My two boys (Kent, 12 and Cam, 7) tend to be high energy kids. If they can't get outside, they start to act up. Too much energy, not enough physical activity.
My stepson (Kodey, 18) has signed up with the Marines. He has to finish his Senior year, but if all goes well, he'll start basic training in September. He's been telling his younger brothers all about the exercises he has to do.
Well... this weekend our house was a mini-bootcamp. At any given moment, the boys could be found doing sit-ups, push-ups or jumping jacks. This was an absolute blessing, because none of the boys' friends were around to play with, and the exercise provided an excellent outlet for their energy.
They slept well, ate well and were better behaved all the way around. Hmmmm, could exercise be the new Valium?
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Worth Its Salt (How Cam became a speller)
Our second grader had been having a really hard time learning his spelling words this year. He didn't want to practice them, and even when he did write them, they just weren't sticking with him.
At parent/teacher conference time, his teacher suggested letting him write them with his finger in shaving cream. Uhmmmm, shaving cream is expensive and not reusable. He then suggested flour. All I could see was a huge mess in my living room. We decided to try salt.
I have a dark metal cookie sheet (the kind with the lip around the edges). In salt about 1/3 of an inch deep, Cam wrote his spelling words. He'd write a word, and then slide the pan side to side to clear it. When he was done, we poured the salt into a Ziploc bag, so it could be used again the next night.
By Thursday night he knew his words, and came home Friday with a perfect spelling test. His second test, last week, was a 14 out of 15. YAY, Cam!
The funniest thing is last week he decided to just write them on paper with a pencil for practice. Maybe the salt method was the confidence booster he needed. All I know is it worked!
At parent/teacher conference time, his teacher suggested letting him write them with his finger in shaving cream. Uhmmmm, shaving cream is expensive and not reusable. He then suggested flour. All I could see was a huge mess in my living room. We decided to try salt.
I have a dark metal cookie sheet (the kind with the lip around the edges). In salt about 1/3 of an inch deep, Cam wrote his spelling words. He'd write a word, and then slide the pan side to side to clear it. When he was done, we poured the salt into a Ziploc bag, so it could be used again the next night.
By Thursday night he knew his words, and came home Friday with a perfect spelling test. His second test, last week, was a 14 out of 15. YAY, Cam!
The funniest thing is last week he decided to just write them on paper with a pencil for practice. Maybe the salt method was the confidence booster he needed. All I know is it worked!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Cozy Calm
My youngest son has not slept through the night consistently since he was born. He's gotten better in the last few years, but there are still 3 nights out of 7 when he wakes in the night - usually due to bad dreams.
He went to bed at 7 pm. He usually watches Mythbusters before he falls asleep. He was down for the count before the episode ended. AND, he slept 9 hours straight! He has slept soundly, and woken up chipper, every night since.
Eileen also gave Cameron a Cozy Calm Weighted School Lap Cozy™. It's sort of like a lap blanket and Cameron uses it when he is sitting at his desk at school. It's amazing! It stops the fidgets and allows him to focus on his schoolwork.
Full disclosure - Eileen has been a friend for the last 17 years, and I also do some writing and editing for her website, CozyCalm.com. If I hadn't seen how well the blanket and lap cozy work with Cameron, I would not be posting about it. As Cameron says "Thank goodness for Eileen!"
He went to bed at 7 pm. He usually watches Mythbusters before he falls asleep. He was down for the count before the episode ended. AND, he slept 9 hours straight! He has slept soundly, and woken up chipper, every night since.
Eileen also gave Cameron a Cozy Calm Weighted School Lap Cozy™. It's sort of like a lap blanket and Cameron uses it when he is sitting at his desk at school. It's amazing! It stops the fidgets and allows him to focus on his schoolwork.
Full disclosure - Eileen has been a friend for the last 17 years, and I also do some writing and editing for her website, CozyCalm.com. If I hadn't seen how well the blanket and lap cozy work with Cameron, I would not be posting about it. As Cameron says "Thank goodness for Eileen!"
Monday, October 19, 2009
Sticker shock, anyone??
Having raised two children to legal adults and still in the process of raising two more, I am well and goodly acquainted with the image of a sick child on the couch, puke bucket within easy reach and keeping one ear cocked in the dead of night for the sounds of wheezing, crying and/or retching. I am also intensely familiar with the worry of "should I take my child to the doctor or will rest, fluids and love make this better?"
