B.M.W.B #44 Little Things
It was Monday afternoon and I was aware I really had nothing to talk about this week and so I thanked my internet accountability team (that’s you, you are my unpaid staff!) and we made chalk paint.
I found this on pinterest (surprise, surprise!)
equal measures of cornflour and water – I used 1/3 of a cup of each and mix.
I poured them into teeny muffin tins and let the boys colour their own
Then we went and painted with them on the driveway.
Dinner was baking in the oven and the sun was shining.
It didn’t take all afternoon but it was restful and focussed and we chatted and listened to Bounce as he sang with delight.
The liquid changes to a chalky powder as it dries and it lasts for ages (especially when you can only find super fine brushes!!)
Having dinner organised in the middle of the day and an attitude that the afternoon is for the boys with me made Monday afternoon beautiful. (and with a 5am start it could have been otherwise!!)
This year I am making more of a conscious effort to have quality moments with my boys. B.M.W.B (becoming the mama I want to be) is my way of recording and hopefully inspiring other mama’s too.
Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be.
B.M.W.B # 43 – Team Work
This week I want to talk about being the kind of team I hope to be. As you’ll know I’ve just had an extended weekend with The Atlas in Melbourne, and while who would turn down a wonderful city break it is much more than that to me.
As a mama of boys I am very aware that they are watching me all the time. Seeing how I talk to The Atlas, how I talk about him, the tone, the volume the words. I am showing them what they will grow up to expect from a wife (and I do hope they have one, one day a long, long time away!!!). I am setting the tone for their understanding of how women feel, behave and think about and towards men.
While in some ways this freaks me out I also think this is something I need to take seriously. The Atlas is an amazing man and a man very deserving of my honour, support, love and delight.
Sometimes he comes home to a grumpy, huffy person I am ashamed to say, and it’s not just him I let down by that I also let my boys down.
Getting away together for special couple time is such a treat for our relationship but it is also about being the mama I want to be. A mama who loves her man and puts that relationship first.
When Mama and Papa are on the same team, hand in hand, back to back and laughing together then we are giving our boys a wonderful launching pad and a safe landing-place.
This week being the best mama I can be has meant taking time to delight in the relationship that made this possible and the relationship that will, I hope and pray, continue in a healthy, happy way long after our babies have flown the nest.
This year I am making more of a conscious effort to have quality moments with my boys. B.M.W.B (becoming the mama I want to be) is my way of recording and hopefully inspiring other mama’s too.
Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be.
(I realise it is probably very unfashionable and very unPC to talk about being a ‘good’ wife but actually I just think that is a shameful measure of our culture. I have married a good man and I want to be a good woman to match.)
B.M.W.B #42 -Practical Generosity
As a parent I think a bit about what kind of boys I hope my sons will be when they are adults.
At the moment the main words I think about are – strength, compassion, gentleness and generosity. The thing is though these things are kind of hard to measure so I am trying to get them to practice these things now at their own age level.
We have just finished putting together our Operation Christmas Child boxes which we have done together for the last 2 years. I love the way you can watch videos of children receiving their gifts, read stories that make you realise your impact and how the boys can pick stuff they would love to get.
This weekend we also shared a stall at a local crafty market. Jamie (another chch blogger) and her daughter generously said we could have half their table. So during the week we made treat-y foods and Flip spent time studying the Gifts For Life catalogue, because I promised them for every thing they made at the market they could choose gifts from the brochure to buy. I love that they were happy and excited about that. It didn’t occur to them that they should be making money for themselves.
The market itself didn’t offer the best weather (check out the little faces above!) – by 10am this is what we were like to shelter from the rain and the wind was blowing all our little signs around. Some other lovely stall-holders bought some bits from the boys which they loved.
We came home cold and wet but happy we had just stocked up the firewood!! Then Ma and Aunty N came round and we made them a stall and they bought some more things as well. (I think they were especially keen given the sweet nature of the stall holders and the slow sales they had had!!)
