Things Making Me Happy

At the end of last week, I had a minor mini breakdown. My anxiety skyrocketed. I fought with my husband- not a novel thing, but I recognized old patterns in the way I couldn't drop it, stormed away and stormed back again, louder this time. I isolated myself from people who I wanted badly to see. I stood at coffee counters, firmly telling myself I'd feel much better with tea or water, and walked away with large drinks full of stuff that would make my heart race. Little bells went off- this isn't normal. This isn't right. The little bells are lifesavers and such proof that I've come so far. I thought about how crappy I'd felt on Thursday and Friday, and felt sad that that used to be every single day.

The culprit was yoga, or lack thereof. I had been going once a week to an hour long class and then doing SUPER LOW EXERTION workouts on a little elliptical I keep in my office a few other times. It was nothing that was sculpting my body or blowing my mind, but apparently it was keeping things together. I got thrown off my routine two weeks ago when I had to be out on weeknights, and exercise dropped off the plan. I felt the difference SO HARD. And I felt so lucky to be able to notice, analyze, and trace back to the source. This is a skill I took forever to develop.

Anyway, that awareness is making me happy. So I thought I'd share a few other things making me happy right now.

1. Horoscopes

I love them so much. Right now I'm really, really into the Astrotwins. They have daily, weekly, and monthly horoscopes for every sign and I check in every morning. I love how reading horoscopes lets you see how you're feeling about yourself- whatever person-specific things bubble up as you read are the things you are holding close to your heart. I don't overthink them, but I let them inspire me. I also check out Susan Miller and Chani Nicholas.

2. New Clothes

I don't buy new clothes very often, but I splurged during Modcloth's Memorial Day sale. The thing I love about Modcloth is the community aspect- the reviews are full of honest and detailed descriptions, especially from fat people. This makes me feel so much more comfortable shopping. I know they were recently bought by a different company and am warily keeping an eye on how things play out, but for now, the business side of things went well! I bought a romper patterned with umbrellas and storm clouds, a LBD for my sister's bachelorette, a green skirt (which I own in yellow and get countless compliments on), a heart-patterned tank top, brown saltwater sandals, and a red dress patterned with ice pops for my anniversary party. I have to try everything on this weekend, but I wore the romper to Book Expo this week in New York and no one tried to sell me tickets to the Statue of Liberty, so I think I blended in among the city people. Being a fat girl in a romper was a fashion goal achieved! 

3. Summer plans

Last year was the summer of moving, and house stuff took up every second of my time, This summer is the summer of family, and that's where my focus will be. My sister/best friend is getting married in October, and this summer brings a lot of pre-wedding celebration. My son was diagnosed with a developmental delay at the end of the school year, and we're going to be trying to keep a loose "homeschool" schedule so we can work on behavioral tasks he needs to nail before heading back to school. My husband and I have been married ten years in June, and that needs it's due attention. School goes almost all the way through June this year, but we're left with 8 solid weeks to breathe before everything starts up again. I hope to make the most of them.

4. Be Your Own Book Club

IT'S BACK! Our June pick is THE HATE U GIVE, a wildly popular YA novel dealing with the Black Lives Matter movement and a young black girl torn between two worlds. I've been hearing nothing but great things about this novel for months now, both from the industry and from friends, but what really tipped me over was the fact that Cult of Pedagogy (a teaching website I love) is also reading it as part of their summer book club. The chance to hear about this important book from an educator's perspective was too much to pass up. I'm going to try and focus a lot of the discussion on Instagram and on the Be Your Own Lady Facebook page. Let me know if you're reading along!

What's making you happy?

at the moment I'm... no. 5

pictures from our first family trip on the T last weekend

grateful...that everyone is sleeping and it's almost 6 am.  It's been weeks since this morning time was private.  It's a toss up because I do love the extra snuggle I can get when Elliott wakes up early or Milo staggers out asking for milk before his eyes are even open, but this quiet time feeds me.   

sad...that vacation is over.  This would be a no-brainer except I am normally very desperate for our routine and I don't think I've ever gotten to the end of a summer or vacation and not been very excited to get back.  I was kind of startled on Sunday night when I realized I would miss being home with the boys.  Maybe it was because no one was sick this time, or because work stress is more ramped up than I ever remember it being, but I could have gone a few more weeks playing stay-at-home mama.  That's why I'm lucky to be a teacher- April vacation isn't too far away.

