Read-Aloud Handbook

I just finished reading Jim Trelease's The Read-Aloud Handbook and boy did it give me a healthy dose of motivation!

If you will ever have any influence in a child's life, I recommend reading it.

But if you want the short version, here it is.

1) Read to your kids
2) Make books available and market them to your kids (make them appealing and accessible, like by shelving them face out instead of spine out)
3) Read to your kids
4) Be an example of reading for pleasure
5) Read to your kids
6) Require your children to read
7) Make more time to read to your kids

I've decided to focus less on an "organized" preschool and just put my efforts towards reading every day for at least half an hour to Guy. I need to get or make some more French books for him to read, to help with his French vocabulary.

Definitely worth checking out, though. I borrowed the copy I read from the Provo Library.

Reverence

So, Guy had some serious trouble on Sunday. Running away, laughing, and shrieking kind of trouble. I'm hoping it was a one-off, the result of too little sleep from the riotously fabulous ward campout (thank you activities committee!) .

So I e-mailed my aunties to ask their opinions about discipline, and got some interesting answers. Many of them decided against toys or snacks as the kids grew, finding they proved more distracting than anything else. One can draw anything under the sun with a kid in her lap to entertain. Two of them are adamant about making sure being in the chapel is a whole lot more pleasant than being out of the chapel. Two also told me that if the kids were out of control, spanking worked really well and was only needed on extremely rare occasions but was extremely effective.

So I'm thinking of instituting a "feet don't touch the floor" rule. I'm also going to cut out the snacks, because they always end up all over the place. Sippy cup of water we might keep bringing, since Guy tends to be a thirsty fellow. I'm also going to downsize the amount of things we bring to keep Guy amused, since this past Sunday everything ended up strewn across the entire length of the center bench and all over the floor.

I'm also going to start talking about reverence at home a lot more. We'll start enforcing it during FHE, family prayer, family scriptures, and any other time when appropriate. Hopefully the practice will help.

Wish me luck, because I have a distinct feeling I'm going to need it more than ever for the next while. I pray that Leo won't start acting up, too. That'd be a whole lot more than I feel like dealing with at this point in time.

ARE YOU SERIOUS?

I have lots I could talk about.

Like pulling Guy out from under the bed at the bishop's cabin by his ankles at 3 in the morning.

Or I could review "Bells on their Toes" by the Gilbreths.

But right now I'm really annoyed! I sat down to flip through the channels and was intrigued by a filming of a play on TV5 (french TV station). A fascinating and hilarious piece, a bit like "All in the Timing", centered around an art museum. BUT THE CHANNEL WENT BLANK 10 MINUTES BEFORE THE END. I spent nearly two hours watching, and missed the last 10 minutes. I'm sure it wasn't life shattering given the nature of the piece, but I'm a bit miffed.

Probably more upset than the situation warrants, but I want to know what happens! And it will take a while to google and figure out. Fiddlesticks.

Nights in Rodanthe

All right, let's talk movies. I've seen a few recently, and I want to talk about them.

Nights in Rodanthe

(pretend there's an image of a movie poster here)

I wanted to like this movie, and indeed I did until the last 20 minutes or so. Okay, except for the part where Diane Lane does her usual hemming and hawing and never gets to a point until she gets ANGRY. Not my favorite actress.

Oh, or the part with the extramarital sex.

All right, so I didn't really like the movie. It could have been great, but as per usual it was ruined with an awful ending. Not awful, I suppose it kind of fit, it just made me cry. For 20 minutes straight. I hate that. I don't need it. Life is dramatic and sad enough, without a movie that I thought would make me feel good making me feel worse.

Meh. C-. Not pleased.

Last night's film, though? A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Yes, it rocked. It's awfully hilarious. A few sexual innuendos I never caught as a kid, but I still loved it. "Poor thing, she died at such a young age, without ever having had the pleasure of knowing me."

Suggestions?

When the dog's away, the cat will play!

So, what should I do while Josh is lying on a beach in Hawaii, eh? Any suggestions or ideas? I'll probably watch some movies, and read a lot of books, and take quite a few bubble baths (I don't take nearly enough of those).

But I want to know what you would do, if you had five evenings all to yourself.

And more importantly, what you would eat!

Quote of the day: "DONE?!?" Said by Guy after the opening prayer in Sacrament meeting. He loves his nursery!

Compelled

I feel compelled to write something, anything, but I feel that I have very little to say.

This week was a good one. I didn't get enough sleep, but I made some lacing cards for Guy and transcribed more of my maternal grandmother's journal. I got spit up on way too many times, did lots of laundry, and changed an inconceivable number of stinky diapers. Seven today alone. I also re-read my favorite novel, The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough.

This week I'll be doing a freezer meals activity, watching Babette's Feast, making a trip to WalMart and TJ Maxx in search of diapers and a sun hat, respectively, and should have several exciting packages coming in the mail ( a couple books for me, some clothes, and Josh's birthday present).

I suppose one thing of genuine interest is I've made the jump and organized a Preschool-with-Mom for Guy. Friday we made signs with words and pictures in the order of activities, and made pancakes together. Tomorrow we're going to talk about names and ages, and "trace" (translation: scribble over) the letters in Guy's name, sing the Happy Birthday song, read about Lyle Crocodile's birthday, and make pretzels in the shape of the letters G-U-Y. This is all under the assumption that Leo will take a morning nap, although I am fairly certain he will do so.

Looking back over this post, it amazes me that I feel my life yields so little to say when I do rather a lot of interesting things with my time.

Brotherly Love