Then in the afternoon on a trip to see friends we also packed up a bag of cupcakes and gave them away – because all generous behaviour is good.
Do you think much about the kind of adults you are hoping to raise?
What characteristics do you most hope for?
This year I am making more of a conscious effort to have quality moments with my boys. B.M.W.B (becoming the mama I want to be) is my way of recording and hopefully inspiring other mama’s too.
Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be.
B.M.W.B #41 – Making it More
This holidays we have had the fun of going to see The Gingerbread Man at the Court Theatre. The tickets are very reasonable for a professional production and the scripts are always lively and well acted.
Part of this who B.M.W.B thing is developing a sense of anticipation and delight with the boys. So to ‘make it more’ we spent the morning before the show making our own gingerbread men. We made the dough together and rolled it out and I let the boys pick 3 cutters each, I do love cookie cutters!
Ma came to join us for the making and the theatre.
Then we packed up little bags of cookies to take to eat while we were watching (they were all eaten while we were waiting to go in!).
Flip had great delight telling the lady at the kiosk before we went in that we had made our own gingerbread men.
It was so sweet watching them watch the show. Flip was so engaged he spent most of the time standing up in half delight and participation (they do involve the audience a lot). At one part when there was a lot of chasing going on Bounce leaped onto my knee and buried himself into me. He quite liked the chasing but the suspense of the chase and catch was too much some of the time. At the end the characters stand outside the theatre and greet the children – Flip got all shy and didn’t want to say hi and Bounce got all confident and high 5′d them all.
Have you ever taken your children to the theatre?
Do you try to ‘add’ to activities to make them more intentional or to add anticipation or a sense of adventure?
This year I am making more of a conscious effort to have quality moments with my boys. B.M.W.B (becoming the mama I want to be) is my way of recording and hopefully inspiring other mama’s too. Please inspire me with the little moments you are snatching with your little people OR with ideas I could do with mine. If you have blogged about it please leave a comment so we can all visit and encourage each other.
Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be.
B.M.W.B # 40 – Taking the Lead
So much of parenting is about adjusting and re-adjusting the limits and letting little ones take more of a lead.
A couple of weeks ago we did some awesome crayon art – Bounce was very upset that the art was hung on the family art wall instead of in his room because he did it. So I promised more crayon art in the holidays. I do love the holidays we are planning to try a few crafty things this holidays!
This time I gave them smaller canvases and freer reign. I still maintained a firm grip on the hot glue gun but they selected it all and then we went for launch.
One of the things I can really struggle with as a mama is the control thing. I let me boys dress themselves and when it comes time to cover books at the beginning of the year I let Flip make most of the choices – these things are both easy and difficult for me – easy because it takes the hassle and drama out of forcing ‘good clothes’ or nicely cut out sensible pictures but hard because you send a stack of books to school with badly cut out weird choices on them – for me these are small sacrifices my pride has to make in order to allow my boys age appropriate choices. Choices that make them think about what they like and trust that they can do it.
Do you find giving your children more decision-making opportunities easy or difficult?
Also I find so much of the time I find mama’s doing great things with their kids – I wondered if you would be keen for me to do a couple of link-ups where people can put in posts of ways they have been more intentional about parenting or cool and simple activities that have allowed them to intentionally invest time with their kids – would you be keen to read these kind of posts from other people too?
This year I am making more of a conscious effort to have quality moments with my boys. B.M.W.B (becoming the mama I want to be) is my way of recording and hopefully inspiring other mama’s too. Please inspire me with the little moments you are snatching with your little people OR with ideas I could do with mine. If you have blogged about it please leave a comment so we can all visit and encourage each other.
Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be.
B.M.W.B#39 – ‘They Used to Read’
The title for this post comes from a poem in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.
Over the last few weeks I have been making a really conscious effort in the afternoons to make myself available for ‘unlimited’ reading time.(after homework and before dinner). We get the homework done and the hungry hippos fed and then I say ‘let’s read‘.
