Parenting with the Berenstain Bears

Not sure about the rest of you but I own several parenting books, okay a lot of them.  I do have a few OCD/pefectionist type tendencies, (okay a lot of them as well) and so when it came to having children I went out and bought all the books.  You know, because I feel like I have to do it perfectly.  Then once Nicholas arrived I went and bought a whole bunch more, and then when he started getting night terrors at three I bought a whole bunch more again and so it goes on.  My most recent purchase is this book:

 Last night though, as I read the little one his bedtime story I had a bit of an "aha!" moment.  The book I was reading to him was sending me a message, forget Simplicity Parenting and The Over Scheduled Child.  No need to bother reading them.  I hereby introduce you all to:

Yes, parenting with the Berenstain Bears. 

In The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Pressure, Brother and Sister Bear have a hectic schedule with all sorts of extra-curricular activities.

Hmm... art class, check! Karate and Computer club, no but Science Club and Chess Club? Check!

Gymnastics and swimming, check!

No, ballet or horse riding classes (although The Captain has expressed interest in the latter as he knows Mummy is planning to take it back up), but we can also add:

 Tennis, Fencing and Music.

...and the Bear Family how do they cope with all this? Well Papa makes a big planner to hang on the wall:

KikkiK calendar in the kitchen, check!

Does it end in tears?

Check!

After a family meeting the Bear Family decide that two after school activities each are enough.  They each choose their two favourites.  They then go back to doing "the everyday things that most families do.  They worked and played, went to school, visited friends, enjoyed nature - and once in a while, they sat around doing absolutely nothing."  Fabulous advice for us all really!    

He's almost four... sob!

My littlest pirate is about to turn 4.  I kind of ignored him turning three, I really didn't want it to happen.  But four is hard to ignore, he is all talk about it and what he wants for his party.  He wants a Huckle and Lowly party.  He is obsessed with Richard Scarry books, not unlike his brother and Uncle at the same age.  

Invitations have been made and guests have been invited. Food and decorations I feel pretty confident about... but party games for 5 four year olds (and 5 six year olds) at a Richard Scarry Busytown Party leaves me quite perplexed.  A quick google search and I have come up with a "Find the Goldbug" game and not much else.  Anyone have any ideas of games that might work with this theme and this age group?  Have a lovely weekend all! 

Pantry organising....

I had an email from a lovely reader asking about our pantry and how I organise it!  Ah, if only you knew... I don't really.  R does most of the cooking Chez Pirate.  Yes, I have been blessed with a husband that is an amazing cook.  I know, very lucky.  Nevertheless, despite the fact that he is the cook, I am the chief shopper and cleaner, so I guess the pantry organisation does come down to me.  Pantry design though was all husband.

Anyway, for Kirsten (and anyone else that might be interested),  here is how the pantry is organised:

On the left hand side we put in floor to ceiling shelves.  It is hard to take a photo of them without a special lens but they are big and deep.  On the top shelves, which you can only access with the kitchen stool steps, I keep this sort of stuff:

I am sure you all understand why the paints et al are treated in the same manner as other dangerous good items like First Aid Kits and Chemicals.

Below the Dangerous Good items are mostly shelves full of dry goods and other miscellaneous kitchen items. The glad wrap, alfoil and plastic baggies live in an Ikea basket together.  

Shelves look mostly like this (a pretty shelf):

Or like this (not so pretty shelf):

On the other side of the pantry is my favourite bit, the appliance shelf , all the appliances used regularly are stored here:

In the drawers/cupboards below are:

R's coffee supplies.

Lunchbox bits and pieces.

More appliances!

So there you have it, that is how the pantry is organised and please don't think it always looks this.  I did a big tidy up before I took the photos!  Now, someone ask me about garage or wardrobe organisation or something to motivate me to tidy up elsewhere!  

The Joys of Boys - The Sequel

Parenting the Y chromosome...

They like mud...  a lot.

The little one will be very sad when the new garden beds are finished.  

I will not be.

Cardboard tubes provide hours of entertainment... (as do sand and mud).

You find surprise additions to the shopping list, (considering how well he reads his spelling is atrocious!)

They can entertain themselves anywhere.

(Me: "darling, what are you doing?

