7 QT: Lotsa Random Stuff

I'm going to chronicle some of my random thoughts lately with a quick takes post.  Ready?  Okay.

--1--

The interwebs has been full of thought-provoking articles this week; have you seen any?  From NPR I particularly liked this interview with high-school-dropout-turned-Harvard-neuroscience-professor Todd Rose who makes a great case for new ways of doing at school... and-- you guessed it-- it's not standardized tests.  I tend to think along these lines already as a homeschooling Mama but it certainly feels nice to read it from an "expert", as I often get nervous about trusting my gut (and my children's education) when it comes to issues like this.  Just because something has been done a certain way for a century or more doesn't mean it's the right way.

I also loved this one on introverted children that offered me some helpful tips and approaches for my painfully shy and introverted little C.  She has made such great strides at preschool this year and is feeling much more confident, but I always struggle with knowing how much to push her on things.

Simple Homeschool is always a great resource, too... in the past few weeks I have enjoyed this post on decision fatigue (something I experience on a daily basis, and it isn't helped by the sleep deprivation of having a baby in the house!) as well as this one on how to feed your homeschooled kids and still have a life (some days it seems like I don't do anything except fix people snacks!).

--2--

Speaking of thought-provoking, I have been reading a few really great books lately...

If you are at all interested in nutrition or "fad diets" you absolutely must read Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food.  It will make you wary of any diet that advocates eliminating an entire food group.  Also reeeeeally makes you think about how much trust we put in "science"... or nutrition science, anyway.  I could say a lot, but, well... you should just read it.  Mind-blowing, I tell you.

I also read blogger Brittany Dixon's new book A Mom's Practical Guid to Baby-Led Weaning.  We will start solids with baby J soon (can you believe it???) and I'm interested in trying a different approach with her since I'm pretty convinced that the more traditional way of doing things (cereals and purees) contributed some to picky eating in my older girls.  This was a quick read and I'm hungry for more information.  Any suggestions or tips, anyone?

I'm also enjoying Not God's Type by Holly Ordway.  Her story of coming to faith is so compelling!  And believe it or not, there have been a lot of parallels between this story and In Defense of Food, in terms of my thinking lately about science vs. reality vs. faith vs. rationalism vs. empiricism.  If we had time to sit down and have coffee I would love to talk with you about it for hours.  :)  But if you get a chance, I do recommend all of these books!

--3--

Moving on to some less cerebral topics.  :)

This week was February vacation around these parts, and since gymnastics camp was offered at our gym for not too much money I sent the bigger girls for two days of camp.  They had a fabulous time and came back thoroughly exercised and joyful.  I had some extra time in my day to organize the homeschool shelf

 

(All of the boxes got labels!  Helping my children and myself to put things back where they belong!)

...and I came up with a better system for the girls' closet.  They are awesome at putting away their own clean laundry but without a clear place for things their clothes ended up mostly like this

 I don't actually have the "after" pictures, and they're sleeping in their room right now so I can't take any, but basically I just put some bins in there with labels.  Also, I sorted through and purged out a LOT of stuff that was outgrown or not liked and just taking up space unnecessarily.  Sooooooo much better.

My goal for the vacation week was to take care of the things that were making me irritated.  It was making me irritated that we could never find a thing on our homeschool shelf, and it was making me irritated to walk into the girls' room and see clothes exploding from their closet.  Life should be much better now.  I accomplished my goal.

Of course I have this way of beating myself up for all of the things that I *didn't* accomplish in my "free time" (a.k.a time when I had only two children at home to take care of).  I see that walls throughout the house are still bare and I have pictures to frame and hang up and the owl paintings that the bigger girls made at Scouts about a month ago... etc. etc.  And I would love to get some hooks hung for their jackets and a better system for hats and mittens... but I have decided that 2016 is the year of not beating myself up about stuff anymore.  So I'm not beating myself up.  I accomplished my goal.  Positive self-talk, here, people.  :)

--4--

Can we do a quick comparison of the pictures I have taken of C holding J in the past few months?

(Newborn, one month, four months, and five months, in that order)

These babies grow amaaaaazingly quickly, no?  She is really catching up with her sister!

By the way, here are her stats from the 4-month checkup, for posterity:

weight: 13.32 pounds (28th percentile)

height: 25 inches (84th percentile)

head circumference: 43 cm (94th percentile)

Side note... whenever they measure head circumference (and they don't always do it), my kiddos are always 95th percentile or above.  N was always off the charts for head size.  It definitely runs in our family to have a huge head and a somewhat average (or in the case of N, a really tiny) body.

--5--

Another one with L  :)

Little J is just so happy whenever sisters are around.  It's pretty sweet.  Someday I will get a video of her talking and giggling at them.  I always whip out my camera just a little too late.  But trust me, it's cute.

 

Plus, all of the stimulation usually wears her out pretty good.

--6--

As I mentioned a few years ago in a quick takes post... it's that time of year when Vikings returns.

Yay!!!!!!!!!

Not really the awesomest of shows in many ways, but I just love it.  What can I say?  Who's with me?

--7--

My husband has been a laundry warrior lately.

 

I am so grateful for a man who is willing to spend his Saturday morning sifting through mountains of little girls' clothing.

I told him that knowing the laundry is taken care of does so much for my general sense of peace and well-being.  It sounds silly, doesn't it?  Does anyone else feel like laundry is the straw that broke the camel's back in terms of feeling caught up and competent as a homemaker and mother?

The girls like to give him a hard time when he mixes up their clothing and puts something in the wrong pile.  But I will never say a thing.  I would never look a gift horse in the mouth.  I mean truly, it would take a rocket scientist to keep track of whose is whose in our house, particularly with outgrown clothing being regularly passed down to the next girl every few months.

I will remain ever thankful for my laundry warrior.

Here's hoping you all enjoy the rest of the weekend!  For more quick takes, visit This ain't the Lyceum!