Friday, April 26, 2013

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 28)

 Okay, Blogger is still not letting me upload photos!  Sorry for the extra-boring QT's today.


-1-
Sly hasn't busted out a "Frikkin' crap!" recently, which is good.  But he's started saying "holy heck" (learned from my Dad).  Still not pleasant, but at least it's a step down in crassness...


-2-
I had an Usborne books party at my house the other night, which was completely lovely.  I enjoyed myself more than I have in a long time, just hanging out with other women and laughing (and eating chocolate fondue!).  Almost everyone there was pregnant (and I didn't know it in advance).  I guess this does happen a lot when you invite a lot of Catholic moms to stuff.  Being surrounded by so many happy pregnant women, I would not be surprised if baby fever starts to hit me soon.  I'm pretty sure it's already hit Tom....he's been getting that look in his eye and asking, "so when are you going to be pregnant again?" 


-3-
The chocolate fondue recipe I used was so simple and so delicious.  Try it out!
As dippers, I had: strawberries, banana slices, pretzels, marshmallows, pound cake chunks.

Also, did you know that electric fondue pots exist?  I'd only used the kind with the little Sterno burners, which I don't like.  But my mother-in-law lent me her electric one, and it provided such nice even heat.  I definitely need to add that to my birthday list!


-4-
I keep running into friends and acquaintances who are already "homeschooling" their three-year-olds.  And I'm like, "oh crap! [see?  this is where Sly gets his bad language from]  Should I be doing stuff with Sly?!"  I'm sure any "schooling" I'd do with him at this age would be very simple and informal....but I'm wondering what other mothers do besides just, ya know...reading to them and playing.


-5-
So when I was a kid (early 90s), I had a big chunky Fisher-Price tape player/recorder, and a stack of tapes (some music and some books on tape that chimed when it was time to turn the page - remember those?) to listen to.  I feel like there's not a good equivalent for today's kids.  CDs are too fragile for little ones to handle.  But even CDs are probably considered old-fashioned now.  Most people don't even buy them anymore, they just download directly to their computer tablet or smart phone, right?  Do people besides me even still use mp3 players?  Either way, they wouldn't work for little kids, because they can't read so wouldn't be able to pick the song they want to listen to.  Is there some product or program I don't know about?

Anyways, to get around all of this, and because we are thrifty people, and because we are nostalgic people...Tom and I have decided to get Sly a used Fisher-Price kid's tape player off of eBay.  We've already amassed a nice little collection of cassette tapes (some remnants of my own childhood collection, and other picked up at thrift stores) that we know he will like.  I think he should be able to figure out how to work them. 


-6-
 Isn't this the perfect song to sing to a snuggly little sugar baby? [here I would have posted a pick of my own adorable little Stella baby, but I'm sure you guys (what us northerners say instead of y'all) can manage to hold yourselves together without seeing a pic of her]




I got this cd out at the library.  It's Elizabeth Mitchell's album Little Seed.  She sings covers of children's songs by Woody Guthrie.  Good stuff

-7-
I have still never read a book to Stella.  She's eight months old.  I can't remember when we started *actually* reading to Sly, so I'm not sure if I should feel bad for her or not.  All she wants to do is munch on everything anyways.


Quick Takes is hosted at Conversion Diary

6 comments:

  1. In terms of what to do with Sly for "preschool", point out colors and shapes to him. If he's interested, point out letters in his books.

    ReplyDelete
  2. haha - thanks. Well, I already do those things! I guess I'm good :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. We love Elizabeth Mitchell. Good stuff, indeed.

    As far as schooling, I think the biggest things you can do are read read read and instill in him good habits like picking up after himself and sharing. Those things make homeschooling easier down the road. At least we're told it will!

    I'm sorry I missed the book party the other night-- it sounded like a lot fun!

    ReplyDelete
  4. My third starts kinder in the fall. We have done nothing academic with her, poor tragic middle child that she is. :) we read a lot, do a few crafts. Mostly she buries stuff in our backyard and plays dress up.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My third starts kinder in the fall. We have done nothing academic with her, poor tragic middle child that she is. :) we read a lot, do a few crafts. Mostly she buries stuff in our backyard and plays dress up.

    ReplyDelete
  6. My third starts kinder in the fall. We have done nothing academic with her, poor tragic middle child that she is. :) we read a lot, do a few crafts. Mostly she buries stuff in our backyard and plays dress up.

    ReplyDelete