While planning out this months schedule for working on the habit of listening I was inspired to invite adults the boys love and respect into our home to share with the boys how listening plays a role in their job professions. I think it is important for the boys to have an understanding of how the habit they are focusing on can be used outside of childhood.
I am so very thankful for the amazing friends we have that have agreed to do this for the boys!
Saturday evening we had two {married} nurses over for dinner. All I had asked was if they could share with the boys why listening is important for nurses and what types of things they need to listen to but they had something so much cooler planned for the boys! {and the boys are not only still talking about it, but they have BEGGED me several times to ‘play’ this again!}
Nurse Brian and Nurse Rachel set up a pretend Doctors office in our dining room, assigned Paul as Surgeon Daddy and Judah as patient #1 and Wesley as patient #2. {Role playing was fairly similar for each boy, they just took turns being the patient.}
Nurse Brian examined patient #1 and determined that his left arm needed to be amputated. He told Nurse Rachel for her to pass the news on to Surgeon Daddy. But Nurse Rachel wasn’t listening and she told Surgeon Daddy that the right arm was to be cut off – and so the right arm was cut off {… or, stuffed it inside his shirt…}
Nurse Brian came back in the room and saw the mistake and corrected Nurse Rachel for not listening and instructed Surgeon Daddy to cut off the left arm this time … but Surgeon Daddy wasn’t listening and cut off the left leg!
It was the perfect mix; an extreme situation that was hilarious enough to capture their full attention and yet a clear enough message that they understood the responsibility of listening.
Brian and Rachel also brought their stethoscopes along with them and let the boys listen to their own bodies and talked with the boys a bit about other ways they have to listen on the job.
It was such a fantastic evening and I was just thrilled about how much energy they put in to sharing about why the habit of listening is important for nurses.
Sharing on Tip Junkie
Last night was family night – a spectacular evening of imagination and yummy food.
Paul picked out three cards from the gift the boys gave him for Christmas.
{Build something together, Bake something together and Fly to the moon together}
We started our evening of fun by building a spaceship together {see top picture.} It consisted of our couches being shoved together and a random blanket sticking off the end for our rocket fire.
Next the three guys baked muffins together. A whole lotta love went into them as Paul directed the two boys through it all – I stepped back and took pictures.
The above pictures warm my heart … this is how we should parent always – modeling so intimately for them and then stepping back so they have the freedom to imitate.
And this? Oh it makes me smile. Childhood should be full of bowls to lick. He was lost to the world for 5 minutes while he licked.that.bowl.clean.
While muffins baked we had a simple dinner of pepperoni, cucumber, cheese and roasted chick peas.
Then! It was off to our spaceship. We were each given a straw with which to breath from while in outer space. We counted down and then we were off on a fantastic adventure around planets I didn’t even know existed. Most of the planets were made of some sort of food. {Top picture we were drinking a juice planet.} One planet had turtles and Wesley decided to adopt one and bring it back to earth. Another planet had space monsters we had to fight off. Wesley double checked, twice, that we were just imagining all of this and that it wasn’t really “for real.”
So.much.fun.
And it was free.
And now you know we really are crazy.
Have a fun weekend!
Sharing on Tip Junkie
A friend shared a recipe for homemade finger paint and on Valentines the boys and I made a batch for ourselves. I accidentally burned it which made it slightly clumpy, but it still worked and it was a lot of fun spending time in the kitchen making it together and then choosing the colors {using food coloring}.
To make Homemade Finger Paint you need:
3 Tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup corn starch
2 cups water
food coloring
Combine ingredients in saucepan and warm until mixture thickens. It doesn’t take long – don’t leave the room like I did! Let cool and then divide into containers {we used an egg carton} and color with food coloring.
The boys had fun seeing how different color combinations create different colors.
Once we had all our colors mixed up I spread out a huge sheet of paper and the boys painted away. A little soap and water and the food coloring washed right off their hands.
While I prefer Crayola Finger paint for quality finger paint, I really enjoyed the entire experience of creating our own finger paint and will be doing this again with the boys.
Sharing on Tip Junkie
While we are working on developing the habit of listening I think it’s important to keep it fun and relate-able to the boys so we have been playing a lot of games to help with reinforcing the habit!
Here are a list of games we have come up with that help encourage the habit of listening:
Simon Says – at 3 and 5 they are pitifully bad at this game but they have loads of fun trying to discern when they are to follow instructions and when they are not to.
What Time Is It Captain Midnight? – We stumbled upon this game while searching for unique Awana games to play as Paul and I are game directors and this game has been a huge hit with kids of all ages and our boys enjoy playing it at home with us. It is identical to What Time is it Mr. Wolf if you are familiar with that game. One person, Captain Midnight, stands on the other side of the room, with his back to the other players. The other players call out; “What time is it Captain Midnight?” Captain Midnight calls out a time between 1 and 11 and the players need to take that many steps. This repeats until Captain Midnight says it is midnight, at which point he chases the children back to the start line trying to tag them. Those that are tagged are out.
