Greetings friends and family,
The 4 Webbs are home owners... we think. The title company was supposed to call on Friday to confirm everything is posted, but didn't. Guess we'll hear for sure on Monday?
We survived the hottest August ever recorded in Phoenix. I'm not sure if that is good news or bad news, just the facts. The troublesome part is that the summer just won't go away. It's mid-October, but lucky for us Kendra didn't pack the swim gear... yet. Otherwise, washing the car in the 97 degree heat this evening wouldn't have been nearly as fun. Easton and Layla were soaked from running back and forth through the hose.
The cul-de-sac was flooded all the way around so they ran laps splashing in the puddles. It's not like we get rain frequently enough to go play in the puddles. So we make our own!
Two clean, dry cars resulted in two dirty, wet kids. It was a fair trade though because I was entertained the whole time.
Don't play with your food! Most of the time this is part of the broken record spinning during each meal. However, there are times when it's just irresistible. Like a hand-full of raspberries with a hole in the top just perfectly sized for a three-year-old's fingers.
I took a few close-up pictures of Layla as she played on her princess computer. Then she asked if I would take a picture of her WITH the computer. She arrived at the show-and-tell stage of life over the past few weeks due to the introduction of it in school.
Now every time a new guest arrives at our house we have 5-10 minutes of the twins showing random pictures they drew and toys. Nothing wrong with that! By the way, I have a few key learnings to pass along.
1. interruptions - We learned how to deal with this by observing the teacher-student model at their pre-school. When a parent is talking to someone via phone or in person there is a protocol implemented to allow the child to interrupt. Commonly it comes across like this: "Mommy, mommy, mommy, MOMMY, mom.... Mommmmmm... MOMMY" until finally the mother cuts the conversation and says, "WHAT IS IT!?!?" Instead, the protocol we are teaching is for the child to quietly place their hand on the adults forearm and wait for acknowledgement. Then the adult places their other hand on top of the child's. That way the parent (or teacher) knows the child has something to say and child knows the parent is acknowledges the child's request. When the conversation is done, then the adult addresses the child with full attention. This is theory, but also works in practice. I saw it at school and we are working on it at home. Is this common practice? It could be common, but I just wasn't observant over the past few years until it really mattered with my own kids...
2. Free coloring pages. There is no need to ever buy another coloring book. Easton and Layla love to color and I found the not-so-secret way to go above their expectations virtually for free. With a coloring book there is a theme and some pages are more interesting than others. However, if you follow this process the child gets exactly what they request with immediate gratification. Here's how the amazingly simple process works:
go to google.com
type in "coloring pages" and whatever you want to find
click on the most appropriate link
Find the picture you like
Print it out. That's it.
for example, I type in "coloring pages airplanes" and get this result, which Easton loves: http://www.coloring-pages-kids.com/coloring-pages/transportation-coloring-pages/airplanes-coloring-pages/airplanes-coloring-pages-gallery.php
The twins give me very specific requests such as, "Ariel mermaid princess in a shell". I can do that! http://www.altelco.net/~coulson/PrincessColoringPages/ariel02.pdf
I print off three or four picture requests and have a great time with the three of us coloring the pages together. It's free and fun. two things I really like.
Speaking of free, I'm getting free tickets from work for excellent adventures. The weekend was jam-packed from the dual alarm clocks (Easton and Layla) to the moment I laid my head on the pillow. I admit it was busy only because we chose to fill it. Even so I'm looking forward to Monday morning getting back to work so I can rest. :)
See you soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment