Goal #1 of 2010: Reading

I have always loved to read fiction. But, I have a problem when I read fiction: I get really crabby, lose sleep and don't do anything else.

Basically I get addicted to the book.

So I haven't been reading very much fiction. When I do pick up a novel I give myself strict guidelines - like I can only read it when I am using a stationary bike or after every single thing on my list is crossed off.

I have had a stack of nonfiction accumulating on my nightstand. Parenting books, nursing books, marriage books. Books I have really been wanting, needing to read.

Parenting books- they have good ideas, good suggestions etc, but mostly they just help to keep me focused on the task at hand: raising my children.

Nursing books- I have some career goals and I like to keep learning, reading through these would be beneficial to my job.

Marriage books- This has taken a bit of a backburner, because honestly, if you read parenting books you are reading marriage books. Parenting books teach you how to stay calm, how to listen to the other person, how not to be controlling, how to only change what you can. Marriage books kind of say the same things. As do self help book. So though I will probably throw in a couple books on marriage, these are not toppest priority. Although if you have any suggestions I will take them.

So my goal for 2010 is to read 1 chapter a day of something. This has been awesome because I add it to my daily list as a simple "chapter". It only takes about 10 minutes to get through a chapter, and when it is on my list I get it done during the day because it takes less time than say "Polish all the woodwork in the house" which may be one of the other things on the list. I can do it while the kids play, while I am making lunch, while they are in the bathtub. And it keeps me focused on my parenting for the day.

I didn't think that one chapter a day would get me very far, but it is the end of January and I have already read "Bringing up Boys" by Dobson and am almost done with "Parenting with Love and Logic" by Cline and Fay. Next up is one about raising up a Daniel which I need to get from my mom and the "strong willed child". Then I may take a parenting book break for awhile and concentrate on something else.

Any other life changing books I should read?
(keep adding suggestions to my last post about good, easy kid chapter books. Maybe I will keep a list and let you know how my kids liked them!)

Books!

The boys and I love to read.



I am so thankful that from an early age they were willing to sit on my lap for long periods of time listening to fairly lengthy books. (I have been told that they could only do that because I read so fast, that I can get through "A Baby Sister for Frances" in the amount of time it takes an average person to read "Goodnight Moon". But whatev.)



And they don't wreck books either, which is an extra bonus.



So I gotta tell you it is SO FUN to be able to move into even longer books with more intricate plot lines. I love to watch their earnest little faces wondering if they are following. Oh, but they are. They catch it all. And they ask questions. Lots of questions.



Of course we do have some problems. There are three of them and I only have 2 sides. And a lap that is getting smaller daily. So there is a lot of jockying for position these days.



We have also added books on CD for car listening. We rotate between the books, Adventures in Odyssy and music CDs. I never realized though until we started listening to books on CD how much time per day we were spending in the car. It is pretty crazy when you can finish a 2 hour book in 2 days.



These are the "bigger" books we have read:



The Littles Series (they LOVE all of these)

My Father's Dragon

Elmer and the Dragon

The Other Dragon One (can't remember the real title)

Magic Tree House 1-10 (I do a little editing in some of these and we discuss a lot)

Trumpet of the Swan

Charlottes Web

Stuart Little

Mr. Popper's Penguins (in middle of)

4 Boxcar Children books (they like the exciting parts, but there is a lot of talking in some of these)

A Cricket in Times Square


We have also been reading the little stories out of "What Every 1st Grader Should Know" which covers basic fairy tales etc. And then of course we just get our regular books from the library.

Any other suggestions? We started Little House in the Big Woods once, and they liked the chapters with Pa and wild animals but the descriptions of the 9 patch quilt and the rag doll did not impress them. I will read them Farmer Boy this year though.

Star Wars Art

The boy's room is covered in Star Wars Art.

The picture on the left is the first one Deacon drew for his friend Colin. Can you guess who it is? (I know small motor isn't actually my kid's thing- and if drawing Star Wars makes him want to write and draw, well, I am all for it!)

Here is a close up. See the smiling face? (Sorry these are sideways- I took them horizontally)

This is the second attempt. He decided not to use the first one because Yoda was smiling, and well, "no one smiles in Star Wars. They are always serious. Because they are cool."

