Meandering through the garden, thinking about the summer so far.

10 year old's pool garden. The Lemon Cucumber has taken over!!

Hello!! I've been struggling to blog often, with all that I have been doing this month. We were planning to study all summer long, but in reality, we've only hit the books once in the last 2 months. You know what? It feels good!! 

It's not that we haven't been busy. We've been busy almost any day we haven't been sick. We had a creeping flu bug come to visit, and the bugger stayed around for almost 2 whole months, hitting some people 2 and 3 times. We've continued attending classes for Taekwondo over the summer, and the children are about to have another belt test later this week. We also have summer session of Homeschool Co-Op going on. The kids have been working on their swimming skills, and last weekend the Music Theory classes started up as well. The kids are so happy with our Friday schedule.

You can see tomatoes growing, the carrots are still struggling, and the cherry tomato plant has gone crazy. I need to find a way to cage it after the fact.

I have been busy with the house, too. We have all been busy deep cleaning, pulling out the fridge and getting under and behind it, lifting the top of the stove, and mucking that out, and steaming carpets. I've gotten a lot of clutter busted, and I've had a lot of clutter resurface, it's a constant battle. When things happen (like a down pillow exploding in the drier), we have been using the opportunity to do maintenance tasks that had been neglected in the past (like moving the drier and cleaning out the air path). 

6 year old's pond form garden. The strawberries are thriving and the vine-type volunteer is suspected to be Cucumber.

In order to help with the housework, I created an alter ego on FB. As that ID, I post challenges, motivations, and reminders. I also created kid challenges, to help kids learn to work on their responsibilities a little bit every day (instead of leaving it to the last minute). You can find River Heartsong on FB and send her a friend's request, just send a message, telling that you are from the blog, needing inspiration and help. :)

This tomato plant has 100's of baby tomatoes, and very small leaves.

I also realized over the last few weeks, that people come to my blog from EB related sites. I didn't think anything much of it at first... Until I realized that perhaps some of those people would rather hear about the one thing I barely write about, our EB. I'll work on that. Right now, there isn't MUCH to report about, because we stay inside most of the time. The big girls are getting strong enough in their TKD, that they are starting to damage their knuckles and tops of the feet during drills. The funny thing is, they have me slap on a border, and dash back out on the floor. They care more about the class than they do their injuries!! <3 after="" and="" bathe.="" fix="" get="" home="" p="" properly="" them="" up="" we="">

Garlic Chives in between the tomato plants.

I ended up finally deciding to make a page on FB for "Me and My Butterfly 3". It was a hard decision, mostly because we are not as severe as other patients. Then one day, I realized that EB has many forms, and each form has a range of severity. That alone is a GREAT reason for my girls to have a page too, because we are raising EB awareness. I intend to use the page for EB Awareness, posting updates and prayer requests for my children, and other butterfly children, and occasionally, I will use it to fund raise. Right now, I have joined in the efforts to sell raffle tickets for a chance to win 6 tickets (all expenses paid) to AUSTRALIA!!! Tickets are only $20. All proceeds go to Butterflies and Bandages to help EB families and help fund research for a cure.

This tomato plant is the twin to the one in the Topsy Turvey, a control, so to speak.

The kittens have gotten big! They are now scampering and climbing all over the house, and even the scared one is coming out more, and purring over getting petted. We meant to find them all homes, but the kids got so attached, we ended up giving them all names. Now to figure out how to get them all fixed, as we don't want another kitten problem in a few months.

14 year old's "3 sisters" garden. Corn, Squash (pumpkin), and Beans. 

Honestly, there is not much else to update on. I have been quite busy between all of that and babysitting the extra toddler over the summer. She has gained 5 pounds, 5 inches, and 50 words in her time with us. She has learned so much, like sharing, caring, and communication. I am so proud of her young momma, and hope that she stays in touch after they move to the other side of the country. <3 p="">

Oops. Well, the white corn is tall. Turn your head. Sorry.

Well, Enjoy your wanderings through my garden. Feel free to send River Heart song a friend add, and go like "Me and My Butterfly 3" of FB. God Bless you, and have a great day!! <3 p="">

Garlic, chives, and last Cauliflower plant.  

Oops. Well, this is the Tomato Tree. That red one should be done tonight :D

Cucumber growing...

Watermelon growing...

Well, I had hoped that this was the cantaloupe, but it seems to be shaping into a mini pumpkin.

Red Bell Pepper plant, recovering again from zealous over-picking by an excited child.

Mr. 4 swears that this is his garden, because his carrots are in it. His carrots are doing GREAT! He also has some struggling bean plants and some rainbow carrot seedlings growing.

Mr. 4, helping in the garden.

Another crooked view of the Tomato Tree (Which will be re-potted into a big bucket soon).

