
This week was absolutely full of unexpected things. I won’t bore you with all the details, but I will share a few things that happened.
I am still taking it easy in the afternoons with the homeschooling schedule because K is still napping. I am so eager to get started full force, but I think that if he is still napping on his own, then his body (and brain) must need it. He is a much more pleasant guy after a nice nap, too, so I’m in no way complaining. Haha
We did Circle Time every day and it is really getting established. K knows the order of the activities and he is getting better at following the schedule. He is always asking for Bible class every single time (even though he knows that we always have it). It’s quite obvious that he really loves it! K is also loving Calendar more and more. I let him hold the yardstick and point at different things (calendar-related stuff like the days of the week, weather, months of the year, etc) with it. He is getting more and more coordinated with it, too. To find out everything we do during Circle Time, please read last week’s post (under the homeschooling drop box).
K loves to play with play dough. It was drying out, so I made him some.
I asked K what color he wanted his play dough to be (gave him a choice of the food coloring I have) and he chose blue. I wanted to use just one color because he mixes all the doughs anyway, and it turns into an ugly grayish/brownish color.
The recipe makes a ton of play dough. He can comfortably play with one third of the entire ball, so next time, I will either make less or I will color only the third he will be using, instead of the entire ball. That way, we can use different colorings every time. Good idea! 🙂
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We practiced with our dressing frames. He practiced how to zip, snap, and button. Buttons are a bit of a challenge, but we’ll keep at it. |
I got the kids more Baltic amber necklaces and bracelets. They help with pain (like teething). I wore a necklace while recuperating after giving birth and I hardly took pain medication (compared to when I had my first baby). I really think they work. I also use them whenever I get headaches or any kind of pain. If you get some, make sure that it’s real Baltic amber, though. I get most of mine at http://hyenacart.com/stores/inspiredbyfinn/ |
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My family and I love to juice fresh fruits and veggies every single morning. We get most of our produce from a co-op that give us all of this for a very affordable price as well as assure us that these aren’t GMOs. http://bountifulbaskets.org/ |
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We are still practicing cutting. He is getting better and better. |
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Look how K was holding his pencil before. |
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Look how he holds it now after we practiced lots. |
I have a good friend who knows a lot about essential oils and their therapeutic/healing properties. She has taught me a lot and last night I got some clove essential oil from her to make a natural teething remedy for baby A to complement the Baltic amber. Yes, she is getting a tooth already. Sigh, time is flying! The natural teething cream is making a paste with organic shea butter, coconut oil, and a few drops of clove essential oil. Totally edible, natural, and nontoxic. I am excited about making it! She also let me borrow a book that gives tons and tons of information about all essential oils out there. So informative! It is called Essential Oils Pocket Reference.I am so bummed that it is so expensive! I really would love a copy. I can totally see myself using it regularly. I’ll keep an eye out for it and hopefully, find it for less than this someday! As of now, I think I’m getting this one. It seems to be very complete. Anyway, I was reading up on it last night and saw that you can use eucalyptus and peppermint essential oils to help with coughs. K has had a cough all week and so I gave him a couple of diluted drops of each of these essential oils and voilá! No more cough! He hasn’t coughed once! I am definitely onto something here!I am seriously thinking about requesting some more essential oils as birthday gifts from my husband. We have been using some really good ones for our homemade laundry detergent, cleaning solutions, and toiletries, but I never thought of using them purely as essential oils!
I made homemade body wash for the kids since I did some research and found out that many (most) baby washes contain either carcinogens or neurotoxins and I don’t want that near my kids. I am sorry, but I didn’t save any of the research, except for these two articles (for Article 1, click here) and (for Article 2, click here), otherwise, I’d post it here for you to read. It isn’t hard to find all this information online, though. I highly encourage you to educate yourself in this matter and make your own decisions. Mainly, stay away from ingredients such as phthalates, triclosan, parabens, artificial fragrances, methylene glycol, 1,4 dioxane, aluminum, sodium benzoate, etc.
To make the body wash I made, simply buy a bar of soap that is organic and that contains ingredients that you can recognize and understand. I got Dr. Bronner’s organic lavender bar for about $3.00 . Grate it and put it in a pot with about 4 cups of filtered water (I prefer distilled). Turn heat to low/medium. Stir until it has melted completely. Add another 4 cups of filtered water and pour into a large container. Let it sit overnight to “gel” (8-12 hours minimum, better if it’s 24 hours). In the morning, assess its consistency. If it’s too thick, add more water, but don’t make it too runny. Once it reaches the consistency you like, pour it into smaller containers (preferably with pumps). This solution will need to be shaken before every use, so I suggest using smaller containers. It will last you forever and ever! Be careful when using near the eyes as this isn’t a tear-free solution. My kids have been fine every time we use it, though.Reading up on what makes a solution tear-fee and how much of a chemical change the ingredients need, I opted to use something that isn’t tear-free and be careful with it no going into their eyes. So far, so good. I don’t use soap on them every single day. I use it only when they need it. When they only need to get rinsed off, I add a few drops of coconut oil and jojoba oil in the bath water. FYI, Aveeno is also made by Johnson&Johnson. I cannot tell you how good (yet weird) it felt to pour our J&J baby washes down the toilet (literally)!I also made whipped shea butter lotion for the family. It is absolute heaven! I even used it on my hair as a mask and it left my hair soft and shiny. Love it! I simply ordered 100% organic raw shea butter and put it in the mixer with some coconut oil, some jojoba oil, and some lavender essential oil. I put on the kids and on myself. It is natural and safe. I love to make things for my family that are healthy for them. On a side note, we are celebrating today! We moved in to our home a year ago! We love it here so much! We feel very blessed to be where God has placed us right now. And to save the best for last, I have noticed a shift in K’s attitude towards his baby sister lately. Before, she was just a blob in a chair and now he is interacting with her a lot more. She is almost seven months old and is now sitting up, so she is more visible and participates in all our family activities more. It is adorable how they talk to each other and play together, especially during dinner and bath time. They are great friends and they certainly love each other very much!
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