See Darth Vader? I need to work on my handwriting. I wrote it out for him, and obviously my "d" in Vader looked like a "c and an l" because that is what he copied. Oops...

My personal favorite? Jabba the Hutt or as the boys call him, "The big worm". Does Hutt have one T or two? It is Hutt, isn't it?

Must brush up on my Star Wars knowledge. Noah is getting laughed at by his coworkers for sitting at his desk answering a bunch of questions about SWs when the kids call. I told him I was just going to have the boys send emails and he could circulate them so all his coworkers could have a shot at answering too.

Controversial Monday: Human bed warmers

Have you seen this news story about human bedwarmers ?

Of course it is a European thing :)

The whole thing seems creepy to me.

Then again, I have a really hard time using a public toilet if I see the person who was in there right before me.

Which is kind of funny, because I am not a germaphobe. And I don't have any squemishness about public toilets in general. It just creeps me out if I actually see a person come out of a stall and than have to go in right after.

But I digress. Or maybe I don't.

What do you think about a Human Bedwarming Service? Would you take a job like that? Would you accept a service like that? Or is it just creepy?

Overheard

Noah was at the Y before work the other morning. He was walking out about the same time as a middle aged woman. The woman, he said, was dressed up and obviously heading for work.

She passed by 2 elderly men sitting by a table shooting the breeze.

Noah passed by a couple of seconds later, just in time to hear one man say to the other, "Boy, they sure look better when they leave than when they come!"

We laughed.

Towels in the Tub

I know some of you caught this on twitter or facebook, but I thought I would repeat here for documentation of my life purposes.

The boys were taking a bath this week and decided to take all of the towels from the linen closet (save one blue washcloth) into the tub with them.

Nice. Wet, heavy bath towels lining the tub.

They wanted me to go downstairs and get them some new towels to dry off with, for they were cold.

Of course I didn't. I handed them the lone washcloth and we had a little convo about consequences for our actions.

Gotta love natural consequences.

So they dried off, got dressed and warmed up.

Somehow, I don't think they are going to go down that particular path again.

There will always be a new one.

Controversial Monday (on Tuesday)- Paintball Edition

One of my goals for this year is to do some reading (more on that tomorrow). One of the books I am currently reading is "Bringing Up Boys" by Dobson.

I have had this book for a few years, but when I started it at that time, I was in the throes of spit up, sleepless nights and breastfeeding and quite frankly I had no interest in reading about social pressure on boys, feminism and boys and schooling for boys.

So I shelved it.

But now it is applicable, pertinent and very interesting to me. ( I am sure I will be sharing some more things I am learning in regards to parenting in 2010 in the coming days).

He covers a lot of information and statistics in this book. It has solidified my desire to homeschool my kids (he likes homeschooling, but does not think it is the only way) and to severely curtail violence in media.

Which brings us to the topic of the day.

Paintball.

My boys have swords and toy guns. They also like to use my thermometer and curling iron as guns. We have rules in the house, though about weaponry.

You don't shoot at or whack unarmed persons.
Be aware of what is in your space.
No head hits.
You don't aim your gun at any person unless you guys have come to some sort of shoot out organized game.

I don't even encourage that.

So when one child walked up to another one with his ping pong gun and shot him in the chest, the gun was removed for 3 days- even though it didn't hurt and the other child didn't care.

I don't want my kids to get desensitized.

I don't want them to crave the power of a weapon.

I don't want them to look at a person, any person, laying on the floor begging for mercy and still shoot them. Even if it only with a nerf weapon.

Mercy triumphs over judgement.

So I don't care if they play with nerf weapons. But I want them to respect the weapon. Embrace the responsibility that all men with firearms should have.

But paintball? Where does that fit in?

Noah and I take opposite sides on the paintball issue. He loves paintball. I think it is a travesty. It makes me uncomfortable to make sport of shooting and eliminating people.

I think it aids in desensitization.

In the same way violent video games do, it gets you used to pulling the trigger.

Ugh.

So, what do you all think about violent media? How about paintball?