Loaded with tomatoes, yet the leaves are very unhappy.

Lemon Cucumbers forming...

Cherry Tomato bush, sprawling.

10 year old's Tomato plant... Beautiful tomatoes growing, but the leaves are miserable.

Miss 2.5 came out after nap to see what was going on. Somehow, "Cheese" translated to "Rowr".

Garden Changes and Other Stuff

Flowering Hens and Chickens

The last several days have been busy, with a lot of cleaning projects and adventures. The kids have all been doing great in TKD, and all 4 received their 2nd stripe on their current belts last week. They are up for Belt Testing again next week. If the oldest 2 pass this belt test, they will be invited into Black Belt Club. I am so very proud of their hard work.

The garden is coming along nicely. I posted a video tour of the garden yesterday on FB, but then spent all day cleaning the back yard and re-potting some of my plants. I pulled up the sickly looking Pea plants. Their season is past, and I started 3 months too late. They were a pale green color ~ and I needed the dirt :D I moved 2 of the vine type seedlings into the 2 DIY containers I made (and posted a blog on how to make them, check it out!). I keep wishing I had done the same thing to the bucket my big tomato plant is in, but I have a different tactic for that plant. I will make that one today, and post it up separately when I am done.





Some of the dirt went towards the burial of the potato plants. I need to look up how deep to plant them, I left some leaves up out of the dirt for now, to receive nutrients from the sun. One of the potato pots is not deep, and I had to add walls to the bucket to add in the extra dirt. It shouldn't be a problem, as the sun will shine directly in part of the day, and it will encourage them to grow taller.





The bell pepper plant is on the mend! I posted before that it was suffering, and that I was clueless about what to do (I need to figure out how to add links). Well, I was so desperate to stop it from dying off, that I mixed up a batch of Mir*cle Gr*w (not endorsing a product). I gave the bell pepper and tomato plants a very generous watering with that. Of course, I put the open box away somewhere safe, so I can't find it for a follow up dose. 3 days later, I crushed up 1 T*MS (chalky antacid, with fruity flavors- high in Calcium) for each plant I was treating, and sprinkled the fine powder over the roots of each of the plants. I also gave each plant a tsp of Epsom Salts (gotta be specific on that one) and then watered well. The improvement is impressive.

4-6-13

4-17-13 you can see the leaf crumpling and curling happening. It was much worse, before it got better.

5-19-13 you can see the damage done from the leaf crumpling, the growing pepper, and the good leaves coming in on the top.

I used the last of my dirt to help cover some of my more delicate seeming plants. Now I am out of good dirt, and this is a bad thing. I have more containers to fill, more seeds to plant! *grin*

Since I am out of dirt, I might as well turn my attention elsewhere. I spent a LOT of time cleaning up the toys and trash in the yard. The patio area was as bad as some bedrooms can get! Seriously. I found an entire load of laundry out there! When it was done, everything had been organized, set up, and ready to explore. I had the play kitchen along the house, for an "outdoor kitchen", but moved it into the playhouse with the toys all contained in a bucket for them to play with. My 2 year old assured me "I love it mom!" as she was checking it out.



A plastic fruit garden in the window box, and a dish drainer. Right, so the plants get watered while you do dishes. *grin*



To end on a sweet note, I will show you our kittens :) They are doing well, but are still skittish. They are afraid of everything in the house, and not bonded enough to try to return if we let them roam the back yard.

Toddler Stages: "Mine!"

Early this morning, while I was waking up, I was scrolling through my FB news feed, seeing what's happened since I went to bed. I know I am not alone in this morning ritual. I get my coffee, I check the weather and the calendar, turn off the morning alarm, and sit down to sip my steaming brew. It's easy enough to find myself "liking" several photos, articles, and various posts from my friends on the other side (country or world). If I get up early enough, I get to see the posts made in the late night hours from my Australian friends, and catch posts from Europe as they are shared. I enjoy this time, as my family is all still deep asleep, and I can just be.

This morning, I came across this gem:



We've all seen this, and laughed. We can easily identify with this, as we have ALL seen a 2 year old at one point or another. Sometimes, their understanding of their little world is so stinkin' cute! Unfortunately, some of us have also seen this mentality in grown adults. I can assure you, it is most definitely NOT cute at 15, 25, 45, or even 85!

Developmentally, the "mine" stage kicks in unprompted at about 16 months old. It can be earlier, it can be later, but rest assured, by 18 months they will have a FIRM grasp of what their possessions are. They are watching the world around them, and absorbing how it all worked. Perhaps Momma took the phone away with the words, "No, this is mine". It only takes one time of showing how 'mine' works, before you have a tiny possessive monster on your hands.