dreaming...of the summer.  For obvious reasons, and also because I really want to get into more "homeschool" kind of activities with the boys.  I'm watching Milo's language explode, and I want to capitalize on this spongy period.  Last summer we did theme weeks, and I'm hoping to maybe do color weeks this summer?  Or a week of colors, a week of shapes, a week of numbers, a week of letters.  I also want to ask around and see if any other local families want to come over once a week, just circle time and a craft?  I can't think of anything better.

proud...of my Sunday night food prep.  It took me three hours to food shop, plan, chop, cook, and bag things this week, but all of it was time saving.  I chopped and bagged up five days of veggies for Ben and I for lunches, bagged five days of popcorn for Ben and Milo for lunches, bagged Ben's lunch snacks (I put a cheese stick, fruit snacks, granola bar, and veggies all in one bag to make it easy for him to run out the door) prepped five containers of hummus for lunches, shredded a rotissere chicken, drained and rinsed beans, chopped two heads of broccoli, made a dozen egg and ham breakfast muffins, roasted a pan of sweet potato wedges, cooked a huge pot of a rice, and made a huge pot of chicken vegetable soup.  It seems like overkill, but when I get home from work at 4:20, I have to pack four lunches and have dinner on the table by 6:00.  Add in that I usually want to play with the boys or do some little art project, and I have so little time.  If you're thinking that I should pack lunches after they go to bed, please understand that on a MAJORITY of the nights of the week, by the time Ben gets home, I am very close to falling asleep on the floor with my nose in The Little Blue Truck.

At the moment I'm still rested from our February break and not yet exhausted from being back in the swing of work and classes.  It's only Tuesday, but I'll take it for now.  

*I borrowed the idea of at the moment posts from yourwishcake- her blog is a do not miss. 

Homeschool Summer Activities Round Up

After the first three super productive weeks of Homeschool Summer, things started unraveling a little.  There was a mini heat wave, there were pool invitations.  I started having the occasional meeting for work.  We were all a little tired.  The week's themes started to spread out, and by the end, they had dropped off completely.  Still, I managed an activity here and there that I want to jot down for memory's sake.  

We instituted a post-nap book hangout on Mama and Daddy's bed.  This was great for days when I felt like we had spent the entire time running around and I wanted something intellectual to happen.  Then I'd pop on a movie.  These are some of our favorites mid-summer.

Early this summer, we ditched our normal coffee table and plopped down a big play table I found at a yard sale.  The table top is two removable panels- one side depicts a landscape with trees and a lake, and the other was plain white, until I hit it with a few coats of chalkboard spray paint.  It's really fun to draw roads, words, or designs.  It's also provided valuable lessons about what we do and don't put chalk on.

During food and cooking week, I had Milo help me make pancakes (yum), banana bread, (YUM!), and chocolate avocado popsicles (ugh).  He loved dumping ingredients in, mixing, mashing bananas, etc.  I would also put a small amount of plain flour on the table and let him have a sensory jamboree by sending it flying everywhere. 

We used play food and a tea set to practice setting the table.  Many times I would demonstrate putting the food on the plate or pouring an imaginary drink into a cup, always saying "please" and "thank you" way too cheerfully.  At first he looked at me like I was a lunatic, but by the end of the summer, he is pouring little cups of fake cider from a tiny gallon jug and offering them to everyone politely.  It blows my mind to think of concrete things he had no grasp on that he gets now.

This trunk picnic was a necessity when we needed lunch on a road trip this summer, but I would definitely repeat it, maybe somewhere super fun.  This would be a good end cap to a trip to a different park or after a family hike.  We put down the back seat and laid out a blanket, then ate the most boring food ever, but it was special because we were in a gas station parking lot and there were guys unloading a Dunks truck while we lunched.

Next summer, when I'm planning "Homeschool Summer" or "Stay-At-Home Day Camp," I'll approach it differently.  Less themes with more time devoted to them.  I'll also try to work sensory play, cooking, and art in weekly, as opposed to a week just for those fun things.  I like the idea of still field tripping on Fridays, but maybe something special every two weeks.  I noticed this summer that some of my plans couldn't happen because I underestimated what I would be able to do with both boys- really letting Milo experience a museum or zoo without an extra pair of hands was not in the cards.

