Our family hasn’t taken a vacation since Grandma Geri passed away over a year ago and we flew down to SoCal for the memorial (which didn’t really qualify as a vacation). David had some vacation time he needed to use up before March, so we decided to take a week off and do a little road trip. First we drove down to visit Grandpa Ernie and Grandma Glynna down in Grants Pass for a the weekend. The girls enjoyed the animals (as always) and playing with Uncle Caleb and Aunt Barocha.
When Monday came and everyone had to go back to work and school, we drove up to Waldport where a friend of mine has a beach house for rent. It’s a beautiful, peaceful hideaway just steps from the beach. The girls loved playing with the legos and sea creature toys they found (the family who owns the house has 11 children).
They enjoyed running along the beach, though the icy wind was powerful enough to almost knock them off their feet. Bethany preferred to snuggle on my shoulder and hide her face from the wind.
There was a trampoline out back so we took them out to try it once the wind calmed down. The girls had a blast hopping on it and trying to make their sisters bounce in the air. Bethany was tentative at first but warmed up to it after awhile. On the drive home we stopped at the aquarium in Newport. The girls were especially mesmerized by the tunnels where they could see sharks and fish swimming over their heads and under their feet.
We had a great time, but we’re especially looking forward to going down to Southern California to enjoy the sunshine and spend time with friends and family. It will still be too chilly to swim at the beach, but maybe the girls will still be able to take their shoes off and play in the sand.
I held off on introducing small chokable toys as long as I could, but decided a few months ago that Eva was long overdue for them. The only “regular” sized legos she had were for a “Cars” kit that Aunt Nanci gave her for her birthday, so I got the girls a box of Legos for Christmas and they have quickly become one of their favorite activities. Occasionally I catch Bethany with a piece in her mouth and make her spit it out, but so far nobody has choked.
Their other favorite toy right now is a Squinky castle Uncle Larry gave them for Christmas, with all the tiny, rubbery character. I expected them to lose all the pieces within a week, but miraculously they still have almost all of them and never tire of playing with them. They make up little stories for the characters and even Bethany will play tirelessly with them without putting them in her mouth.
Their Schleich and stuffed animals are still popular as they arrange “doggy parades” with the toy dogs, ride off into the sunset on their toy horses, and play “Dolphin Tale” with their stuffed dolphins and whales. Their favorites are still Sniffy, Husky, and Bandit (their stuffed doggies) and Amanda’s horse Maximus from the movie “Tangled,” though his tail is long gone.
A couple from church came up with a unique reward and discipline system called “Kid Bucks” that they are thinking of turning into a small business, so they asked a few families like ours to test it out and give some feedback on it. They print little dollars for each child with their face on them (so they are not interchangeable) that can be earned and spent around the house. The idea is teach them the value of money, as well as saving, delayed gratification, hard work, making choices and accepting the natural consequences, and other life skills.
We decided to give it a try and keep it simple since the kids are still pretty little. We have a list of things they can earn Kid Bucks for, like making their beds, helping unload the dishwasher, putting away laundry or finishing their dinner without complaining. Each of them has a goal to reach for that can earn them a bonus, like 3 kid bucks for Amanda if she wakes up dry in the morning.
The Kid Bucks can be spent on a treat for dessert, a trinket from the prize box, a half hour of TV, an extra book at bedtime, etc. We encourage them to save them up by having a “big ticket” item, like a giant bottle of bubble solution, sitting on top of the book shelf that they can buy once they save up 10 kid bucks. It’s a challenge for little ones who thrive on instant gratification, but they love it when they finally achieve their goal.
The families with older kids have graduated to more complex concepts like paying “bills” for neglected chores or messes that mom and dad had to pick up, earning interest for saving, and only getting “paid” every two weeks so they have to make the Kid Bucks last until next “paycheck.” But for now, we’re keeping it simple.
Eva is really enjoying 1st Grade. Every morning after breakfast she asks, “Can we do school now?” She reads really well but is still self conscious about reading aloud. She tries to read fast like her friend Kasey who is a year older, but I encourage that it’s better to slow down so she can make fewer mistakes and people can understand her better. She’s chomping at the bit to learn to write cursive like Kasey, too, so I promised her that we can do that next year in 2nd grade, once she’s got printing well in hand. She can write full sentences with punctuation now.
In history, we just finished learning about the Egyptians and now we’re moving on to the Greeks. Eva is fascinated by the pictures of how people used to live long ago. In science, we’re almost done with the Usborne World of Animals and soon will start studying about the body, what makes you sick, etc. I’m saving the science experiments for summer since the weather will be warmer and they will make for fun outdoor activities.
We’re using a math curriculum called “Singapore Math” that Eva is really enjoying. It uses a method that they use in Singapore and other Asian countries, teaching students to break down larger problems into smaller parts, solve the problems and then add the pieces back together. It’s not how I learned to do math at this age, but it makes it so much easier to learn, and even do in your head, that I think perhaps math might not have been such a nemesis for me if I had learned it this way.