I wrote this, when I shared the meme:

"Yes, diffusing "mine" in toddlers and turning it into sharing and friendship is an uphill battle that must be won.

Adding an extra toddler into the mix, who is 6 months younger with no siblings brings the battle back, almost in instant replay. A little more than 1 month in, and I can honestly say, the end of the battle is in sight."

Then I realized that if I finished that train of thought on FB, I would have nothing to blog about. so I left the FB people hanging, and maybe even waiting to read what I am writing now. ;)

I watch a 17 month old little girl while her mother is working. Earlier in the blog, I named her Jumping Bean, and that name is going to stick for now. She has been with us for a little over a month, and has learned SO MUCH in the last month. She learned a few things before coming here, also. These things are what we struggle with on a daily basis sometimes, until she finally decides that it's easier to go play nice. This post is not about any of that though, just about "Mine!" battles.

My 2 yo loves her friend dearly, and looks for her and sometimes even cries for her when she is not here but there are times when she is so frustrated and mad too. She doesn't understand that Jumping Bean hasn't learned these hard lessons we just learned 6 months ago. Wild Boy doesn't understand that Jumping Bean is like him, curious, excited and full of energy. She wants to do everything he does, just like his little sister. Jumping Bean is always happy to come over, and curious to learn how to play like the other kids do. She can run the obstacle course like you wouldn't believe!!

As I said in my post on FB though, Jumping Bean has come a long way. One of the things I first noticed, was that everything in my house is "ours", and only the items in JB's diaper bag were truly HERS. She's 6 months behind Sarah in development, and in clothing sizes, so I have started her her own little dresser that I have filled with clothing for her to wear. Yes, she goes through 1-4 outfits in 9 hours. I have a backyard, and she is very active and curious. Did I mention FAST? I cleaned out the little girls' room last week, and pulled out a lot of the baby books and baby toys. I have 2 drawers in the living room dedicated to LR toys, and I am working on making the bottom drawer toys that Jumping Bean likes. The books went in a basket.

I defend all children equally here. I pay attention to who is playing with what toy with what toy, and I am already working on passing out duplicates of things to encourage good side by side and possibly interactive play. I have to keep things kinda fair, and yet the moment we have melt down and a tantrum happens all bets are off. Tantrums are not acceptable. I have taught many words and signs, I pay constant attention to baby body language and cues. I feed on demand, and I cuddle too. The basic needs are kept met, almost before the child needs it. I won't let any one child "take" from another, but I encourage them to share constantly.

Wild boy has learned to let the little girls play with the desired toy for a moment, because they only want it for a little bit, and then drop it and move on. He has learned to negotiate with them too. Instead of crying and screaming that a little one has taken his favorite flashlight, he now runs off and finds something that particular baby likes BETTER then what he had swiped from him. He kindly offers to trade them and happily bounces away with his prize. The baby girls see this kindness and sharing of belongings and self control of emotions, and learn to find ways to do the same. Jumping Bean and Flutters have been seen bringing drinks to each other, or retrieving favorite blankets for each other.

We still have battles. Some toys or joys will inspire the beginnings of WW3 if I am not present and on the ball. It is dangerous to my baby if things are yanked out of her hands, so I can have no lack of diligence on my part in this life lesson. Diffusing the situation, distraction, communication, and absolute boundaries WILL get your toddlers past this milestone in peer to peer interactions and friendships. It's our job to guide them through it, with kindness, love, and leadership.

Learning in the Dream Time

My son is very active.

I should rephrase that.

My only son is so full of energy, we could power the entire Western seaboard off him. The moment his eyes open, until the moment the finally drift closed, this boy is GOING. He is climbing, running, jumping, digging, swinging, sliding, exploring, peering, yelling, screaming, talking, walking, throwing, whirling, spinning and crouching. Just *thinking* about it is enough to make my head spin. He is 4 now. When he was 2, it left me in an exhausted puddle by son down, and I would be weeping upon son up. (I spelled that right, the boy was up before and after the sun)

Ok I think I have established that this boy is full of energy.

My son is also STRONG. He is built like a caveman, all muscles and no mind to pay attention, unless it interests him. As of yet, he is not one of my little intellectuals, but he is brilliant. At 18 months old, he could pull himself up and onto the 3.5 foot high trampoline. By 15 months, he had a toy screwdriver, and was accurately trying to dismantle the child gate so he could explore the buttons on the electronics.

So, last year, when he figured out how to walk up the trunk of the tree to hang out in the first set of branches, I wasn't surprised. He would hang out there for 20-30 minutes, before he would holler for someone to finally rescue him. FOr over a year now, he has been perfectly content to hang out right there, going no higher. (I'll come back to this.)