I love trying to get in before my boys so that they don’t feel like I am saying yes to having fun with them after they have worn me down, rather I suggest it – hopefully sending the message ’I'm keen to spend time with you, I enjoy it, you matter.‘ Because that is what I feel in my heart, it really is, just sometimes the urgent things are shouting so loudly I don’t hear my heart whispering it to me.
I never regret this kind of extra time. Never. My boys go to bed quite early and I have time almost every night to do all those ‘important’ things (like folding washing and reading blogs!!!) so I try to remind myself that this time is never wasted.
I don’t always get it right but in the last couple of weeks we have started and finished James and the Giant Peach and we are nearly finished Danny the Champion of the World. Flip has adored them both and Bounce really enjoyed James which surprised me. He listened so intently and could do a great job of retelling to Daddy.
The Atlas is so on board with reading to the boys too. As well as being wonderful time together reading aloud to children is so good for their imagination and their love of language. And I hope it fills their lives and memories with the gentle sound of our voices – words and images tumbling together intertwined with a familiar voice communicating love and igniting inspiration with each word.
I finish with this wonderful comment Ange left on my blog yesterday – sums it up perfectly really!
I always buy books, and will always ask for books for my boys. Plastic holds their attention for a moment in time, but books hold their imagination for ever.
This year I am making more of a conscious effort to have quality moments with my boys. B.M.W.B (becoming the mama I want to be) is my way of recording and hopefully inspiring other mama’s too. Please inspire me with the little moments you are snatching with your little people OR with ideas I could do with mine. If you have blogged about it please leave a comment so we can all visit and encourage each other.
Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be.
For other ways I’ve been working on becoming the mama I want to be you can go here
B.M.W.B #37 Encouraging Words
This Sunday afternoon we spent a beautiful time with our friends cycling from Birdlings Flat through to Little River.
Wee Bounce had a very long way to bike given his size and the size of his little legs. Keeping in mind he’s not even 4 yet.
A 7km bike along a gravel trail with some big winds and a few midge swarms.
He worked so hard, he came off a few times, he kept cycling – pump, pump, pump went his little legs. He arrived a while after everyone else on the first leg, even though he started with the leaders, and I stood up (we were having a break by the lake) and cheered him in – his wee face lit up and he zoomed in with a burst of renewed energy.
On the 2nd leg he and I rode together and we told jokes and chatted – side by side taking all the time in the world. No ‘hurry ups’ just side by side – together.
Later I heard The Atlas whispering his approval to Bounce as well and I watched as he glowed. Those words are fuel to his love tank and he grows inside every time he’s given them.
I love that as a mama I have the privilege giving these life-giving words to my little men and I know those words mean the world to them.
Don’t forget to enter my yummy September giveaway!
This year I am making more of a conscious effort to have quality moments with my boys. B.M.W.B (becoming the mama I want to be) is my way of recording and hopefully inspiring other mama’s too. Please inspire me with the little moments you are snatching with your little people OR with ideas I could do with mine. If you have blogged about it please leave a comment so we can all visit and encourage each other.
Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be.
B.M.W.B #36 – Mum’s Shop
I get the Simple Savings emails once a month and quite some time ago someone had written in how they run a shop for their children every now and again instead of them going to the dairy and being over-charged for stuff.
I loved the idea – for me it’s about teaching financial skills as well. In a dairy the owner (and me!) just want them to pick something and get out. Many moons ago I worked in a dairy after school and I used to love the kids who came in with their 30c and picked out their lollies one by one asking ‘do I have anything left?‘ after each selection.
Over the last couple of months I have bought extra bits and pieces at the supermarket and other places and kept a record of the prices so I can charge the right amount (hate rounding with 10s though such a shame we have no 5c pieces any more).
On Friday after kindy Bounce and I set up the shop. Then after school – no homework hoorah! – we had 2 other families over (if you are going to go the effort…) and the kids all brought their money and came to ‘Mum’s Shop’. I borrowed a cash register (play one) from kindy and had all my change ready to go.
