Bedtime Chain Reaction

When you have only one child, each stage of development and each transition to "something new" requires a three step plan: 

1) Deep thought and mental preparation for the parents

2) Lots of motivational and encouraging speech directed at the child

3) The Perfect Moment to implement the change

That all changes when child number two, child number three, and child number four arrive on the scene.  With each subsequent child the plan condenses into a shorter and shorter period until step one no longer exists and step two consists of "You'll like it.  Stop crying!"  Even the Perfect Moment morphs into "Quick, we have a chance right now!"

Take tonight, for example.  We have known for a while that Brynn had outgrown her toddler bed and needed a "big girl bed."  With Brynn out of the toddler bed, Blair could have it and vacate the crib.  With Blair out of the crib, Cam could upgrade from the pack and play.  In the past, when Ian made each of those changes(crib to toddler bed to big bed), we made them gradually.  The new bed was set up.  Maybe he napped on it for a few days first.  Then he made the final change, after we had pumped it up as something "Big Boys Do" for a whole day.  We followed "the plan."  With the younger three, we chucked the plan out the window and went with the new plan: NOW.

Brynn got her twin bed:

Blair got her toddler bed:

And Cam got his spacious new crib:

All in one night, with almost no preparation or motivation.

If you want my advice, skip the three step plan, because the kids are all asleep and the new Now Plan works just fine.

Hooked On Painting

Painting just never gets old.

Nap Time, Pipe Cleaners, and Quiet

 Did anybody else have a little trouble adjusting to Daylight Savings Time this year?  March just seems so early for that change.  At our house the grumpiness associated with changing schedules occurred on Monday rather then Sunday, so when afternoon nap-time for the little ones finally arrived, I did not want ANYTHING to interrupt it.  My big kids, however, had other ideas and my dreams of a peaceful afternoon were quickly turning into nightmares.  I had to think of something before disaster struck and the little kids woke up crabbier then ever.

My fall-back for such situations is to do a project, so I dragged Ian and Brynn into the kitchen (the room farthest from the nappers) and asked a very dangerous question: "So, what do you wanna do?"  I was so desperate to keep them quiet that I would have allowed almost anything, but to my joy and surprise they both answered "Shamrocks!" and were promptly shushed.  I thought I was in the clear, until I discovered that my beloved first-born son had already used up all of the green paper in the house.  I almost panicked until a package of pipe cleaners fell on my foot.  Given the situation, I decided I could work with pipe cleaners.

 I did a little experimenting, and came up with a workable design.  I was forced to use black because the kids had grabbed all the green before I got a chance.  I wasn't gonna fight them for any, because they grabbed quietly, and that was the whole goal.

 Brynn needed some help with the twisting and bending, but Ian was determined to do it himself.

 Once all the green pipe cleaners were used up, the kids moved on to other colors and even combinations of colors.  I know that blue and red shamrocks are not traditional St. Patrick's Day colors, but I was very willing to sacrifice authenticity for silence.  When they eventually tired of  bending pipe cleaners into shamrock shapes, we strung them on a green string and hung them in our front window.  Just in time for the end of nap time.

 Happy St. Patrick's Day!

***

And in case you want to know how to make your own silence preserving pipe cleaner shamrocks, here is my method:

Supplies - 4 pipe cleaners

Step 1: Bend the ends of the pipe cleaner together and twist, creating a one-inch tail.  Form the loop of the pipe cleaner into a heart shape.  Repeat two times.

 Step 2: Arrange the heart shapes with one heart up, one to the left, and one to the right, with the tails forming a cross.

Step 3: Slide the remaining pipe-cleaner behind all the crossed tails and through the point of the upper heart.

 Step 4: Fold the pipe cleaner down over the tails and pinch it tight.  Then twist the "stem" pipe cleaner tightly, incorporating the tails of the three hearts until they are held tightly together.

 Step 5: Reshape your three leaves, if necessary, and voila - a shamrock.

Irish Chalkboard

The Valentine's Day chalkboard came down, and a traditional Irish blessing in honor of St. Patrick's Day went up.