Wild boy is in the middle of a growth spurt. At this time last year, he was 40 inches tall. By July he was 42 inches tall. I can't find my measuring tape right now, but I assure you, he is about 44+ inches now!! Growth spurts mean a lot of eating and a lot of deep sleeping. To a boy who doesn't nap, it is frustratingly exhausting. When he sleeps, he sleeps DEEP. I can change his clothes, move him across the house, and even changed his diapers while he was sleeping if they needed it. This is good.

We process things in our sleep. Sleep Hypnosis is proof positive of that. While you dream and rest, your mind is being taught to do something differently. Even without hypnosis, our subconscious never sleeps. It is busy processing all those things that you saw, thought, said, and did each day. Sometimes, this can cause nightmares, especially if you've been around a lot of traumatic things in your life. Some days, you might wake up with new insight to a problem you've been dealing with, or you might have inspiration on how to rearrange the house for a better feel.

One thing I have noticed over the years, is that babies and children are sponges. They see and hear everything, and process it all constantly. You have seen this yourself. Your baby laying peaceful in bed, and suddenly they startle and scream, only to drift right back off. Or perhaps they start smiling and giggling at something in the dream time. You've seen it, even if you didn't realize it. I was astonished when I had been (unsuccessfully) teaching my baby something for a few weeks. After a while, I think, "maybe it's too soon" and I back off and move on to something else. Then one morning, out of no where, the baby looks at that activity, and DOES IT, right. *happy dance*

So after a year of hanging out in the tree, the other morning he woke up and did his morning things. We went out to water the garden, as the new routine requires. As I am turning on the hose, I see my son look up at the tree and beeline up it. I unrolled the hose and turned back around, and he is gone! Puzzled, since he can't get down yet, I start looking around. Not on the ground in a silent heap (WHEW) and not where he was expected. I look up, and see his toes 20 feet over my head!!!

I went about my garden work, wondering how we were going to handle it when he decided he was stuck, and had just decided to send my oldest up after him when it came time. I finished watering the garden, and turned off the water. By the time I had the hose rolled back up, he was in the crook of the tree like normal, asking to be taken down. It's been a week maybe since then? Well, yesterday, he got OUT OF THE TREE all by HIMSELF. No one showed him how. No body gave him the idea to go try it. He got it in his head, and then he did it. I am positive, he practiced it aplenty in the dream time, perfecting moves and plans before he even tried it awake.

Jumping Bean and Flutters

I woke up this morning at 6:45 am, to a tiny wild child wide awake and ready to explore everything. I am not a morning person, but the last 3 weeks has been working on resetting my body clock (I hope). We got up and talked about everyone still sleeping, about the bird, the rabbit, the dogs, the fish, the window, the rain, the TV (nope, didn't want that) and anything else I could think of to interest her for just one moment. If I had been wise, I would have set my coffee pot up last night, so that I could just flip the switch as I was making that last special milk bottle this morning. I did finally get my coffee, but it wasn't until after 8.

I've been watching a tiny 16 month old toddler for the last 3 weeks, as her mother suddenly found herself alone and struggling to hold things together. In this economy, it could have taken her months or even years to land a job. She was blown away when she returned from her first day of job hunting with not just a job, but full time hours at that. I had offered long ago, that if she needed child care, to let me know, and her baby would fit right in with my crew. This little one is allergic to milk, and we've been trying to find a milk replacement for her that is affordable and equally beneficial. I suspect this tiny one is about to have a growth spurt.

I love having her here, and it's been amusing to watch her and my own toddler learn how to get along and problem solve and share with friends. They have both learned things from each other, good and bad. Things like sharing, caring, empathy, and kindness. Things like hitting, taking, yelling, and pushing. Little tiny one~ let's call her Jumping Bean, and my own toddler Flutters to make this easier. Jumping Bean has learned to communicate, not just by grunts and full body writhing, but had picked up 4-5 signs, 5-10 words, and the ability to communicate wants by demonstrating or pointing. Flutters has decided that babies say Goo Goo Ga Ga, and spends lots of time insisting that she is a baby, unless of course it's baby bath time, in which she goes running down the hall yelling "You can't catch me!!"

Jumping Bean gets dropped off very early in my morning, between 4:30 and 6 am most days. She comes in and snuggles up and takes a 'wake up nap' until about 7:30. Then she is off and running and ready to explore. She's already learned how to move the big sliding glass door, she knows how to make the dog's Lick-it dribble water into the kitchen toys, and she LOVES the slide. Some mornings we have changed her entire outfit 3 times before noon!! Today, it is raining. She does not care, it is outside, and she can get out there "all by my self".... she's led us on a few giggling chases through the warm rain.

It is time for me to get busy. I have lessons to teach, and a menu to plan, a grocery list to make, and cleaning to be done. I pray you have a wonderful day! G*d Bless you!