Helpful Mom

Sorry it’s been so long.  Last week was a crazy whirlwind, 3 book sales, the Ronald McDonald house garage sale, and catering dinner for 60, all along with all the normal day to day things with the girls.  Thank goodness for a supportive husband, naptime, and preschool mornings.

So today I was making easy pretzels which the girls absolutely loved making and they were very easy.

The recipe goes as follows from:                                                                   

1 package of yeast and 1 1/2 cups of warm water mixed together until the yeast fully dissolves.  Add 1 tsp. salt, 1 Tbs sugar, and 4 cups of flour.  Mix and knead the dough until it is smooth.  Roll and twist the dough into letters, numbers, or other shapes.  Lay the pretzels on a greased sheet, brush with a beaten egg and sprinkle with salt.  Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes.

The girls really got into it.  They love to help me bake anyways but this had lots of fun steps for them to get involved.  As we added the flour I told Katrina that we needed 4 cups of flour and I had put 1 in how many more do I need?  3!  And so on, she thought it was great and I knew I’d snuck in a little basic math.  They loved helping to knead the dough and of course creating all kinds of letters and shapes.

They come out pretty white not brown like pretzels, so if you wanted to color them it would be another fun opportunity to teach about mixing colors.  Funny the girls now ask me all the time what different color combinations would make, and we buy those Trix yogurts by Yoplait that come with two colors in the package and they want me to mix them together to see what colors it makes.

Another fun thing we do is let the girls play with water in the kitchen sink.  They just love to fill up containers and cups and pour them out, over and over and over.  To do this with a minimum of mess I always lay a bath towel on the floor before they start.  Then bring in our all wood chairs from the dining room and turn them so the backs are against the cupboards, all the way in so their fingers won’t get pinched accidentally.  They each get their chair so they don’t push each other off.  And I always take their shirts off because as hard as I try they are going to get wet.  Also I make sure there’s no knives or other sharp or breakable dishes within reach.

Then all you have to do is turn the water on low and let them have at it.  The two rules in our house is try and keep the water in the sink, ie. no taking cups out water and putting them on the counter where they can get knocked over.  And no touching the sprayer.

It can get a bit messy sometimes, but it is just water after all!  Very easy to clean up and they say playing with sand and water helps kids with math.  Don’t know how but that’s what the experts say. ;P  And while they are occupied you can make dinner, or empty your dishwasher, or make a phone call, or sweep the floors, or read a book, you get the idea.

Kid’s imaginations are so big.  If you just encourage it a little bit they can be or do anything they want to.  Whether it be through dress up, play acting, or building things kids can come up with crazy things.  One day the girls were outside and began saying all their books were flying through the air and they had to catch them.  So went inside and got their butterfly nets so they could “catch” them.  They were hysterical run around the yard catching flying books of all colors.  And they other day we were drawing in the driveway with chalk and they asked me to draw trees, then they wanted them to be apples trees.  So I added apples and Katrina was upset because she couldn’t get the apples off it.  I told her of course she could, just pretend.  Instantly she’s tugging and tugging at this tree saying it’s stuck with honey.  Finally her apple came off and she ran backwards down the driveway.  All it took was that little encouragement and off they went with it.

The greatest combination is kids imaginations and dads.  I think God made dads because they are so good at playing with our kids.  I know sometimes we joke about our husbands being like kids so you should use this to your advantage, God made them like this for a reason.  Did you know research says that dads work different groups of muscles in our babies/toddlers than mothers do?  All that bouncing and throwing them up in the air that we stress over actually helps strengthen their large muscle groups, whereas moms are protective and so are building the smaller muscle groups.  Anyways around here dad always can come up with fun things to do spontaneously, whereas I have to read a book and plan it out ahead of time.   And recently he has begun reading them their Bible stories before bed and then having them act out the stories.  It’s a great way to get them into the story without constantly trying to get them to sit still and listen.  And it helps reinforce the story and can help them remember it.  And once again they are having fun and using those imaginations.

