Author: Mama

Saturday Sparks:  Thanksgiving Tablescapes

Saturday Sparks: Thanksgiving Tablescapes

Yes, I know Thanksgiving is weeks away but judging by how quickly Halloween sneaked right up on me I thought we could all use a bit of inspiration to help us change gears and get on our turkey day entertaining hats. My husband and I are hosting his side of the family this year, so I need to get all things headed toward Thanksgiving, including food, decorations and organization. (I’ll think about Christmas the day after that.)

I’m starting with the centerpiece of Thanksgiving, the table, and have found several beautiful and some whimsical ideas to jump start the planning of the timeless tradition of breaking bread (and turkey, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and such) with family and friends. I love the more simple ideas for sanity’s sake, but I also adore the elaborate layered images of pumpkins, pies, plates and platters. I just can’t decide on a favorite. What about you?

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The Nightmares of My Toddler

Do your kids ever wake up crying in the night? As a parent, I know it must have been a bad dream, but when I check on our son he rarely recalls what caused such a fright.  Or even before our baby could verbalize he would wake ever so often like he had been pinched, and at that point there’s just no hope of figuring out his sleepy fears.

Since our son is only three, my husband and I often talk about what he could possibly be dreaming that is so traumatic for a boy his age. Well this morning I finally caught my son in a not fully awake state after an incident, and he finally told me what was ”wrong.”

He sleepily said, ”I wanted to play trains on the DVD and Daddy said, ‘No.’”

There you have it folks, the nightmares of my toddler. Whew, and I thought it might be something really horrible, like his cartoons were too violent, he secretly hates broccoli or I’m a terrible Mom. We do let him watch train videos on the iPad ever so often, so I guess that’s how the whole playing and DVD imagery came together. I just had to comfort my distraught little guy and coax him back to sleep, but as soon as I cleared his door I had to giggle and grin.

I guess his life is pretty good, and I’ll take it as a star sticker on my parenting chart if that’s the only content of my child’s nightmares. Oh, that life could stay so simple.

Choosing Chores for Our Toddler

Choosing Chores for Our Toddler

imageThis morning my husband started sorting laundry and our ornery three year old immediately started wallowing around in the filthy, stinky piles of used clothes — how’s that for a visual. After asking our son to stop, explaining to our son how ”yucky” it was and scolding our son for not doing what he was told, my husband quickly changed gears. (He’s a really good Dad, by the way.)

My husband suddenly stopped struggling with the situation, and flipped it into a fun task for our little guy by asking him to help sort all the clothes by color. From the other room, I heard them picking up pants, socks and shirts, declaring a color and placing them in appropriate piles. (I swear I do more smiling with just my ears often times.)

After the basket was empty, my little man ran into the kitchen and begged me to come see what he had done. He ran ahead of me and by the time I arrived, he was standing smack dab in the middle of all the piles, hands on hips with the biggest self-approving smile I’ve ever seen. I appropriately fawned all over his completed chore and told him I was proud; but better yet, I knew he was proud of his own accomplishment and that was a very good thing to see.

photo credit: pasukaru76 via photopin cc

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