I'm Proud to be an American

Since it is September 11, I want to write about my experience 9 years ago today. I went to an institute class that morning and was stunned when people told me about what was going on, since I hadn't turned on the television or radio that morning. I went home and watched it all day for a few days. It was unbelievable. As the events unfolded and I heard about the people on Flight 93 and their courage and sacrifice, my heart was so touched.

There were so many who gave their lives and time, helping those in need during those days of sadness and shock. Firefighters became national heroes and flags became a new symbol of patriotism that was tangible. Pettiness and politics seemed to be put on hold and everyone seemed to care about people. It gave me new pride in being an American, as it did so many others. That feeling has possibly faded a bit for some, but every September 11, our country pauses to remember. It reminds me that God lets men use their agency for good or bad, and rarely intervenes, but can find a way to soften hearts and change lives, even in the midst of tragedy. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost work together, to bring us peace. 

If tomorrow all the things were gone,
I’d worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,
With just my children and my wife.
I’d thank my lucky stars,
To be living here today.
‘Cause the flag still stands for freedom,
And they can’t take that away.
And I’m proud to be an American,
Where at least I know I’m free.
And I won't forget the men who died,
Who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up,
Next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.
From the lakes of Minnesota,
To the hills of Tennessee.
Across the plains of Texas,
From sea to shining sea.
From Detroit down to Houston,
And New York to L.A.
Well there's pride in every American heart,
And its time we stand and say.
That I’m proud to be an American,
Where at least I know I’m free.
And I won't forget the men who died,
Who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up,
Next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.


Artist: Lee Greenwood
Song: Proud To Be An American

Grandmahood and Grandma Dates

I must say that I absolutely love being a grandma. I doubled my grandchildren in May, when my son married a sweet mom of two children. It's fun to get together with everyone. I recently decided I should do "Grandma Dates" with them. (I used to do mom dates with my own children. I should probably do that again, too.)

The first grandma date was with my 3 and 1 year old grandchildren. We played together and then my husband played with my grandson while I spent alone time with my 1 yr old granddaughter. We played on the piano together for about half an hour and she loved it. I was scared she'd be mad when I told her we should read some stories, but she was happy and enjoyed them. Then I played train with my 3 yr old grandson. It's his favorite thing to do. We make a train out of pillows and he tells me about how he needs to fix the wheels or the engine and we eat pretend food on the train. My husband played with my granddaughter while I played with him and read him some stories. Then we all ate pizza we'd ordered and then we made chocolate chip cookies together. Leftovers were sent home with them.

The second grandma date was with the newly inherited grandchildren, ages 11 and 7. We played games together. I chose games like Pictionary, Scattergories, and Catch Phrase, which I knew we could all play and work together on, so there would be no frustrations over who won or was cheating. I also read them some stories and we ordered and ate pizza and made chocolate chip cookies too. I gave them a ride home and gave them cookies and pizza to share with the family.

So, these dates were similar, but I tried to gear them a little differently for the ages of the children. I'm not sure my new grandchildren would feel comfortable doing a date one on one with me, so I'm trying to decide whether to work them as a family thing for the next few times, too. Anyway, it was fun and I'm looking forward to future dates with them.

Again!

Just had to say, I've changed my blog's wallpaper AGAIN! I'm so silly. I need to add some pictures sometime!

Potty Training with Marbles

So, my niece posted yesterday on facebook that she is starting 3 day potty training. Because the method I used was so successful, and because my daughter recently had a good experience training her son with the same method, I am posting it. I call it the Marble Method of Potty Training. (It is kind of my own very modified Toilet Training in Less Than a Day method.) I especially love this method because it avoids the whole candy rewards issue.

First, use lots of books and talk it up, making sure they understand what it means to be potty trained.

Second, you will need supplies: an empty jar, about 40-50 marbles in a different container, some training underwear (hopefully a little thicker), a potty seat of your choice (I always used the kind that have them sit right on the regular toilet and have a stool for them nearby) and a good reward idea. (We used an amusement park trip for one child, a trip to a fun and entertaining pizza place for others. Of course, you can also show and excite them about the fun new character underwear they will get to wear when they are all trained.)

Third, you prepare them by telling them that tomorrow is the day they get to stop wearing diapers.

On the big day you take off the diaper and have them try sitting on the toilet first thing in the morning. If they successfully get anything in the toilet, they get to choose and drop a marble in the empty jar. You tell them that when the jar is full, they will get to _________ (insert your chosen reward). (My rewards have ranged from going to an amusement park to a visit to Chuck E. Cheese Pizza.) If your child is not successful, you have them sit on the toilet about every 20-30 minutes and try. You don't let them put a marble in unless they get something in the toilet. I had a friend who told me she did let her kids get rewarded if they successfully farted while on the toilet. That is up to you. :D Once they have successfully gone a significant amount, you can probably wait about 45 minutes to an hour before having them try again. It is important to have them practice pulling down their own underwear, wiping, flushing, and washing hands each time they try.