We've been fortunate to have health insurance, but even still, co-pays for ER visits, urgent care visits and prescriptions are money out of pocket for us, and we try not to consult doctors for every little thing. So, when I read this line, "By changing to co-insurance, people are more aware of costs and the hope is that they'll be more careful about how they spend their [health care] dollars," said Schilmeister." in this article, Employees face 'shockingly higher' health costs, I was rather offended.
Our family eats healthy, gets lots of exercise and sleep. We try to be proactive about our health. I use homeopathic methods whenever I can (homemade chicken soup, herbal teas, lots of orange juice and apple cider) to build up our immune systems so that when the germs come knocking, it's not so easy for them to get in. We also go out of our way to play safely. The boys aren't doing things on a daily basis that would land them in the Emergency Room.
Our insurance costs will be going way up, because the HMO we were part of is no longer available. We'll have a deductible for the first time ever. The problem with this is that we most likely won't reach the cost of the deductible, so we'll be paying our healthcare costs out of pocket and a premium on top of that. It seems as though it would be smarter for us to just put the money we would spend on health insurance into a savings account and pay our own health care costs with no middle man involved.
The downside to that is what if, God forbid, I get breast cancer, or one of the kids needs to be hospitalized, or my husband is in a car accident on his drive to or from work? Then we'd meet the deductible for sure. And hospitals aren't keen on treating patients who don't have health insurance.
So, I guess, what it boils down to is we're damned if we do and damned if we don't. I'm off to make more chicken soup, at least that's affordable.
We've been fortunate to have health insurance, but even still, co-pays for ER visits, urgent care visits and prescriptions are money out of pocket for us, and we try not to consult doctors for every little thing. So, when I read this line, "By changing to co-insurance, people are more aware of costs and the hope is that they'll be more careful about how they spend their [health care] dollars," said Schilmeister." in this article, Employees face 'shockingly higher' health costs, I was rather offended.
Our family eats healthy, gets lots of exercise and sleep. We try to be proactive about our health. I use homeopathic methods whenever I can (homemade chicken soup, herbal teas, lots of orange juice and apple cider) to build up our immune systems so that when the germs come knocking, it's not so easy for them to get in. We also go out of our way to play safely. The boys aren't doing things on a daily basis that would land them in the Emergency Room.
Our insurance costs will be going way up, because the HMO we were part of is no longer available. We'll have a deductible for the first time ever. The problem with this is that we most likely won't reach the cost of the deductible, so we'll be paying our healthcare costs out of pocket and a premium on top of that. It seems as though it would be smarter for us to just put the money we would spend on health insurance into a savings account and pay our own health care costs with no middle man involved.
The downside to that is what if, God forbid, I get breast cancer, or one of the kids needs to be hospitalized, or my husband is in a car accident on his drive to or from work? Then we'd meet the deductible for sure. And hospitals aren't keen on treating patients who don't have health insurance.
So, I guess, what it boils down to is we're damned if we do and damned if we don't. I'm off to make more chicken soup, at least that's affordable.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Halloween Costumes... on the cheap
Halloween is just around the corner. With the economy the way it is, and money being tight for just about everyone, I thought some frugal costume ideas might be in order. You don't have to spend a lot of money for your kids to have cool costumes, but creativity definitely comes into play.The little boy above is my son, Cameron. Cameron was Harry Potter for three years running. His costume didn't cost me a cent. First off, he reminds me of a young Harry. Second, his older brother donated a flannel shirt. Cameron's costume consisted of too-short jeans, a t-shirt, a flannel shirt over that, a "wand" and the scar and glasses (until he actually needed them) were drawn on with eyeliner and lipliner by yours truly. Everyone who saw him knew who he was dressed up as - some people even addressed him as Harry.
My daughter went as a black kitten when she was little. She had a headband with cat ears attached, and wore a black turtleneck and leggings. Again, eyeliner and lipliner were used for face paint.
Other suggestions I can make are Farmer, Doctor, Chef, Painter - whatever your little ones want to be. Goodwill, thrift shops, friends' closets and yard sales are great resources for pulling together an original costume. If you're crafty when it comes to sewing, shop the clearance racks at textile shops. Or head to Target or Walmart after Halloween to pick up pre-made costumes at 75% off for next year.
What are your kids going to be for Halloween? Any other suggestions for costumes?
