Our New Schedule

An email from my sister-in-law the other day really inspired me to get back to theme based learning with Daniel. Along with the learning, I re-organized my own life to make sure I was getting the essentials in daily (run, personal study/meditation, talk time with Christian, etc.). Well, wala, things are coming together quite nicely.

For the next little while we are going to be learning about space, rockets, and astronauts. Daniel's obsession with rockets all started with a simple bedtime story (well, Christian's bedtime stories are not simple, he makes it seem like you are really there). The bedtime story led to showing Daniel a You Tube video of the Discovery shuttle lift off and now every cylindrical object in our house has become a space shuttle or booster rocket.

Rockets are the only thing on Daniel's mind these days. Last night Daniel said the dinner prayer and it went something like this:

"...thank you for the food (long pause)
Blast off!!!!"

Both Christian and I had a hard time keeping the laughter under control. Does anyone out there have any good tricks for keeping the laughter at bay when your child innocently does something improper? I know the laughter only encourages the improper behavior, but sometimes I just can't contain myself.

Yesterday we talked about tools and how the astronauts have to use different tools to build the space station. We practiced too.

I guess the nail needed some air pumped into it

Today we talked about gravity and did some throwing/dropping experiments at the park. Daniel was having so much fun that all the other kids came over and joined us (there were only 2 others at the park).

Part of my new schedule includes a 30 minute Spanish lesson. We have the Pimsleur Spanish CD's that teach conversational Spanish. I get out the Lego's or blocks to keep Daniel's hands busy and we listen to the CD while I nurse. It is helping me refresh my Spanish and Daniel will occasionally repeat some of the phrases.

Being that we live in a sports mecca, I thought I better start exposing Daniel to the basics of some sports. So, I've included some time to kick a soccer ball around, ride his tricycle, play catch, do gymnastics, etc.

I've also been trying to expose him to rhythm and so we've been dancing to get our wiggles out. Even James likes dancing. You should see him boogy down. Finally, we end the day with a dip in the pool. We don't have an AC and so an afternoon swim really helps us cool off for the evening. And one night a week, Christian takes Daniel to do some really cool father/son stuff. It is great.

James just can't wait any longer to go to the pool!

The other day, my scheduling did not account for changing 7 messy diapers! You may be wondering what I am feeding my two children that would lead me to have to change 7 significantly messy diapers in one day. James is on a strict milk diet and Daniel wishes he were on a strict milk diet. So I guess as much as I schedule, I still have to go with the flow...no pun intended.

Anyways, I am really excited about this new schedule of ours. Now that things are more planned, all we have to do is have fun. I do reserve one day as "Mom" day where we do all the errands and other things I want to get done, done. It's like my mission P-day and tomorrow is P-day!