We also didn't get outside enough.  I know it's because I'm not an outside girl and I don't really want to pass that on to my babies.  It's just such an ORDEAL to cart Elliott out, find a shady, blanketed area that he can be mildly entertained, get Milo's shoes on, get everyone sunscreened, and be outside for 20 minutes before Milo is bored and we cart everything back in.  Next summer, when everyone is walking, it will either be easier or harder.

All in all, I think Homeschool Summer was a success.  Especially at the beginning, when I was following through, I loved coming up with activities, sourcing books at the library, and finding time everyday to practice language more deliberately.  Milo is talking and communicating much more than at the beginning of the summer, but I honestly think it's due mainly to him growing and the 3x a week speech therapy that he's getting.  Still, we're reading, and talking, and playing together, and that's helping, too.

"Homeschool" Summer: Sensory Week

(Pool noodle bath to kick off a week of sensory experiences)

I'm really behind in reporting how our adventures with "homeschool" summer have been going.  We started off strong, with lots of activities and follow-through on the Friday Field Trips.  Different heat waves and family issues and the laziness of midsummer mean that we're waaaaay slowed down at this point, but let's go  back to happier times...

Sensory Week was definitely my favorite so far.  Basically we got to do something fun and messy every day, and Milo really loved the play time.  In looking ahead to next summer, I'm not sure that we'll do something quite so structured, but I'll definitely have some of these activities on repeat weekly.

Activities We Did:

Bug Fossils in Play dough:  I had some rubber bugs from the party section of Target and we smushed them into chunks of play dough.  It was awesome because they had the perfect amount of detail to look really cool when you peeled them away.  We used the words SQUISH and PRESS.

Ooblech Transfer: Our ooblech came out way too runny, and I would have liked to have different colors in different muffin tins, so I know what I want to try next time.  Still, Milo LOVED moving the ooblech from one tin to another, and rubbing it all over the table and himself to watch it dry.

Rice Bin Disaster: I took the rice bin back out a few times this week.  Here is the aftermath of leaving in unattended for only about 3 minutes.  Milo went insane when he could actually climb in the rice bin and play.  It was worth the mess, but it's been relegated to an outdoors toy.

Shaving Cream Exploration: This was really fun.  Even my first graders love to go crazy with shaving cream, so I knew Milo would like it, but my favorite part was using it like cement to make some awesome block towers.  Everything smelled like a barbershop but it kept Milo from thinking this was whipped cream and he didn't attempt any tastes. Next time I might add a drop of color or start the cream out inside a container and see how he spreads it out.  

Gross Motor Obstacle Course: I was so proud of myself, coming up with a cool obstacle course that got us outdoors and using the whole body.  It was toddler-simple: over the box (you get to jump on the box!), through the tunnel (you love this tunnel!), and throw the ball into the bucket a the end (you throw balls in the house all the time!).  I showed him twice, but Milo was not having it.  He wouldn't try it even once.  Don't let my genius go to waste- try it at your house today.

Elliott got into the act this week, too.  We have a few cloth books with tons of sensory input on each page- cellophane sewn into pages, ribbon and silk pulls, mirrors, buttons, and squeekers.  You can buy these at Barnes and Noble or Amazon, and more talented mamas probably make custom ones that would blow your mind.  I also made him a "play tent" when I felt guilty for needing him to chill in his pack and play one morning.  A few different dangly toys for interest, and a large muslin blanket thrown over the bar to diffuse the light.  He kicked like crazy, which is his way of saying, "I love this, you're awesome, Mama."

For our field trip, we went to the Modern Edge Art Bar in Fitchburg.  Saturday mornings they have a toddler sensory art class, so some great friends watched Elliott while Milo and I checked it out.  It cost ten dollars and there were cool sensory tables set up for free play.  A lot we had seen this week already- shaving cream, a big rice bin (their rice was multicolored, which I liked), play dough...but they also had moon sand, which I had never seen or felt.  It was cornstarch and baby oil, which made the wood floor slippery (and fun!)  The walls also had big areas of chalkboard, magnetic boards with geometric magnetic shapes, and a felt board.  The biggest draw was that you didn't have to clean up the mess.  Milo had fun, chatted with a few different kids, and got SO DIRTY, which was endearing to me in an environment that I didn't have to mop.