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Back to school prep
My boys start school September 8th, so this is the week for back-to-school preparations. Orientations, making sure all school supplies are present and accounted for, sorting out clothes, buying new socks and such. I've already misplaced a box of "fat" markers and a box of fine lines. And we still need to get a pencil sharpener for my 7th grader, but other than that, I think we're good.
I bought a few extra boxes of crayons and a multipack of glue sticks. I have a basket where I store pencils, crayons, markers, scissors and glue so that when the kids come home with assignments, but forget the "art supplies", they have no excuse for not completing their homework.
The other thing I'm doing this week is checking the fit of their light jackets and winter coats. Once I know which ones we're keeping, I'm washing them and hanging them on child specific hooks in our stairwell. I live in the upper Midwest, one never knows when it'll snow. Next on the list is hats, mittens and boots. Ugh.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
When a child goes missing...
Last week, one of my youngest son's friends (8 years old) went missing. Her grandmother had no idea where she was and hadn't seen her in hours. A police officer showed up on our street to ask if anyone had seen her, and what time.
All of the parents on our side of the street spoke with the officer. We all look out for each other's kids, and we were all scared. If one kid is missing, or God forbid taken, what does that mean for our children?!
All's well that ends well in this case. The little girl was playing inside at another friend's house a block and a half away. The officer was impressed with our collective response to a missing child. Every parent used whatever resources were available to track her down. He said it made his job much easier.
Some important info came out of this experience...
All of the parents on our side of the street spoke with the officer. We all look out for each other's kids, and we were all scared. If one kid is missing, or God forbid taken, what does that mean for our children?!
All's well that ends well in this case. The little girl was playing inside at another friend's house a block and a half away. The officer was impressed with our collective response to a missing child. Every parent used whatever resources were available to track her down. He said it made his job much easier.
Some important info came out of this experience...
- Ask/tell your kids to let you know where they will be playing, and keep you updated if they change location
- Introduce yourself to your kids' friends' parents
- Know where your kids' friends live
- Get phone numbers!
- If a child goes missing, understand that your child will most likely be anxious and/or scared. Be honest and reassuring when explaining what's going on. And give lots of hugs and kisses.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Boys and (dis)Organization
I'm so proud of my middle school son! He handed me his mid-term report today and he's doing SUPER well. That was not the case eight weeks ago. What changed?
Kent has always had a hard time with organization. It's not necessarily a skill people are born with. It can be taught, though.
When it became clear he was having a hard time keeping track of his completed assignments - which meant they might have been completed, but not handed in - I put together a 3-ring binder for him. In the binder, I included pocket folders corresponding to each class. When he finishes an assignment, he puts it in the folder. The binder goes with him to every class.
Last quarter he was practically failing his classes. Now, he has all As and Bs, and NO missing assignments! It worked and I'm proud of him, but more importantly he is feeling better about himself and enjoying school again.
Kent has always had a hard time with organization. It's not necessarily a skill people are born with. It can be taught, though.
When it became clear he was having a hard time keeping track of his completed assignments - which meant they might have been completed, but not handed in - I put together a 3-ring binder for him. In the binder, I included pocket folders corresponding to each class. When he finishes an assignment, he puts it in the folder. The binder goes with him to every class.
Last quarter he was practically failing his classes. Now, he has all As and Bs, and NO missing assignments! It worked and I'm proud of him, but more importantly he is feeling better about himself and enjoying school again.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Spring in Minnesota
My husband and two youngest boys went hiking at the nearby State Park yesterday evening. They had a great time, but both boys came home with a tick attached. My 7 year old was actually bitten, the 12 year old had one burrowed into his sock.
The two ticks that are commonly found in Minnesota are the Blacklegged Tick (formerly known as the Deer Tick) and the American Dog Tick. There are 13 kinds of ticks, but these are the two that feed on humans.
The Blacklegged Tick carries Lyme Disease. According to the CDC - "Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected blacklegged ticks. Typical symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans. If left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system."
For a list of ways to avoid being bitten, click here.
The two ticks that are commonly found in Minnesota are the Blacklegged Tick (formerly known as the Deer Tick) and the American Dog Tick. There are 13 kinds of ticks, but these are the two that feed on humans.
The Blacklegged Tick carries Lyme Disease. According to the CDC - "Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected blacklegged ticks. Typical symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans. If left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system."
For a list of ways to avoid being bitten, click here.
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