It’s been a fun week so far with a couple more days to go.  On Tuesday we tried out a different beach with the girls.  We went to Ontario Beach Park in Charlotte, NY.  This beach is Free and there’s lots of convenient parking close by.  The beach itself was huge and a bit busier than the one at Hamlin we went to recently, but not crowded.  The sand was very fine and clung to everything, but it was clean and the kids had a blast digging through it, even finding a few tiny shells.  But where the water met the sand was kindof gross, you know the stuff that washing up on shore and such, just kind of mucky.  But since the kids don’t care too much about the water anyways it didn’t affect our goodtimes.  After a while Katrina decided she wanted to walk out to see the “lighthouse”, so we all packed up and walked all the way down

Ontario Park Beach Playground

the pier.  As we went they chased seagulls and spotted “ships”, and even saw a couple of fish jumping out of the water.  When we reached the end of the pier there was a very friendly older gentleman fishing who the girls really took to.  Katrina has been telling us for a while that she wants to go fishing so she was fascinated and full of questions, and he was more than willing to explain everything.  Finally we told her it was almost time to leave and if she wanted to play on the playground we needed to get going.  Which worked well and both girls really enjoyed the very large playground.  It’s very central and is made up of 4 different playground structures plus a couple swingsets.  It was the busiest playground I’ve been to in a while but it is very new and shaded.  Shaded is always nice because the slides and things aren’t to hot to play on.    Also FYI there are a number of public bathrooms that are free and open to use during the park hours.  And there are faucets where you can wash all that sand off before getting back in your car ;P

Ontario Beach Park has many different water activities, swimming is allowed daily 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. during the summer, for water conditions call 585 753-5887. There is also a boat launch off of Ferry Street, for season passes call 585 753-PARK (7275).

Fishing is allowed in Lake Ontario as long as those fishing are age 16 or over and have a fishing license. For fish regulations (size and season) please contact the County Clerks Office.

Monroe County’s historic Dentzel Menagerie Carousel at Ontario Beach Park in Charlotte is open for the 2008 Season. This year is the carousel’s 103rd continuous season at the Park, where it first opened in 1905.

Ontario Park Beach Carousel

The Carousel’s 2008 Hours of Operation are: Noon to 9:00 p.m.

The Carousel’s 2008 Price Schedule is, as follows:

• Single Ride — $1.00
• Punch Card (12 rides for the cost of 10) — $10.00 **Valid Any Time**
• Wrist Band (Ride All Day) — $5.00 **New in 2008**

There are also free Concerts by the Beach that are held every Wednesday night throughout the summer.

For more info and directions check out their website.

Has this ever happened to you?  My daughter says I’m hungry.  So you start pulling everything out of the diaper bag one at a time to which she says no, no, no to each one.  Then you have the whining and fussing as you try to explain that is all there really is, as if you are hiding the good stuff somewhere.  So one day I decided on this quick easy fix.  I bought a lunch box that I keep in our diaper bag.  Each morning before we go out I make sure it’s packed with about three different healthy choices, like a baggy of cereal, grapes, and apple slices.  Then when she asks for food I can just hand her the lunch box and she can pick out whatever she likes.  It gives her healthy, non-messy options, and lets her exercise her ability to choose for herself.  And it ended that debate about if there was anything else, now she can plainly see that all her choices are right there to pick from.

And we keep the treats separately in the diaper bag.  They only get any kind of treat if they have finished a serving of food.  So if she finishes the cereal she would get a Kellog’s fruit snack.  Or they might get a lollipop.  It works really well!  The other day I took Katrina shopping and she’d asked for a sucker and I told her she could have one and we’d get one for her sister too who wasn’t with us, but that she’d have to wait til we’d paid for it and got in the car to eat it.  So she agreed, but when we went out to the car she spotted her bag of cereal she’d started before going into the store and she gave me her sucker back!  Saying she had to finish her cereal first.  I was stunned and amazed.  And what’s funny is I’ve had her do that again since then!  It’s one of those small victories that you have to step back and appreciate.  Realizing that they are learning even when sometimes it doesn’t feel like it.

I used to feel guilty about rewarding eating with treats but then I read this great book called Creative Correction which said that even God used rewards and incentives with the Israelites.  He would say if you obey your parents you will have a long life, or if you follow me I will take you into the promised land.  So if even God offers incentives to His children then why can’t I.  And I recently heard Dr. James Dobson say that the whole world is operated by incentives and rewards.  You go to work and get a paycheck.  Noone is going to work if they aren’t receiving something in return.  So there is nothing wrong with offering reasonable rewards or incentives.  I’m not saying go crazy buying them stuff but there’s no reason to feel guilty about rewarding your child.  It works, my kids know not to ask for treats all the time because they know the answer is no.  And they are learning that it’s important to eat the healthy things first, if you aren’t hungry enough to finish the good stuff then you certainly don’t have room for a lollipop, and learning what foods are good for you and what things are just not.