We rocked it during sensory week.  

**I've been using these pinterest boards (homeschool summer and talk to me, baby) to help me come up with ideas.  You can also check out our plans for the rest of the summer here

Two Under Two Review: Children's Museum at Holyoke

 The Children's Museum at Holyoke completely took me by surprise when Milo, Elliott, my sister Laurel, and I headed to check it out on Saturday.  I'd never heard of it until it was listed as a part of Fun Free Fridays this summer, and a glance at the website showed some cute exhibits, but I think we might have stumbled on one of my new favorite places.

Things I absolutely loved: 

-The city set up.  There were little rooms off of a main hallway that represented a post office, grocery store, fire station, veterinarian's office, and a diner.  Little people, little world.

-The huge climber that rivals the one at the Boston Children's Museum.  I would never let Milo go in the one in Boston because the sheer number of children is insane.  This one was just as cool with way less mess and Milo had a blast.  (So did Aunt Lulu.  Thanks!)

-Tot Lot, or baby room.  Cute place for Elliott to chill, but the half wall let me wave to Milo, too.

-Giant theater area with stage lights, painted sets, and tons of costumes to choose from.

-There was so much to do, but in a small, contained area.  I could lay eyes on Milo from most places in the museum, which was great and would have been even more helpful if I was there solo with both boys.

-The little corner dedicated to the "gift shop" has really great prices.  We got a ton of small plastic animals for a dollar a piece and Milo has a cute new shirt.

Things that were less awesome:
-The drive was a little lengthy- 90 minutes is too long for some families.  It worked for us because the kids sleep well in the car and wake up ready to play like crazy.  Plus I had my sister along for a chat, but when I don't have anyone with me, I listen to hours of podcasts and feel like an intelligent adult woman for at least an hour.

-Not a lot else is around.  It's kind of in the middle of nowhere.  Because I was familiar with the area, I knew that we could stop in Amherst on the way home and get a snack and see a friend, but some people would have trouble making a day out of the trip.

All in all, it was an awesome day.  It was a perfect visit to cap off our community helpers week, and we're definitely going to go back.  Have you been to the Children's Museum at Holyoke?  What did you think?  I'd love to hear what you thought!

"Home School" Summer: Community Helpers Week

Community Helpers Week was a blast at our house.  We used the theme to give a little direction to our days, and having a loose plan helped me occasionally turn off the TV.  There was TONS of repeated language, which was my main goal for having themed weeks in the first place.  Here's what we did:

 On the first day, I introduced the theme with some of the nonfiction books from my first grade classroom.  These were obviously over his head, but held his interest long enough to repeat the words "fire fighter, fire truck, police officer, police car" several times.  I also have some small wooden figures dressed like professionals, so I would have Milo hold the fire fighter while we flipped through the "Fire, Fire!" book, and so on.  The books never really drew his interest again, but he consistently brought the wooden figures back out to play on his activity table.  It was a good introduction.

After the introduction, I fit in applicable activities whenever I could.  It was a holiday week, so there was no real schedule to follow.  We used a new chunky puzzle that had vehicles, focusing on the fire truck, and after a few traditional tries, Milo loved to use the pieces as toy cars, pushing them around and making engine noises.  I downloaded an app on the Kindle that had click and drag puzzles, giving us fine motor practice, and we repeated the one page that had an ambulance, police car, bus, and fire truck.

Milo is REALLY into cars right now, so the emergency vehicles really held his interest.  We have the Little People Wheelies police car and fire truck, and we used those to play make believe and to do some tire tread painting.  The tires were smooth, so I also filled it out with other cars and trucks that had a pattern to paint with.  A rice bin was really fun, even though Milo is still in a grab/drop/dump/pour stage with most sensory activities; I just threw in a bunch of the toys we had been using all week and we went to town.  Throughout the week, I browsed Netflix and ended up putting on Fireman Sam and episodes of Milo's favorites that have to do with fire trucks or police officers.  We watched Pixar's Cars five (million) times.

