Rainbows to chase grey skies

Last week we implemented a new part to our daily routine; Craft and Art Time. For the most part it has just been Lucien and I drawing with crayons, but I am wanting to get into some other activities as well.

After reading a post by FroggyMama, I got the inspiration to create some rainbow fairies of our very own! Using food colouring and yes, those are baby wipes, we first dyed all the sheets in the primary colours.

Then we overdyed half of the sheets to create the secondary colours, and when we were done, ended up with 12 sheets in red, blue, yellow, green orange and purple. One colour each for mom and Lucien.

Of course, the moment I hung them on the line the grey skies opened up, and we had to rush to hang them in the bathroom.

It took them a full day to dry, so the next day's activity was to create the little fairies. Lucien was able to help scrunch up the wool for the heads, but after two quickly lost interest. Lego was more important!

I used some dogwood left over from the Holiday Wreath I made last year, and I think it made for a very nice centrepiece! Mind you it wont stay, as soon as I have the shelf up for my Nature Corner, I think I shall move it there.

Changes to Bake of the Week

I was trying to think of a way I could archive old Bake of the Week posts, and with the seperate page, that just doesn't work. So I'll be making them as blog posts, but then linking to each post on the seperate "Bake of the Week" page. So to start things off, here is the post from last week:

Cheese and Spinach (in our case, Swiss Chard) Scones
Adapted from the Joy of Cooking

Mix together until it becomes the texture of cornmeal:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4-6 tablespoons butter (or a combination of butter and shortening)

Mix in 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese, and 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh spinach or swiss chard

Make a well in the centre, and add quickly 3/4 cups milk, and still until the dough just starts to come away from the sides of the bowl.

Scrap out the dough and place on a well floured surface. After thoroughly dusting your hands with flour, begin to knead the dough, adding more flour if neccisary until the dough no longer sticks to your hands.

Roll out to 1/2 inch thick, and cut into small rounds (about 1 1/2 inches in diametre). At this point it is recommended, though not neccisary, to brush the tops with milk or melted butter. This gives the scones a beautiful golden glazed look. Place scones on a cookie sheet, and bake at 450 F for about 12-15 minutes.

Very yummy, and if stored in an airtight container, will keep for almost a week in the cupboard!

Stubborness...

As a mother, I am slowly realising (after being beaten over the head several hundred times by my beloved partner!) that children thrive on routine. They are miniature creatures of habit, and find comfort and confidance in knowing that their little world works and stays the same. Why else do they act out, or have drastic changes in attitude and behaviour when their world as they see it, comes crashing down? (Such as the birth of a sibling, or moving to a new house.)

Routine is something that I struggle with, and always have. By nature, I am a spontanious individual; whether it is a product of my chaotic and inconsistant childhood, or just who I am, I rebel against routine with every fibre of my being. I need the excitement, and even the craziness that routine tends to suppress. And it's not just routine of doing certain things at certain times, I even have an innability to always put certain things in the same place everytime; my purse, for example. (Which always leads to a panic of "Where is my purse?" each time we leave the house.) I know Chris has long had issues with my lack of routine, as he also needs routine and consistancy to be truly happy in his life. But as a couple without children, we just dealt with it. I brought excitement and spark to our lives, and he kept us grounded. Now that we have the boys however, I am slowly (and occasionally doing so kicking and screaming!) coming around to the idea that routine is something very important to have in the lives of children.

I am also realising that routine does not mean you do the exact same thing, everyday. Instead, certain important daily milestones, such as nap, meal, or bedtimes occur at the same time of day or night.

I have tried to install new routines in our home several times in the past, but I always tried to completely revamp the way we did things. In the end they became failures as I could not adjust to all the changes, gave up entirely, and went back to the chaos that was before.

So like all new things, I've had to go about it in baby steps. Two weeks ago, I started by making sure the mealtimes were consistant: breakfast was at 7:30, snack at 9:30-10, lunch at 12, nap at 1:00, snack again at 3:00 (or whenever Lucien wakes up from nap), and finally dinner at 5-5:30. Lucien's bedtime was always supposed to be at 8 o'clock, but before we always struggled getting him down before 9. Since making meal and naptimes the same time, everday, we've barely had a fuss from him. We start toy cleanup at 7:00 (which has had the added benefit of getting him involved with chores), bath/shower at 7:30, and by quarter to 8 we're in bed, reading stories. Most of the time I don't leave the bedroom until 8:15, but we're getting there.

Then last week I started doing my cleaning first thing in the morning after breakfast. With only short interruptions for snack time, I do my best to have all the day's cleaning/chores done before lunch. Except of course laundry, which I never seem to see the end of!

All together, I think this has had a greater impact on myself than anyone else. By the time I get a chance to rest and relax after Lucien has gone to sleep, the house is always clean and tidy, and I feel better knowing that I don't have to catch up on a million things the next day.

The positive effects have also been noticable on Lucien. Nap and bed times are no longer the fight they once were, and all around he is just a more well behaved child. I know it's still early, but I think routine and consistancy of schedule is slowly creeping in to other aspects of our lives. In respect to dissipline, having a routine is also helping me with being consistant in parenting in general. If Lucien knows before he does something what kind of consequence he'll face, he's more likely to think twice about his behaviour. And if he makes mistakes, it will be no surprise what the result will be. Parents it seem, just need to be more like hobbits:

"...you could tell what a Baggins would say on any question without the bother of asking him."

I am always complaining too, that I never have the time in a day, a week, to get in everything I'd like to do done. With this routine, I'm finding that times like now, when both boys are sleeping, I have the opportunity to work on the blog, my knitting, or my artwork. I get a little me-time. On top of that; this week I am adding in a regular craft time, just after afternoon snack, for Lucien and I.

I wanted time to work with Lucien on his ABC's and numbers, and to explore colours and shapes, but before could just never fit it in. It doesn't have to be long, I figure if I can squeeze in half an hour, or 40 minutes focusing on this, then we're doing great!

All-in-all, for someone who is so easily distracted, this is going well. I do not become overwhelmed with the chores, and I find more time to just enjoy being a mom. I do worry what will happen once I have to go back to work, but I suppose once this routine becomes second nature, it will be much easier to adapt.