write*Now! for more information on reading to kids from birth until the 6th grade.

One of B's favorite days at school was 100's day (on the 100th day of school). B loved counting the school days in his classroom and was very excited for the celebration. In addition to counting out 100 snacks, decorating a crown with 100 stickers, and stringing 100 pieces of cereal into a necklace, the kids also got to search for 100 Hershey kisses. Each of the kisses had a sticker on the bottom with a number written on it. The kids had to match the numbers on the candy to numbers on a large paper Hershey kiss. It was fun to watch the smiling kids try to match the numbers and I wanted to see if N would enjoy a similar activity at home...

Easter comes early this year, March 23rd, so I am thinking ahead about how I will spend it with my husband, 2 year old daughter and 4 month old son. I have decided that instead of an Easter basket full of chocolate (since I will be the only one eating it all) I will fill it with books. My daughter can not seem to get enough books in her hands and she does need a few new "big girl books" as I call them.

LEGO bricks are 50 today. Did you know the name LEGO was formed from the Danish words "LEg GOdt", which roughly translates to "play well". In Latin, the word means "I put together" (the translator I found said to gather). Important LEGO features for play were identified as: unlimited play potential; for girls, for boys; fun for every age; year round play; healthy, quiet play; long hours of play; development, imagination, creativity; the more LEGO, the greater its value; extra sets available; quality in every detail (from Brick Fetish). See the Brick Fetish for timelines and pictures of the old sets, the LEGO timeline for more information on LEGO History, along with the Wikipedia Lego Group entry. And you can always check the LEGO site for New LEGO sets and the sale section to Save up to 50%!

Teaching the kids to say thank you is an important part of the holidays for me. We try to break down the process to fit our kids abilities - saying thank you on the phone, "signing" their name on a card, drawing a picture, telling me what to write, writing a few words themselves, to finally writing complete sentences. Of course we have to make the time to do it but once we do, we can often write one thank you note every night or every other night. Having cute stationery and fun stamps really helps the process. As always, there are cute holiday stamps available but if you look online there are also more kid oriented super hero stamps (from Marvel and from DC Comics) and Disney (with the little mermaid and with Aladdin).

"We have the good Legos at school", my son tells me as we look at all the fabulous Lego sets in their enticing boxes. "Which ones", I ask concentrating on picking a set I would like to build. "The ones without the instructions." It takes me about a minute to figure out, with B's help, that the "good ones" are any Legos in a big box that you can use to build whatever you want. At age five I was looking to graduate B from the Duplos to the "big kid Legos" but he didn't seem to want to relive my youth with me. The realization that he wanted a big box of pieces or in my mind, the aftermath of buying a few sets, loosing a few pieces, and putting everything that was left into a box, felt like waking rested from a coveted nap to a quiet house...

It's Fire Prevention Week and the National Fire Protection Association is scheduling the Great American Fire Drill (check out their pdf fire plan checklist and grid). Pick a day in October, make a plan, then practice. Afterwards, record your drill on sparky.com (a fun site for kids who love fire trucks). Lego City and NFPA are also running a trivia sweepstakes.

As I've mentioned in the past, I often fall prey to marketing. Show me a fun placemat and I want to purchase it. However, many of the placemats I find are not exactly what I want. Plus, some of them have very thin lamination, not the nice thick style I use at work. And that's when I realized I can make my own placemats for the kids with things they like or things I want them to remember...

Check out zoo images including the zebra and horse crossbreed. My kids love pictures of animals so we are always looking for fun images.