Marco Polo – One child is blindfolded and calls out “Marco” and the other players respond with “Polo”. The blindfolded child tries to tag the others by following their voice. {Usually a pool game, but the boys enjoy playing it in our living room}
Blindfolded Obstacle Course – Blindfold the children and give them verbal instructions to get through a series of obstacles set up in the room.
Find the Object – Set up a random assortment of items on a table in one room and take the children to another room. Give them details about which object you’d like them to go and find from the table, for example; “Please bring me the smallest yellow item on the table.” or “Please bring me the book that talks about a little girl and a bear eating blueberries.”
This game has been the boys favorite and we’ve played it about 4 times so far!
Get Across the Room – So similar to Marco Polo and the Obstacle Course, however slightly different. Put the blindfolded children on one side of the room and have a partner for each child on the other side of the room {this works well for us as each boy is blindfolded and Paul and I play the role of the partners}. As the partner we direct our own {blindfolded} partner across the room to us, so they need to know and listen to the voice of the parent they are partnered up with.
Any other games you can think of to help encourage the habit of listening?
Sharing on Tip Junkie
A dozen little things to do with kids during inclement weather or while battling the flu or just because you like each other lots.
1. Whoopee Cushions are cheap and are, at least in this house, providers of hours of entertainment. Great for playing jokes on dad too!
2. Make-your-own-lunches are fun, and kill time, when the kids get to cut out their bread with cookie cutters and then assemble with their favorite sandwich toppers.
3. A simple bar of soap turns into a fantastic paint medium when blended. Washes off the windows easily. See instructions here. 
4. Temporary Tattoos for Talking Hands: Animal Hands - I have long admired these and,without knowing that, my sister sent us a package! They are so cool and so much fun! 
5. Play with some hair spray and create new hair styles!
6. Make finger puppets out of paint chip cards and a bit of tape.
7. Stab your afternoon snack
8. Do a milk, dish soap, and food coloring experiment!
9. Make butter together
10. Keep your eyes open for huge rolls of bubble wrap {we were given two!} or save your smaller pieces of bubble wrap until you have enough to exert a great deal of energy popping all of it!
11. Create a sugar cube igloo out of sugar cubes (found in the same section as regular sugar) and icing (though next time I’ll be using a hot glue gun for less mess and more stick!) Add plastic cowboys and Indians to round out the obscurity of it all.
12. Carve bars of soap – we used Ivory soap and butter knives. Plastic Army men were used to man the ships.
What are some ideas you would add to this list of things to do with kids?
Sharing:
“Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.”
Morris Lighthouse/Folly Beach/November 2011
The month of February’s habit is listening to what is being said. I have laid out one activity per day for the month, following roughly the 7 day plan I laid out in the Habits Intro. Listening falls under the parent category of “self discipline” as you can see in the Habits Intro post.
Listening is an essential life skill and one that we want to impress upon our children and help them develop at an early age.
Activities for encouraging the habit of listening
1. Talk about what listening is and why listening is important.
2. Put a random selection of items in another room and give a description on which item they are to get.
3. Read Amelia Bedelia stories to the boys {humorous mishaps of not listening}
4. Play act silly scenarios that can happen if you don’t listen
5. At church tell the speaker something they heard him say during the meeting
6. Read 1 Samuel 20: 1- 44, the story of David and Jonathan and the arrows
7. Talk about listening/replay favorite games from the week
8. Have someone over for dinner *
9. Play Simon Says
10. Read What Was That! {A great children’s book about three brother bears who hear night noises of little critters getting ready for bed}
11. Give the boys instructions on how to build a lego creation to replicate a model I have already made, but that they cannot see until completion of their own. (The goal is that theirs should look identical to mine!)
12. At church tell the speaker something they heard him say during the meeting
13. Read Jonah chapter 1 and 2, the story of Jonah and the big fish
14. Talk about listening/replay favorite games from the week
15. Have someone over for dinner *
16. Play What Time is it Cpt Midnight?
17. Read Eric Liddell: Running for a Higher Prize (Heroes for Young Readers) {The story of a man who chose to listen to God rather than the crowds}
18. Let the boys be waiters at dinner time and take our orders for food prepared and waiting in the kitchen for them to serve.
