Living an Intentional Life
Tatum helped Daddy put up some blinds the other night. We have been home A.L.O.T due to the Coronavirus quarantine. The windows were filthy, and Tot agreed to clean them.
Now we can see! Cooper helped out too.
Thank you Tot and Daddy for all your hard work!
What’s a mommy to do? You see your child get so frustrated because she just can’t seem to master her subtraction math facts fast enough. The timed tests stymie her, and she feels like she “can’t” do it.
I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THIS.
I tell her: Practice, Practice, Practice. This is what we need to do.
Last week, I made a fun chart for her to complete in 5 days. 4 x/day practice, and let’s see how you do after this.
Well, we are going to do this again next week, but you can see she had some perfect practices! I also look at attitude.
I needed to come up with a prize incentive, and I decided on a treasure box. I filled the treasure box with gifts. The gifts have a point value on them. This way, she can collect “tickets” and “purchase” a gift with her tickets. She learns math this way too! (there’s always a method to my madness).
These tickets were created:
You can see that the blank has to be filled in with WHAT she did well; this way she can see the specific thing she did well. As you can see, she received two tickets, and ONE was just for attitude. I value this above the work!
Here is the treasure box:
She earned 10 points, and that was enough to purchase some mechanical pencils!
She WANTS the other gifts, so guess what she did all night and today? She’s been practicing and practicing!!
She got her math facts page down from 10 minutes to …..wait for it……
FIVE MINUTES!!! She cut it in 1/2 in 2 days.
Let’s see how she does next week. She is having FUN with math now. Yah!!!
Frustration. It produces all kinds of reactions. For example, Tatum has been trying to master her math facts so she can get 100% on a 6 minute assessment. She can do the sheet in 7.5 minutes, practicing and then with the actual test, it’s more like 10 minutes.
She runs into her room crying and telling me she’s “stupid.” UGH. Then, there’s some impulsive reactions with words she doesn’t mean, but they come out. All completely unavoidable with a some self-control and some grace for herself. She is so hard on herself (sounds familiar).
Sometimes, also, I have an opinion of how she should be doing something, and she doesn’t quite agree. This reaction can come out in an ugly way as well.
BUT WITH ALL OF THIS > one thing my daughter possesses is a strong repentant heart. She immediately has immense guilt, and makes things right. It’s a stellar quality how she wants to fix things right away. She doesn’t let things fester or get worse. This could also be that I don’t respond in kind.
First, I don’t allow her to say things about herself that are lies from the PIT. I make her repeat these words: “I am a CHILD of GOD; I am wonderfully made.” Maybe she makes a stupid choice but I will not allow her to say this about herself. Also, I don’t yell back or be angry with her (Oh, sure, I have slipped, but I don’t respond back this way for the most part). SO, it doesn’t escalate.
She loves to make a little note and put it on the counter before we talk.
This is an endearing quality of Tatum. As I always say, “How you respond is more important that the circumstance itself.” Let’s try to STOP, THINK, and PRAY more often to minimize regret.
I love you Tatum.
Tatum and I are together pretty much all day every day. I actually am loving seeing what she is learning AND I do enjoy being with her this much as crazy as that sounds. Well, with that, I like to add a few things here and there to our day.
Everyday, after Spalding, we like to take Cooper out for a walk. I decided to add photography at this time. Tatum carries our Nikon camera (around her neck of course) and I have her find 2 pictures to take. This means she needs to be observant. Then we FOCUS!
I’m trying to get her to really focus closely on ONE item vs. taking a whole scene. Look at this rock she found!
Here’s another one:
She also found flowers to take.
And more close-ups
We are having so much fun with this, and she’s doing so well eating this up.
Speaking of eating up, it’s time for some peanut butter toast with math.
Let’s talk about math in the next blog.
Yes, this Coronavirus quarantine (which is now going through the month of April) means we are all together. A.L.O.T more. So, why not do some school as a family. P.E. is one thing we can engage in.
Tatum’s PE teacher, Mrs. Wilson has been sending videos of exercises we can all do.
