Sunday, April 6, 2014

Can you hear me now? Yes I do!!!!


So I have the most wonderful exciting news about Callum!!!!  He passed his first hearing screening ever :) The tubes and meds worked!

It's my hope that now that he is hearing the worst is over.  It has been a long road to hoe and now we have our big good news.  Friday was just a wonderful day :)  Of course we have to see how his year end evaluation goes and how the Summer but while the speech articulation issues were so cute I want this chapter to be close for this little guy!

It's good to be Queen!

I love the movie Frozen, and I think it is just awesome!  For many reasons the funny songs, Olaf, sisters who love each other, and of course having our first Disney Queen :)

I'll admit, I'm an Elsa pusher.  I've never been too thrilled with the Disney Princess obsession for my little girl.  Many people tell me all the time that I'm silly but I still believe in the power of hegemonic structures and the influences they have on our kids!

One example I've noticed is that I've never watched Batman having the need to settle down.  Lego Batman (Harm's favorite movie) he doesn't even have a girlfriend.  But that is very different for little girls.   Recently in Walmart I spied this toy:

And while there is nothing wrong with cleanliness I never seemed to be able to find the Captain America Cleanliness is the key to Freedom boys cleaning kit.  This is not the first time of course.  I remember seeing this book at Hastings with similar disdain:

Again I searched in vain for Thomas the Tank Engine wedding spectacular coloring book but despite my best search again it never materialized.  I guess that is why I like Elsa.  She has a sister who falls in love and that is great.  She doesn't find someone in that movie and that is fine too.  She has kick A powers and is a great queen. 

I don't want to raise my daughter thinking her worth needs to be tied to a man.  I pray I can raise a little sweetie pie who knows marriage is a wonderful thing, when it's right (the same lessons I will strive to teach my sons) but don't let it define your self worth.

Personalized Education...

I don't think that there are no solutions for perfect education in America.  I have friends who swear by public school, swear by private school and I even have those friends who are the most daring type of parents of all: the homeschoolers.

Harmon and his favorite gym coach David

We are at another transition point for Harmon.  College Heights ends school at Kinder and so Harm is going to have to transition schools no matter what next year.  We also are struggling because our little twins were born on August 28 and if we are going to red shirt (hold them back a year) them, now is the time to do so before they start kindergarten.

The hardest choice though I feel is Harmon.  He is doing so well.  He has tested on a second grade level for both math and reading.  He has just done so well but it hasn't been easy.  He is easily distractible and struggles to listen.  His teacher, Mrs. Moon has been in education for about thirty years and she is the daughter of the founder of his private school.  That wonderful woman runs a tight ship and I'm so grateful for her.

I don't believe in skipping grades for a child's emotional health.  Chris feels private school is too sheltering for the kids.  I think if we can find a program that is similar and teachers who with patience and love like we've had at College Heights is a great option.  I worry because teachers in LCPS have a lot of students and it can be difficult to provide one on one attention to each student at a different academic and emotional level in each class.  Than again Rachel has attended the DD-Pre at Mesilla Elementary for about a year now and the program is amazing.  Mrs. Kelli and Mrs. Laura are truly the bomb diggitys of education.

No solution is perfect and it won't be easy.  These are the times as a mom I wish there was a magic 8 ball to me the best solution.  I'm so proud of my big little man and I want him to have the best.

Weight Obsession and Fat Shaming in Pre-K???

I was really surprised the other day when Rachel and I asked some pointed questions.  We were outside watching some sports and there were people who were all shapes and sizes.  She observed and started asking me "mommy why do some people have big tummies and some don't?"  "Is it bad to have a tummy?"  I asked her why she was asking me these questions and she never answered.  Harmon has friend who has also been told by his peers that his mom packs too much food, he eats too much and he should eat less.  Man if I were there I think I would have wanted too throttle those kids.





It reminded me of the importance as a parent to encourage healthy eating and lots of physical activity for our kids, BUT also to teach them that we are all different.  God made us each special in our own way.  I myself was a larger kid than most weighing just 100 lbs in kindergarten and much taller than my peers.  It was traumatizing as a child to have so much teasing.  As parents we need to be examples of self-love and teaching our kids not be judgmental.

I loved what a talk once by a member or our church Jeffery Holland "To Young Women..."

"Every young woman is a child of destiny and every adult woman a powerful force for good."  I mention adult women because, you are our greatest examples and resource for these young women. And if you are obsessing over being a size 2, you won’t be very surprised when your daughter or the girl in your Sunday school class does the same and makes herself physically ill trying to accomplish it. We should all be as fit as we can be.   That means eating right and exercising and helping our bodies function at their optimum strength. We could probably all do better in that regard. But I speak here of optimum health; there is no universal optimum size."

It was hard as a larger kid in the eighties and early nineties but I fear in a society laced with photoshop is even worse.  For that reason I think we can't teach our children enough the importance of self-love and encouragement of our peers enough!!!