I first encountered this poem in a wedding card, and although I am not typically poetically inclined, I haven't forgotten it.  Here is the full text:

"May the road rise up to meet you, 

May the wind be always at your back,

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

The rains fall soft upon your fields,

and until we meet again may God hold you in the palm of His hand."

Paper Weaving

Another Tuesday, another Project Day.  This week the project was paper weaving, and after a quick demonstration the kids went to work with a will.

Some had a few projects with technique.

Some had bigger problems with scissors and cutting.

But in spite of these difficulties they all turned out some very colorful and creative weavings.

If You Are Lucky, You'll Find a Four-Leaf Clover

Source: siopa.com via Dana on Pinterest

Well, we haven't caught a leprechaun yet (see this post), but the traps are baited for the night and we'll see if we get lucky in the morning.  Speaking of good fortune, did you know that the phrase "Luck of the Irish" is not necessarily about good luck?  Apparently the phrase was intended to be ironic, because the history of the Irish people has been more unlucky then lucky (Potato Famine, conquests by the Danes and the English, and political and religious upheaval to name a few difficulties).  So be careful the next time you claim to have the "luck of the Irish" because it might come back to haunt you.  If you believe in such things, you have a better chance at luck if you can find a four-leaf clover.

With a foot of snow on the ground here in Wisconsin, it is unlikely that we'll find any clover, let alone a four-leaf variety, so we decided to green up the inside of our house with some shamrocks of our own making.  We went old-school, with some fan-folded paper and a design that stretched from one fold to the other.

It took some fast talking on my part, but I managed to convince the kids to limit their color palette to the green family. 

Then they decorated in whatever way they wanted.

I enjoy seeing their different personalities expressed, even in a simple project like decorating green shamrocks.

We've also read a little bit more about the history of St. Patrick's Day and we learned some interesting tidbits about shamrocks.  One interesting fact was that while many people these days wear green clothing on St. Patrick's Day, the "wearing o' the green" traditionally meant that you were wearing shamrocks in your lapel (and at times this was illegal) .  We also learned that while shamrocks are a symbol for all things Irish, they hold special significance on St. Patrick's Day because it is said that St. Paddy himself used the shamrock to teach the pagan Irish about the Trinity.  One leaf symbolized God the Father, one leaf stood for Jesus, and the third leaf was for the Holy Spirit.  Together the three leaves made one plant, just as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are united as One God.  The kids were fascinated by this idea, and it lead to a lovely spiritual discussion about missionaries and God and talking about Jesus.  I'd say that's the best kind of ending for any project ever!

A New Holiday

Last year, near the end of March, Ian asked me if there was a "green holiday."  I think he was still tired out after all the pinks and reds of Valentine's Day.  "There is St. Patrick's Day," I said, "but I'll need to check the calendar to find out when that is."  Clearly we are not an Irish or a Catholic family, or a family that indulges in a green beer if the holiday is right.  As it turned out, we had missed St. Patrick's Day by about a week, so Ian made me PROMISE to "do the Green Day next year."  

Yesterday was March 1, and we began our preparations for this new (to us) green holiday.  The first step was a little Social Studies unit on St. Patrick's Day.  We read about who St. Patrick was and why he was important to Ireland.  We also read some background material on the traditional St. Patrick's Day symbols like the shamrock and the leprechaun.  Our first activity was to make Leprechaun Traps.

The story goes that the Irish fairies would dance all day and wear out their shoes.  So, the leprechauns would stay up all night, while the fairies were sleeping, and repairing the dancing shoes.  The fairies would pay the leprechauns with gold.  The leprechauns got very rich, thanks to this arrangement, but their gold was never enough.  One way to get more gold was to find the pot filled with gold at the end of each rainbow.

To set a Leprechaun Trap, you use some sort of box that will hold the leprechaun once he is caught. You decorate the box with rainbows, so the leprechaun thinks that there is a pot of gold just waiting.

You also bait the trap.  Foil-covered chocolate coins are the best, but we only had mini candy bars.

The leprechaun goes for the bait and then falls into the trap.

If you catch a leprechaun you can hold him for ransom, since he is very rich.  At our house, if you don't catch a leprechaun you get to eat the bait.  I'll be eating lots of bait, just so ya know.

Stay tuned for other St. Patrick's Day projects and fun.