Toddlers ????

As a Mom with two very active toddlers, ages 3 1/2 and 22 months I am sometimes so short on patience. 

• How do you get them to eat, and not asked to be fed or just dream away and not eat? Our older boy is worse about this than the younger child. 

• How do you get them to be quiet at nap time? Especially the older so that the younger can sleep? I feel ready to pull my hair out some days on this and finally just put the older in a different room so that he can be noisy and she can sleep. Maybe he does not need naps anymore. But I need them now (at 33 weeks) pregnant. OH HELP! 
  

• How do we teach our children to pray? And to want to pray? We show them by example, but our older doesn't want to even try to pray aloud? Why? (Dad- Mom, were we like this?)

The wisdom and patience required of parents is beyond anything I could have imagined. I can only marvel at the great job my parents did in raising us. Thank you!

Nap War. . . or. . . Wow, God!

Lately my 21 month old girlie has been giving me a taste of the terrible twos. The one who always went down for a nap without a fuss and fell asleep like a dream has now taken to standing up and being noisy and just plain NOT sleeping.

My 3 1/2 year old goes down for a nap/quiet time. He didn't sleep a single day this week. But I didn't expect him to.


I have been really worn out lately. It is usually when they nap that I can relax and paint or take a nap myself. These last two days I have wanted to nap- but no luck. How can I sleep when they aren't?

Yesterday I got so frustrated with them. I wonder if it is worth this struggle. I finally put D in a different room and A finally fell sleep at 16:00 rather than the usual 13:30 or two.

Today was looking to be a repeat of yesterday. It is in times likes these I am very aware how much I need God's wisdom and guidance and PATIENCE as a Mom. I separated them much earlier this time and had D go downstairs to sleep/rest. He NEVER sleeps down there, but at least then A can fall asleep. She cried and carried on. I went and gave her a hug and told her I would be right here and that it was nap time. (Aren't I always here?) Finally, she fell asleep! Whew!

I had set the timer for D because he wanted to play with toys in bed and I had said he needed to try and sleep for 30 minutes and then I would let him play quietly in bed. When the timer went off I went to check on him and I was astounded to see he had fallen asleep! Wow, God! Thank you!

So my stressful afternoon has now calmed. The Giver of all patience and wisdom has overcome.

What do you do about nap times?

January Plans

One day I realized that I need to start making some plans for the time I spend with my children. Granted, I am a stay at home mom and have lots of that. But I wanted to plan things like I used to when I was a preschool teacher.

So I decided to make a calendar for January. I chose a theme- which for us will be winter. I went through a site on the Internet and got some great craft ideas which I put into my calendar. We will try to do one or two crafts a week. I also chose a verse and song for the month which we will try to learn. My kids are only 3.5 and 21 months. But I feel good knowing we have a plan. The teacher in me LOVES being so organized.

I have also been working on weekly menus. I love planning what we are going to eat. Though it keeps getting readjusted according to what comes up that day. I flip flop my days some of the time to fit into our schedule as need be.  I think part of my sudden interest in meal planning has to do with my seemingly never ending appetite which has suddenly appeared at 26 weeks :)

So how about you? Do you plan menus or schedules for your life and kids? I'd love to hear about them!