Two different field trips topped off our exploration.  The Fourth of July fell this week, so the parade we would have gone to anyway was a great place to see fire trucks and police cars in action.  Honestly, I'm not sure that Milo made the connection, but he enjoyed himself, and it's all exposure.  Later on, we went to the Children's Museum at Holyoke, which features a life sized ambulance and large fire truck with all the child-size uniform pieces you could imagine.  This, Milo went crazy for.  Let's just say I had to drag him away from an interactive defibrillator. Way more about the museum later, because it was awesome and we WILL be back.

If we had had more time and less heat, I probably would have packed everyone in the stroller and walked down to center of town where our police and fire stations are side by side on a relatively quiet street.  Without needing to make an appointment or get really fancy, I think just the sighting of the cars and trucks would have been exciting.  Other things I considered but didn't get to were emergency vehicles in a tray of shaving cream, more dress up opportunities, and finding videos on YouTube to watch.

Milo had fun, and I had fun, so this week was worth it.  At the flea market yesterday, he fell wildly in love with an old plastic fire engine that he has since carried everywhere and slept with.  His language is exploding, although not necessarily around the theme we're working on.  Regardless, we're looking ahead to a sensory theme for next week and calling the first week of "home school" summer a success!

*I've tried not to spend too much money finding things to fill our days.  We already had the toy cars and wooden people, and the puzzle I would have bought anyway.  We've been keeping our eyes peeled in the Target dollar bin and found some cheap plastic animals at Toys R Us, and Cutie Patuties in Leominster sells inexpensive toys both new and used.  You can find things at yard sales, flea markets, or on Amazon!

**I've been using these pinterest boards (homeschool summer and talk to me, baby) to help me come up with ideas.  You can also check out our plans for the rest of the summer here.

"Homeschool" Summer

I wrote a post on my personal blog (normal non-professional writers don't normally rock 3+ blogs, but I'm pretty obsessed with hearing myself talk) about why I had decided to put a little structure on our summer. Milo is HOME for the duration!  This is the first time that we've been together constantly since Elliott has been born, and the first time Milo has had an extended break in his routine since his speech delay was diagnosed.  I knew we needed a plan so that I could continue enriching Milo's days with lots of language and that keeping him in a routine would reduce his frustration.  I also knew that without a plan, I would probably pack up and desert my family within three days of depressed, listless lounging around.

I decided to do something like what I did when I taught summer school for students with special needs; pick a loose theme and then build outside games, books, crafts, and sensory activities around it.  I used the Highlands Fun Free Friday program to help me plan.  There are tons of Massachusetts institutions offering free admission on specific Fridays all summer long.  Using that, our season pass to Davis Farmland, and a few other ideas, I came up with a theme and field trip weekly until we're ready to start the school year again!

Week 1 // July 1st- July 5th  // Community Helpers and Their Vehicles
Field Trip: Children's Museum at Holyoke (free July 5th)

Week 2 // July 8th-July 12th // Sensory Play
Field Trip: Boston Children's Museum (NOT free this week, $1 after 4pm on Fridays)

Week 3 // July 15th-July 19th // Farm Animals 
Field Trip: Davis Farmland (NOT free this or any week)

Week 4 // July 22nd-July 26th // Food and Cooking
Field Trip: Discovery Museums (NOT free this week)

Week 5 // July 29th-August 2nd // Zoo Animals
Field Trip: Franklin Park Zoo (free August 2nd)

Week 6 // August 5th-August 9th // Eric Carle **may change to general picture book theme
Field Trip: Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (free August 9th)

Week 7 // August 12th-August 16th // Sea Creatures
Field Trip: New England Aquarium (NOT free this or any week)

We're not going to live and breathe these themes.  It's just going to be a little guidance that helps me be deliberate with our books and puzzles and the episode of Curious George that I'm going to slap on when I'm exhaustedly turning to Netflix to watch my children.  It's a schedule that is 50% for Milo and 50% for me; without it, I can assure you that I would waste most days with our family in front of Sprout, pinning obsessively.  This will save us.   I'm going to be sharing pictures on Instagram with the hashtag #homeschoolsummer.  Check us out!