Boy: "I am spying on the people downstairs")

Got to love the excuse to be able to decorate with vintage cowboy prints though!

And... yes little pirate Prince, I forgive you for the mud! (Lucky you are as cute as you are though!).

The school dilemma

My little pirate is a June baby.  In terms of school enrolments this is not such a great date of birth.  In NSW children are supposed to start school if they turn 5, on or before the 31 of July of the year they would start school.  If everybody followed this guideline then Baby Pirate would be one of the youngest in his class but there would be no more than a years gap between the children.  However, what is more common is that children that turn 5 from January on are held back to start the following year, yes so already 6 or almost 6 when they start kindergarten.  

The Captain, born at the end of October is the third youngest in his class.... 

So the dilemma is if I send Baby Pirate to school next year he could be up to 18 months younger than some of the kids.  In his pre-school group there are kids that have already turned 5 in January/February.  He doesn't turn 4 till the end of the month.  Are you following?  I barely can make sense of all of this!  He is fine in Pre-School and academically he is so far ahead of some of these kids that I know he would be more than fine at School.  Physically however, these kids are huge compared to him and they are probably more emotionally confident.

When I have discussed with friends and family the situation we are in almost universally people have said, "send him next year."  I have decided not to though and not because of noble thoughts about an extra year at home of play based learning or because I don't think he would cope or because I have read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers.   In fact I know he would be totally fine and would settle very happily into school next year, but I am holding him back (and yes I really feel like I am holding him back) because I think that it is absurd that he will be in a class room with kids up to 18 months older than him.  In primary school this won't be such a big deal but when it comes to high school it will be and so another year of Pre-school it must be little Pirate!  Anyone else out there with thoughts on this?  

The Tooth Fairy has paid us her first visit.

The Captain has lost the first two of his little baby fangs, interestingly the first two to make an appearance have been the first two to vacate the premises.  It has been a long time coming, he is the second last kid in his class to lose any teeth so he was starting to get a little antsy about it all, even requesting that we pay a visit to the Dentist to "check everything is ok?"  Which reminded me... he was the last baby in my Mother's Group to get teeth in the first place!

So on Monday morning when the first one finally fell out whilst he was getting dressed for school he was literally beside himself dancing around and squealing "aren't you proud of me Mummy?"  I took the opportunity here for a quick parenting lesson... "oh yes, so very proud darling but you make Mummy ever so proud when you are a good listening boy who is kind to his brother and" ... he lost interest in me about then and danced off....

Later that afternoon on our way home from swimming lessons the second little fang fell out in the car.  Oh my was he delighted with himself!  We then had to ring his Dad (in New Zealand) to share the excitement and then when we got home the teeth were very carefully placed under his pillow.

                                                              7:05pm his lights were out, bless him.

The tooth fairy brought him a lovely certificate that he can glue into his scrapbook to mark the occasion and she also reimbursed him for his gorgeous little fangs with a $5 note stamped with gold fairy dust, carefully folded up inside this little pouch.  The Captain is quite the fan of the tooth fairy now!  

The little one's room

A few snaps of the little one's bedroom.    We don't really follow any specific theme with the boys bedrooms so they are a bit of a blend of nautical, cowboy and vintage, plus they both have the ubiquitous expedit!  I am so not an Ikea person but I do love an Expedit for storing kids books and toys on!

I found this chest of drawers in my grandparent's garage when my Dad and I were sorting through everything after they had both passed away.  It was covered in layers and layers of different paint but I could tell that it was made of cedar so I figured that it was worth trying to restore. It still needs a lot more work done on it but I kind of like the industrial look in a boys bedroom, so I might leave it how it is.

This chair was my uncles.  Still going strong and must be around 50 years old now.

Some favourite toys.

A tolix stool as a bedside table!

The boys made these out of the Djeco Mosaic kits and we framed them in cheap Target frames.  

This mobile hung over both their cots and I can't bear to pull it down.

The suitcases store toys that aren't in regular circulation.  The cowboy fabric in the corner is a teepee. Speaking of cowboys, I just saw the most divine flannel fabric in a cowboy print and am now longing to make the boys some pjs out of it.  Anyone know a good easy boys pj pattern? Easy being the operative word here! xx