Category: household management

When I decided not to go back to work outside of the home I sat down and wrote a list of reasons why to stay home. As I’ve just accepted a third child care client (in addition to my own two kids) all of whom are two-years-old or younger I wanted to remind myself just why this is. 1. so my kids won’t fall asleep while crying at the front door for me to come back and take them home from the babysitter 2. to raise our children with our morals and values 3. so I will not miss developmental

My husband is an avid gardener. Let’s just put it this way … if he didn’t do it I’d either hire someone or be musing about how fast weeds grow and multiply. Anyhow, he is so passionate about it he even gets plants growing in the colder months from seed. He has the basement all set up with fancy plant growing lights and trays of seed and soil. I don’t ask – as long as it’s out of my way I’m okay. So he plants these seedlings that he’s done for months and months into the garden and within a

Another interesting article from the Jesuit prayer site my own grandmother is a member of. “Being a grandparent has many bonuses. It is more agreeable than being in charge. You shed the power of authority, and also shed the distance which it imposes. Children use their grandparents in a particular way. They can be very direct and contemporary in their comments. A friend was telling his granddaughter a story when she interrupted, ‘Fast forward, please, grandpa.’ Grandparents can be safe people to talk to. Children know they can count on affection, and need not fear retribution if they tell things

On Tuesday, June 24, 2008 we finally took the plunge and took our two little ones to the African Lion Safari (near Cambridge, Ontario) in addition to the two kiddies I baby-sit (ages 1 and 2). Thank goodness my hubby was there to help out. “African Lion Safari is a Canadian owned family business created in the name of conservation. Our manner of exhibiting animals is completely different from the traditional approach; that is, the visitor is caged in the car, and the animals roam in 2 to 20 hectare (5 to 50 acre) reserves.We first opened the gates to

Travis is doing fantastic. He is five-and-a-half months old and last time I checked he weighed 17 pounds. Ava was 21 pounds at one year old. Although I am still breastfeeding we had to start Travis on solids about a month ago because he has doubled his birth weight. Travis is very different from Ava. Ava is very strong-willed and spirited and Travis is relaxed and content (unless he has a dirty bum or is hungry or tired). He just started chatting baby talk this past week and wow does he chatter for a long time and very loudly (to

According to http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/parenting_tips/discipline/time_out.html, “Time out is a very effective discipline technique and will work with children as young as 18-24 months old. By using this method of discipline you are giving your child time out from positive reinforcement (which includes any parental reaction such as yelling or hitting) after he misbehaves.” The parent or disciplinarian is to “prepare a time out chair, which can be a chair in any room of the house, a space on the floor, the child’s bed, etc. or any place where he is isolated from interaction with others. Use a kitchen timer to count down