Photography

I believe I mentioned earlier that I have picked up photography as a hobby. I still have a lot to learn, but I like to think that I'm improving, and getting some good pictures. I just wanted to share some of my favorites here. Prepare for picture overload!

As you can see, E is my favorite subject, but he is also very hard to practice on because he is perpetual motion! I LOVE taking pictures of flowers too. They hold still, and are very pretty! Luckily it is spring time, so I have such a beautiful stationary subject to practice one. I got a few others today of E that I absolutely love, but I think I may save them for a Wordless Wednesday post, since this particular post is overflowing with pictures already.

Friday Fun

That title seems ironic, considering my day started off with a pee shower after my delightful toddler refused to keep his hand out of his pants like I asked. Regardless, we have had some fun this week.

Yesterday we went to the park. I don't have any pictures, unfortunately. That's pretty sad, considering I'm really trying to learn photography as a hobby. I actually left my camera behind on purpose, so that I could enjoy the time with my little man, instead of witnessing the entire thing through my lens. I do plan to go back, with camera in tow, next week. Or maybe tomorrow. We'll see how things work. E had a blast just running around. He went down the slides a few times, but wasn't interested in the play equipment for the most part. He just wanted to explore. We spent quite a bit of time on the bridge, watching the waterfall and the ducks. He just loved it!

I wanted to share a project that I'm quite proud of, though it doesn't look like much. Here is the color board I made for E, to practice colors. 

Please ignore the fact that pink isn't labelled yet. My pink marker seems to have gone on vacation. I just laminated some free paint samples, attached self-stick velcro to each piece, and  hot glued one of each color to a poster board.

Though E can't name the colors yet (we're still working on that whole "speech" thing), he's getting VERY good at pointing them out, and almost always gets them right. I am really proud. I'm sad to say that I could not get a decent picture of him actually playing with the board, but he does enjoy it. The velcro keeps him busy for quite some time, and he is getting quite good at matching the colors correctly.

Since the weather is finally getting warm again, I suspect most of our days will be spent outdoors, and we are currently working on setting up our backyard so that he can enjoy playing there. He already has his castle/slide and Little Tykes Cozy Coup Police Car. We have yet to set up the little trampoline one grandmother gave him, and his other grandmother plans to surprise him with a tricycle tomorrow. It will be so much fun! I also can't wait until it's warm enough to move the water table outside. With that and a kiddie pool, and we'll be having a blast outside this summer!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

The Terrible Twos Already?

Please say it isn't so. Yes, it is so. My happy-go-lucky, easy going child seems to have been replaced by a screaming, screeching, bossy nymph of some sort. It isn't that his sweetness is gone, or that he laughs any less. But oh, the tantrums. It wears on a mommy's nerves a bit when her child screeches, screams, and cries over every little thing. I know this is normal behavior for a toddler, but I have to admit that I was a bit blindsided, because E has always been so easy going.

I guess I should laugh at myself. Did I think I would escape this phase? Ha! I also find myself struggling to know how to handle his tantrums. Last night, for example, he was completely distraught because his daddy ate the last piece of kiwi. Man oh man were the waterworks on. We had tears, we had screaming, we had mommy urging him to breath in...fifteen minutes of this. Now, I don't feel like this was a matter of discipline. It isn't like he broke any rules. He was simply upset. Very, very upset. I tried offering him apples instead, but that didn't work. The only thing I could really think to do was ignore him until he was calming down. He did calm down eventually. Of course, then we had another tantrum because he wanted another piece of bread. Dinner time is fun these days.

And then there is the matter of discipline. Of course he can't always have what he wants, and being told "no" also results in a scream-fest. Let me tell you. E is one persistent little dude! He just keeps going back to doing whatever it was he was told not to do. I have tried timeout. I usually have to sit there with him the entire time and then, of course, the screaming gets louder. Sigh. What to do? Is this even effective at this age? I don't know. All I know is that I want my happy child back. Don't get me wrong. I still love the little guy more than I can express, and we have a blast together. Right now though, my days seem so very, very long.

And let's not forget, he has learned the word "no." I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it's the dreaded word "no," the favorite word of toddlers everywhere. On the other hand, it's a word. We have been so concerned about his speech that any word is an amazing sound to our ears. He already likes to use it in a phrase: "oh no." Which is so cute. I guess he really is one of those children that wants to start talking in sentences, since the only things he says consistently now are "go," "go get it," "no no," and "oh no." It's progress. We'll take it.

Since my recent posts have been downers, I should end this one on a happy note. Despite the tantrums, E is quite the character. I was standing at the mirror in the bathroom last night, and hubby was standing there talking to me. E closed the bathroom door on us, and continued to do so every time daddy opened it. After a few times, E hurried through the door, grabbed the hem of my shirt, and pulled me out of the bathroom. He then proceeded to shut the door in my husband's face. He continued to close the door every time his dad tried to open it. We were both laughing so hard. Eventually my husband (I need a good nickname for him here) went out the other door, through the hallway, and into our bedroom through the other door. E squealed with laughter and ran away. He's such a ham.

No Expectations

It's amazing to me how many times something that I learned in karate has resurfaced to help me in my life now, years after getting my black belt. Remember my last post about the beating stick? The imaginary one that I use to beat myself up with when I'm feeling like a failure? Interestingly enough, the answer to the problem came from my sensei as well, quite some time ago. Expectations. Where am I going with this? Well, let me back up a little.

As I said, it was my sensei who told me I carried around a big beating stick. His point was that I dwelt on my mistakes too much. He once told me to go home and research the definitions of "mistake" and "lesson." Oh see, here we go. That is another lesson learned entirely, not the one I originally intended to discuss. Anywho.... after I got my black belt, a student joined our school who was constantly comparing her skills to mine. By the time she was an orange belt, she was frustrated with herself and ready to give up. "I don't look like you when I do these things," she said to me.

"Of course you don't look like me. You're an orange belt. I'm a black belt. You are not at the same level." I told her she needed to focus on where she was at in her level, not on what I looked like. My sensei chimed in with the "expectations talk." He told her he had no expectations of any of his students. To be expectant - to look forward to something - was a good thing. But to have expectations (such as our student expecting to look like me, though I had far more experience at the time) was to set yourself up for failure.

In a way, he was very right. I have so many expectations of myself as a mother. I don't want to yell at my son. I want to be creative and crafty and have all sorts of fun but educational activities for him to do. I want to spend all of my time with him so that he will know without a doubt that he is loved. The truth is, I'm human. I yell sometimes. There are days, more often than not, that I don't feel like cleaning up after a sensory activity or craft. Some times I just need space and time to myself, even when he's not sleeping, and I let him play on his own while I practice my pictures or catch up on Facebook.

And I feel downright terrible about all of it. Should I? Should I feel terrible? I'm human, right? I make mistakes - from which I need to learn lessons. See? I need to look up those definitions again. Instead of dwelling on my mistakes I need to learn the lesson so that I can improve and move on. No expectations. I do the best I can each day and try harder the day after that.

Mistake: An error in action, calculation, opinion, or judgement caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, or insufficient knowledge. (From Dictionary.com)

Lesson: A useful piece of practical wisdom acquired by experience or study; something from which a person learns; an instructive example. (From Dictionary.com)

No expectations. Lessons. Not mistakes. Perhaps I need to hang those definitions on my wall as a reminder...