Offer them lots of liquids while they are first learning. Water, juice, milk, and chocolate milk are all helpful to let them feel the urge to go. It is wise to have the children wear pants over their training underwear, so that the bulk of the liquid is felt by the child when an accident happens. If you have them in pull ups, it's not much different than a diaper, so they aren't going to care. When they feel all wet and uncomfortable, that is when they really learn.

When an accident does happen, which of course it will, this is your big time to be calm and kind, but firm.  You nicely have them help you clean up any mess from the accident. You take a marble out of the jar. (You do it, not them because you don't want to make it fun for them.) Then when they are all dry and changed back into fresh underwear, you have them go back to what they were doing when the accident happens. Let's say they were watching TV. You take them back to that room and have them start watching tv or doing whatever they were doing and you say, "Now, because you had an accident, we need to practice 3 times. You were watching TV, so if you are watching TV and you feel like you need to go to the potty, what should you do? You call to me, 'I need to got potty' and run into the bathroom, (you help them run to the bathroom), you pull down your pants (they do this), you sit on the toilet"...etc., right down to the flushing and washing hands.

This practicing may seem monotonous and time consuming, but it is one of the most important parts, because kids don't like it. It keeps them from playing and doing what they want to do. They will quickly figure out that it is easier just to go when they need to go and only have to do it once. That way they also get to put the marble in and can earn their reward sooner. It is good to remind them often how fun that reward will be and how good they are doing at earning it. Try to be as positive as you can be when they are successful and as calm as you can be when they are not.

With the pooping part, it is good to show them the facial expressions of pushing hard and grunting and maybe that reward for farting would even come in handy with becoming successful on the toilet. If they have a regular time of day and you see them looking like they're needing to go, get them to the potty quickly. That's one mess it is no fun at all to clean up, but we all do it. Oh, the joys of washing underwear in the toilet.

As they get further along in potty training, it is normal for children do begin to dance when they need to go to the bathroom (especially after they have experienced being wet), so watch for the signs, to help remind them. Help them get used to sitting on a regular sized toilet with your help, so they won't have a problem out in public.

When they finish putting all the marbles into the jar, or get the jar filled to the top, reward them quickly and with lots of praise and pride. It is good to keep using the practicing at least a couple times, if an accident happens, just to keep them in good habits. That is really all there is to this method. Happy potty training!

Songs of Praise

I love music and I've always loved to sing. (Even as a baby my dad used to call me his "la la girl!") We have been starting to sing Christmas songs in my church choir the past couple of weeks. Christmas music is wonderful, though I think some radio stations do start playing it a bit on the early side. (If it were just the songs about Christ's birth and life, I could gladly listen to it all year. It's the Jingle Bells and Ho Ho Ho that gets to me. I play a lot of CDs instead.)

Anyway, we are singing, "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need" for church this next Sunday. It's so beautiful!! I love the melody and harmony in it and the words are fantastic! I kind of wish the women got to sing the first part, but these words are only for the men in the arrangement we are doing:

"My Shepherd will supply my need, 
Jehovah is His name.
In pastures fresh He makes me feed,
Beside the living stream.

He brings my wand’ring spirit back,
When I forsake His ways.
And leads me for His mercy’s sake
In paths of truth and grace."

I'm so grateful for our Savior. I love Him! He is the light and life of the world. It's always a good time of year to think of Him, strive to follow Him, and sing praises to Him. 

My Love/Hate Relationship with the Computer

Okay, so is it just me, or do you have a hard time getting off the computer once you get on it? There's the e-mail to check, write and clean up, the facebooking to do, the blogs to write, the family history I'm supposed to work on, tons of websites to visit and things to learn about and look at.

This morning I spent two hours cleaning out the 700 plus e-mails in my inbox. I was happy that my Yahoo account now has a feature where I can click and drag and don't need to check every little box or select all of them to move them to a folder or delete. Finally I got showered and ready for the day.

Then, four hours ago, I started out thinking, "I have places I need to be this afternoon, so I should go find a good crock pot recipe for my family. (Obviously I didn't go those places.) I googled crock pot and pasta and quickly found some good ones. I printed a couple off and bookmarked the site. Then I remembered my friend has a blog with recipes. I started looking at those and looking at the pictures and thinking about her blog. Then I started clicking on other people's blogs that she has links to on her blog.

Looking at all those blogs made me think about this blog and how I've been trying to get started with it.  I'd been changing and changing my background and wanted to create a nice banner for it. I didn't know how to do that, so I hunted around for information. After trying out several sites, I finally gave up and made my own in Word. Unfortunately, it wouldn't convert to an image that blogger could read. In the end I got it to paste into Photo Shop and was able to upload it as an image into my header. Of course then I spent forever playing more with text colors and finally went mostly white. The computer can definitely suck up all the time in my day.

One way I usually avoid this is by using a free alarm I downloaded onto my computer. It at least wakes me up to the fact that time is passing by and I have other things I need to be doing. I have a Mac computer and the alarm clock I downloaded can be found at: http://download.cnet.com/Alarm-Clock/3000-2094_4-88713.html for free. Of course, it only works if you actually get up when it goes off! When I get really absorbed I just snooze it several times and then stop setting it. :D Yes, the computer is something I love, but it also mesmerizes and then frustrates me.