It was really interesting how the kids shopped – highlights for me were:
The youngest shopper who bought a ball and a mini-chocolate bar for his $1 and then asked me for some more money
My Bounce (3) who bought one thing, sat quietly eating it and then came back to the shop again, ate, returned until he was finished (he had money left at the end and he was done with shopping).
Flip (6) added all his purchases up in his head and bought everything at once. All the others just picked something and trusted me to do the maths and give them change
Another shopper said, with great delight, ‘you keep giving me money back so I never run out’ (he did eventually!)
We’re hoping to do Mum’s shop about every 4-6 weeks. The boys loved it so much. After the shop had shut they all played. Just before home time Flip decided to hand out spare packets of chips from the shop for free (bless his generous heart) and they all received a ‘taking things without paying is stealing’ lesson. (While the parents quietly laughed). Here’s what the stock looked like at the end and I have money to re-stock:
I really, really enjoyed the afternoon and it was really interesting to me which things went first (balls, glo sticks, chup-a-chups and 50c mixtures) and which didn’t have much interest shown surprisingly I sold more packets of raisins than I did mini-chocolate bars!
Do your children get pocket money? Would you do this?
This year I am making more of a conscious effort to have quality moments with my boys. B.M.W.B (becoming the mama I want to be) is my way of recording and hopefully inspiring other mama’s too. Please inspire me with the little moments you are snatching with your little people OR with ideas I could do with mine. If you have blogged about it please leave a comment so we can all visit and encourage each other.
Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be.
B.M.W.B #35 – Talking
We eat dinner together in our family – every night.
But sometimes we just eat, you know – shovel, shovel, ‘keep eating’, ‘not with your fingers’, shovel, shovel, ‘do I have to eat any more?’…..
Usually we chat (sometimes everyone is talking, sometimes everyone is shovelling), often we ask the same questions again and again. ‘How was your day?’, ‘Who did you play with at lunch time?’ ‘What was the best thing you did at kindy/school today?’….. blah, blah
Recently we did a middle years toolbox course and our facilitator gave us some cool talk triggers. Some were a bit grown-up for our boys but they gave me a good start. So the other day I sat and wrote down 30 questions, some from this list, some I made up and cut them up on little cards.
Most are questions Flip can read and he LOVES the sharing time, the asking, the finding out new things. We don’t use them every night but they give us a chance to freshen things up and to chat together and be interested in each other.
Do you talk much at the table? Do you have special questions that start great conversations?
This year I am making more of a conscious effort to have quality moments with my boys. B.M.W.B (becoming the mama I want to be) is my way of recording and hopefully inspiring other mama’s too. Please inspire me with the little moments you are snatching with your little people OR with ideas I could do with mine. If you have blogged about it please leave a comment so we can all visit and encourage each other.
Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be.
B.M.W.B # 31 – Watch Me Grow
Blogging has meant I have taken a lot more photos of my boys but taking up this challenge – becoming the mama I want to be has made me watch them more. There is a difference between snapping photos and actually watching. There are photos to record and there are photos to add significance to the person being photographed – you are important and I want to capture this special time together.
Watching without a cell phone in hand, or dinner on the stove, or over my shoulder from the computer (these things still happen in my house more than I’d like them to) isn’t the kind of watcher I want to be. I want to be good at real watching.
So this weekend I accepted the invitation to ‘come and watch me mama‘ as this little one played and played making the rocket launch. I was invited many times and when I went to watch I intentionally watched. At his level. Talking to him. Making enthusiastic comments.
I’m far from perfect but I am so loving that this special project is making a difference to the people who matter most. Are you a focussed watcher or do you find yourself easily distracted?
This year I am making more of a conscious effort to have quality moments with my boys. B.M.W.B (becoming the mama I want to be) is my way of recording and hopefully inspiring other mama’s too. Please inspire me with the little moments you are snatching with your little people OR with ideas I could do with mine. If you have blogged about it please leave a comment so we can all visit and encourage each other.
Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be.