Daddy joined us on Tuesday. Guess who thought we lost our marbles?
Cooper wasn’t quite sure what to make of this.
10 more, guys! (I am coaching them…ha!)
It has been a “cozy” ride since we have been asked to stay home as much as possible due to the Coronavirus. The numbers of affected do continue to grow, but it seems to be leveling off. I pray this is the beginning of the end.
The effects of this have been astounding. One such effect I have noticed from “social distancing” has been so little human contact. When we stand in line for Trader Joe’s to get groceries, we are commanded to keep our distance. 6 feet please. So you have this massive line of people not even interacting. It’s frightful; I do know why, but it sure saddens me. In fact, today, our Pastor (we are watching our church SBC online) showed this graphic of what we are experiencing:
It’s not how we were created. We were created to be in community. But you’ll notice the symbols above used to be touching (this graphic is a lighthearted way to show this concept); the M was intact, the circles intertwined, the VW intersected. Now, it’s all disjointed, and we feel the distance from others. Healthy for our physical health, but for our mental health, NOT SO. (and spiritual health). We need each other.
OK….BUT, and this is a big BUT…. my family, my dear Tot and honey, we are homing so much more, and I love it. We miss seeing mom since we have to distance from her, but it will be better in a few weeks. Doug is working from home and Tot is schooling from home; I, on the other hand, have a bit more on my plate, but it’s worth it! It’s so fun to have Doug here, not having to commute so far.
Doug, Tatum, and I all work at the table. We did our taxes together, and Tot worked on her math facts flashcards. Like I said, it’s cozy. We probably don’t feel it now, but later on we’ll remember this time as special.
We will start a new week on Monday, and more online school. It’s going REALLY WELL, and I’m grateful for Mrs. Finnman and PVCP. On Friday, Tatum got to ZOOM conference with her buddies in class. Mrs. Finnman arranged it. SO fun for her.
We hope this will end soon, but in the meantime, we are savoring this special season.
May 23rd. The day we got Cooper. Oh, what a special day it was, and little did we know how much our lives would change.
For the better.
We couldn’t stop hugging him. He was truly a snuggle bug.
Oh, there’s more of that
He really started to grow and develop his own special personality. Lots of Peek-a-boo/I see you!
Then there’s the new toy phenomenon. He leaps around it poking it to make sure it is safe. Then he hides it under the couch. Upon this, he cries and seeks aid. It’s quite pitiful.
He has the ability to melt your heart with his “Look.”
Daddy has gotten quite smug with the little one. He has melted HIS heart too. Daddy didn’t think that was possible.
Of course, Tatum can’t get enough of him. She even will read to him.
And he returns the favor by watching her babies. He’s such a good brother.
Then there’s the MOMMY. Yes, I am absolutely head over heels CRAY CRAZY about him.
OH, yes, it’s a love connection.
It sure helps that he misses me when I leave. (LOL)
Or sometimes when I’m not up yet, he waits.
Maybe if I get a bit closer..
We love to celebrate him every time we turn around.
We do wear him out and at times he can barely hang on.
But then when we put him to bed, he wakes right up.
He also loves to go the salon and look dapper.
He would rather not have to wear a cone ever again; especially one that makes him look like a scary lion.
But, oh sweet Cooper, you are one today, and we want to celebrate all that is you.
Tatum lined up some of your old toys with a new bone. Will you find it?
She then got out another one, and he about wiggled his tail right off; Daddy had to control him! Throw it, PRETTY PLEASE!!!??
He enjoyed every bit of his new toys.
Happy birthday, Cooper! Don’t eat it all in one bite, buddy.
You add so much joy to our family. You also give us many excuses to laugh. Sometimes, we just don’t want to go outside. but when we do, you pull us to see all those bunnies, quail, pigeons, flying leaves which adds to our appreciation of nature. Oh, and I’ll add celebrating you gives us a reason to have a hot fudge sundae.
It’s all good, Coopy! Happy Birthday, sweet puppy.