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Can you hear me now? Yes I do!!!!


So I have the most wonderful exciting news about Callum!!!!  He passed his first hearing screening ever :) The tubes and meds worked!

It's my hope that now that he is hearing the worst is over.  It has been a long road to hoe and now we have our big good news.  Friday was just a wonderful day :)  Of course we have to see how his year end evaluation goes and how the Summer but while the speech articulation issues were so cute I want this chapter to be close for this little guy!

It's good to be Queen!

I love the movie Frozen, and I think it is just awesome!  For many reasons the funny songs, Olaf, sisters who love each other, and of course having our first Disney Queen :)

I'll admit, I'm an Elsa pusher.  I've never been too thrilled with the Disney Princess obsession for my little girl.  Many people tell me all the time that I'm silly but I still believe in the power of hegemonic structures and the influences they have on our kids!

One example I've noticed is that I've never watched Batman having the need to settle down.  Lego Batman (Harm's favorite movie) he doesn't even have a girlfriend.  But that is very different for little girls.   Recently in Walmart I spied this toy:

And while there is nothing wrong with cleanliness I never seemed to be able to find the Captain America Cleanliness is the key to Freedom boys cleaning kit.  This is not the first time of course.  I remember seeing this book at Hastings with similar disdain:

Again I searched in vain for Thomas the Tank Engine wedding spectacular coloring book but despite my best search again it never materialized.  I guess that is why I like Elsa.  She has a sister who falls in love and that is great.  She doesn't find someone in that movie and that is fine too.  She has kick A powers and is a great queen. 

I don't want to raise my daughter thinking her worth needs to be tied to a man.  I pray I can raise a little sweetie pie who knows marriage is a wonderful thing, when it's right (the same lessons I will strive to teach my sons) but don't let it define your self worth.

Personalized Education...

I don't think that there are no solutions for perfect education in America.  I have friends who swear by public school, swear by private school and I even have those friends who are the most daring type of parents of all: the homeschoolers.

Harmon and his favorite gym coach David

We are at another transition point for Harmon.  College Heights ends school at Kinder and so Harm is going to have to transition schools no matter what next year.  We also are struggling because our little twins were born on August 28 and if we are going to red shirt (hold them back a year) them, now is the time to do so before they start kindergarten.

The hardest choice though I feel is Harmon.  He is doing so well.  He has tested on a second grade level for both math and reading.  He has just done so well but it hasn't been easy.  He is easily distractible and struggles to listen.  His teacher, Mrs. Moon has been in education for about thirty years and she is the daughter of the founder of his private school.  That wonderful woman runs a tight ship and I'm so grateful for her.

I don't believe in skipping grades for a child's emotional health.  Chris feels private school is too sheltering for the kids.  I think if we can find a program that is similar and teachers who with patience and love like we've had at College Heights is a great option.  I worry because teachers in LCPS have a lot of students and it can be difficult to provide one on one attention to each student at a different academic and emotional level in each class.  Than again Rachel has attended the DD-Pre at Mesilla Elementary for about a year now and the program is amazing.  Mrs. Kelli and Mrs. Laura are truly the bomb diggitys of education.

No solution is perfect and it won't be easy.  These are the times as a mom I wish there was a magic 8 ball to me the best solution.  I'm so proud of my big little man and I want him to have the best.

Weight Obsession and Fat Shaming in Pre-K???

I was really surprised the other day when Rachel and I asked some pointed questions.  We were outside watching some sports and there were people who were all shapes and sizes.  She observed and started asking me "mommy why do some people have big tummies and some don't?"  "Is it bad to have a tummy?"  I asked her why she was asking me these questions and she never answered.  Harmon has friend who has also been told by his peers that his mom packs too much food, he eats too much and he should eat less.  Man if I were there I think I would have wanted too throttle those kids.





It reminded me of the importance as a parent to encourage healthy eating and lots of physical activity for our kids, BUT also to teach them that we are all different.  God made us each special in our own way.  I myself was a larger kid than most weighing just 100 lbs in kindergarten and much taller than my peers.  It was traumatizing as a child to have so much teasing.  As parents we need to be examples of self-love and teaching our kids not be judgmental.

I loved what a talk once by a member or our church Jeffery Holland "To Young Women..."

"Every young woman is a child of destiny and every adult woman a powerful force for good."  I mention adult women because, you are our greatest examples and resource for these young women. And if you are obsessing over being a size 2, you won’t be very surprised when your daughter or the girl in your Sunday school class does the same and makes herself physically ill trying to accomplish it. We should all be as fit as we can be.   That means eating right and exercising and helping our bodies function at their optimum strength. We could probably all do better in that regard. But I speak here of optimum health; there is no universal optimum size."

It was hard as a larger kid in the eighties and early nineties but I fear in a society laced with photoshop is even worse.  For that reason I think we can't teach our children enough the importance of self-love and encouragement of our peers enough!!!