19. At church tell the speaker something they heard him say during the meeting
20. Read 1 Samuel 3, the story of Samuel being called by God
21. Talk about listening/replay favorite games from the week
22. Have someone over for dinner *
23. Play Marco Polo
24. Read The King with Six Friends {I haven’t yet read this, but I have heard great things about it. A story of loyalty and teamwork. I love the illustrations in it!}
25. Set up an obstacle course and blindfold the boys. Give them verbal instructions to get through it
26. At church tell the speaker something they heard him say during the meeting
27. Read Acts 9, the story of Saul’s conversion
28. Talk about listening/replay favorite games from the week
29. Have people over for dinner *
*I have invited a selection of people over for dinner that have agreed to talk with the boys about the importance of listening within their realm of work. These guests aren’t likely to be coming over on Wednesdays, but to maintain the structure of my list I have kept it in order.
So far we have two nurses and a fireman coming on two different evenings to let the boys know how listening plays a part in their job.
I am also planning on having a small group of their friends over (7-12 year olds) who have agreed to tell them good stories about times they have listened or times when they should have listened. It was suppose to have been this Sunday but due to sickness in our family we’ve had to cancel and can hopefully reschedule that!!
~As with last month, this month of planning activities for encouraging the habit of listening came about from many dear friends contributing their thoughts and allowing me to hash out my ideas to them~
Sharing on
Making Your Home Sing! Monday
~A collection of funnies the boys have said from October 2011 – January 2012~
Wesley got out of bed at quiet time because he “needed to tell you something important mommy.”
I asked him if what he had to tell me was worth losing watching a movie with the family later since he was disobeying by getting out of bed.
He paused for a second and told me it was worth losing a movie.
I asked him what was so important.
He said “I love you so much mommy and I think you’re beautiful.”
And then scurried back to his room.
Wesley – “Daddy? <silence> Daddy? <silence> PAUL DAVID MORRIS!!”
me: Wesley, why are you yelling at me?
Wesley: So I could hear what it is you’re not saying
Wesley, playing with his uncle; “I am a fireman so I am spraying fire on you!”
Wesley: “I am Judah.”
Judah: “No, I am Judah.”
Wesley: “Well, I wish I was Judah.”
Judah: “Well, I wish I were….”
Wesley: “Wesley?! You wish you were Wesley?”
Judah: “No, I wish I were Judah. I just want to be me.”
Wesley: “Well I wish I were Judah too.”
I was reading the boys a story at bedtime and a woman in the book was described as being “very pretty” and Wesley – who had been prancing about the room – stopped and said “Mommy! She sounds just like you!”
Wesley walked up to me out of the blue and said “My mouth might smell like butter, but it’s not because I ate any.”
Smelling his mouth confirmed that it did, indeed, smell like butter.
I asked him if he’d eaten some butter and he said “No, I think a bad guy did.”I asked him to come look at the stick of butter with me, and sure enough there was a big bite missing, complete with teeth marks.
I asked Wesley a second time if he’d eaten any butter and he said “Yes mama. I did eat the butter. And that is why my mouth smells like butter.”
On our way home from church Paul forgot to buckle Wesley in. A couple minutes down the road Wes noticed and said urgently ” PULL OVER AND BUCKLE ME! I SO SCARED I AM GOING TO BLOW OUTTA THE CAR!!”
Me: “Wesley, I am so in love with you.”
Wesley: “Thank you mama! I am so in love with me too!”
Wes: When are you going to get married?
Me: I am already married.
Wes: Oh! When did that happen?
Me: Almost 7 years ago.
Wes: Oh… so it happened earlier?
Me: Yes, honey.
Wes: Why wasn’t I there?
Me: Because you weren’t born yet.
Wes: Well why wasn’t I born yet?
Me: Remember how a sperm and egg meet to make a baby? Well, they hadn’t met yet so you didn’t exist.
Wes: OH! So I was just sitting in a dark spot inside of you waiting and eating all the food you ate… {sigh} I wish I was there when you were married.
Me: I think I will make P.B. sandwiches for dinner.
Wes: I am glad indeed!
Wesley came to us in the middle of the night obviously distressed and described a nightmare by saying “I just had a bad picture in my eyes!”
me: Wes, would you like a bath?
Wes: A what?
Me: A bath.
Wes: Oh, you mean a baff like in the same spot I take a shower?
Me: No, honey. A bath.
Wes: Well, what’s a bath?
Wesley made his own sandwich for lunch and brought it to me asking; “Can you please fold it in half? Like the phases of the moon has a half moon I want a half sandwich.”
Overheard Wesley to Judah: “But WHY don’t you know that?”
Judah: “I just don’t know.”
Wesley: “BUT WHY?”
Judah: “I’M NOT GOD – OK??? I don’t know EVERYTHING!”
Judah: “One of my favorite things to do is to sit in the chair and spin and spin and spin until there’s lots of Judah’s in the room.”
Judah and Wesley were passionately discussing how large Goliath must have been. They weren’t agreeing at all, and Judah finally settled it by saying; “Well, I just know my thoughts on it are right and your thoughts on it are wrong.”
Judah: “I am going to go to the bathroom.”
Paul: “Have fun!”
Judah: “How do people have fun pooping?!”
