Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Thoughts from a stay at home mom with lots of small kids

Thought # 1

I was so excited this week that my 6 1/2 year old son began writing letters on his own. We have done no handwriting program (he has struggled greatly with fine motor skills). We've done phonics very loosely (we began a program, but with three younger children it got lost in the chaos). We talk about letters all the time and their sounds and read lots of books. A few days ago he was sounding out the letters, coming in and out of the room with a marker in his hand, and then said, "Mom come and see this." So I walked into our newly finished, newly painted upstairs bathroom, and my son says, "Look mom, "C" for Caelan, "A" for Austin, "L" for Levi... all written in red marker on the wall.

What did I do? I said, "Wow Levi, that is so good. Let me show you where you can write some more letters," and I took him to the white marker board in the play room. (Did you know that crayola washable markers do not wash off the wall and cannot be covered by paint alone?)

Thought # 2

After folding my 4,000th piece of laundry, I was thinking, why do we even fold laundry when we are just going to wear it again soon and go through this whole process. It takes up so much time. I've decided I'm just going to make piles and everyone can dig out their clothes every day.

Thought # 3

Don't have 4 or more kids before growing at least one up that can dress themselves, help someone else dress, and help with house work.

Thought # 4

Find out if your insurance covers counseling before chooseing a profession where you're couped up with many small children in a small space all day long where the highlight of your day is running at least 7 miles with a double baby jogger.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have such a great attitude and are a wonderful mother! I pray for you and each of your kids every morning. Of course my morning starts later, plus you are an hour ahead of me, so you've been at it awhile by time I pray :) I love you and can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

Jean Ohlerking said...

and before you know it, those kids who can go from cherubs to crazies in a split second, will be gone from the house and into lives of their own--and you'll find yourself wondering where the time went...what was he like at age 6? when did i last give her a bath? when did i change the last diaper? wipe the last nose? hold him on my lap and rock him to sleep? ah, right now that may seem a life-time away, but it's more like a breath on this side of kids. the reward however is in the grandkids that come along just in time to fill those empty arms.

i love being a mom. i love being a grandmother!

Anonymous said...

hey there Gina,

it's neat to see what you're doing on a day to day basis....it brings back memories when (our) kids were tiny. We were looking at a picture of Levi when he was 2 at Rachel's b-day party. Wish we could see your kiddos!
We will continue to pray for you guys! Hopefully this comment will go through. I've never done it before.