HOLY SCHNIKES

I HAD A LONG DAY!
I really feel like today was played out three times at once. Wowsers!

I felt like I had three full time jobs that were mega demanding all at one time all day today.

My 10 year old had her friend over, my 12 year old was sick, my 14 year old was really annoyed by my 10 year old and her friend. One of my twins is sick and the other is annoyed that his twin is sick and not as playful.  I had a full day of kids, housekeeping, playdate organizing, home pre-school organizing,  a billion phone calls, a lot of typing, vacuuming, swiffering, cooking, wiping, entertaining, nurturing, etc etc etc etc.
Everyone and everything was 50x more demanding than usual today!

I can say I am very happy things are calm and it is bed time. Thank goodness.
Later on I will have to amuse myself by watching the new episode of the monstrosity that is Toddlers & Tiaras. what a trainwreck!!

So I bet you might be wondering about the home preschool, right?
A few friends and I that are in a playgroup together have started a home preschool group. We have 19 of us in the group and have spit the groups into a couple of groups.
We are doing a more natural learning type of preschooling. Lots of fun, no pressure or drilling with flash cards, and most of all...great mini projects and field trips!
We have chosen several books, each of us bought one and we are creating 2-weeks-at-a-time lesson plans. We actually start next week! We will do our "schooling" one day per week in a big community room at one of the local libraries. It is free!! We just had to reserve in advance. Then on another day each week we will be going to a local library storytime and craft hour. The other days will be play dates and field trips, depending on the week..with one day per week being a big group day where we meet with the other half of our home preschool group. We want to go with learning through play. Not pressure and drilling and crazy expectations. We wish not to rob our toddlers of toddlerhood....children of childhood etc.

The philosophy........
Children pursue life, and in doing so, pursue knowledge



All of the children in the group were born in 2008 or 2009.

Our first 2 weeks theme is blue. All of our lessons those 2 weeks will revolve around the color blue in some way. Including the snacks, They will be BLUE!

We plan to let them go at their own pace, not to pressure or make them feel like they are in school but to add some smart structure to their daily playdates. We usually hold playdates 5 days a week.



The books we purchased and are working from are:

1.  The Encyclopedia of Infant and Toddler Activities: Written by Teachers for Teachers
2. Gymboree - The Parent's Guide to Play (Gymboree Play & Music)
3. The Preschool Calendar
4. The Complete Resource Book for Preschoolers: An Early Childhood Curriculum With Over 2000 Activities and Ideas
5. The Complete Daily Curriculum for Early Childhood: Over 1200 Easy Activities to Support Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles
6. Montessori Play And Learn: A Parent's Guide to Purposeful Play from Two to Six
   
   
   
    
Field Trip ideas so far:  Zoo, art museum, feeding ducks, pumpkin patch, strawberry patch, grocery store. Have them find 3 items each and add to cart, cupcake decorating at one of our houses, splash pad, park to collect leaves, stones, sticks, etc...make a nature day, park to play but add some light learning with the play wish us luck!

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Him Not Nice Mama

About 2 yrs ago I went into Apples to Zinnias with my friend, Wendy and the LGs. The LGs were still in a stroller. When we walked the man working there looked like he was going to blow a gasket. He followed us around and made us feel really unwelcome. I called the next day and talked to the owner. The owner was as nice as could be and apologize profusely. A week later I went in and bought the wallet I had been trying to look at when I was in there the first time.

Today I had A LOT of time to kill in Orlando so I met Wendy at Borders. After that we went to lunch, then I asked her if she wanted to go to A to Z with us. She said sure.

As we walked into the store I saw the employee behind the counter bristle as if he had just seen something that really makes him angry. I told the girls they could touch things with 2 fingers but could not pick them up. As we rounded a corner Avery came face to face with her first Christmas tree of the season. She was touch, touch, touching it. I repeated my touch but dont pick-up rule a few times. I noticed that the employee (who was still behind the counter talking to another patron) was visibly upset everytime one of the girls touched or even looked at something. He would lurch forward and make an audible noise, like he wanted to yell "STOP!!!!"

I saw that Avery was bending my rule a bit. She was taking two ornaments and "tinking" them together. Not pulling them off the tree but making them touch so that they made a pretty noise. I told her a few times to stop. She wasn't listening. In my head I thought, 'I could make her stop. then she would move on to something more expensive or I could take my chances with the $12 ornaments. ok, I would rather pay for those then something $100 that I dont want.' So I kept walking and the clerk was getting more and more upset. I was about 3 feet away from Avery with Emerson in between the two of us and the clerk yelled, "Hey, They are not listening to you!" I of course was already on edge due to the way he was acting so I turned around and realized he was the same guy from 2 yrs ago. Here is a paraphrased version of the conversation(yelling match) that happened next. I am not proud of my self for loosing my temper. I am trying to be a better role model for the girls...I do believe though that I did a lot less yelling then he did.

"Your the guy who was nasty to me the last time I was in here!"
"Probably, if you had them with you."
"Let me talk to your manager."
"Im the owner."
"I dont think so."
"I'll bet you $50, 000 I am!"
"whatever, If they break something I will pay for it."
"YES, YOU WILL PAY FOR SOMETHING IF THEY BREAK IT!"
as if the fates were listening my gentle little Emerson who was standing right in front of me picked up the ugliest ceramic reindeer ever and dropped it.
"OK, YOUR GONNA BUY THAT!"
"IT'S NOT BROKEN!!!" and it wasn't

"Emerson Avery, come on we are leaving."
"Good. (something I dont remember, but it wasn't nice)"
Avery looked at me and I said, "Come on we are not welcome here." and she started to cry (like a fit cause she did not want to leave) "No, Avery we are leaving...Wait actually cry, cry like you you've never cried before." She just looked at me like, 'what? you've never asked me to cry before...'

Im thinking I need to plan a playdate with all my Mothers of Multiples friends.

When we left I had to go sit to calm myself down and Wendy then told me he was talking about me and the girls to the other customer. Avery said, "Him not nice, Mama." I agree Avery, him not nice.

For those of you who own a business...here's a little customer service advice: If you are worried about a child breaking something all you have to do is engage the child. Talk to them about the things they are looking at. Show them other "shiny" stuff. It does two very important things. 1. It lets you keep tally of what the kid has it's grubby little hands on. 2. It gives the parent time to SHOP!!! SPEND MONEY!!!

I was in retail for over 10 yrs... I should know...

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