Celebrating the Season

We are winding down the summer season. Even though summer does not end until mid-September once Labor Day arrives most people are already talking about fall, back to school, and pumpkin spice. And while our youngest two children homeschool year-round (with lots of breaks during the summer), our eldest will be entering his final season as a homeschool student the first week of September when he starts his senior year of high school. The season goes by SO quickly.

Closing Out the Summer 

Before all the changes were brought about by the current world situation, the end of the summer would mean some final field trips – before summer hours ended. It would also signify the promise of getting excited to visit the shore in the Fall because I love going to the beach when the weather is just a tad cooler and when the boardwalks are less crowded. But we won't be doing any of these things for a while, sadly.

The end of Summer also means that I will need to go through the younger children's clothing to prepare for the colder weather. What clothes still fit? What clothes will our younger son hand down to his younger sister? Which ones will she refuse to wear because they are boy clothes?  (She refuses to wear Minecraft shirts because they are boy shirts but would play Minecraft all day long if we would let her.) And don't forget to go through the shoes! Boots will need to be tried on. New slippers might need to be purchased for the Fall and Winter.

It will also become time to put the kids' outdoor toy bin on the porch for safekeeping over the winter months. I am sad that we really didn't get to spend too much time outdoors this summer but – between the heat and the mosquitoes – it was sometimes unbearable. Maybe once the cooler weather arrives, we will be able to enjoy our backyard again.

Preparing For the Fall 

I used to change out decorations around the house – putting up pumpkins, leaves, and more to celebrate the arrival of Fall. Things have changed since having more children and homeschooling them. There were also changes made to my desire to decorate because of my anxiety and depression. And right now we don't really have space to make things fancy or decorated.

I hope that we will be able to plan our annual trip to a local farm to get pumpkins but alas I think that will be canceled like so many other events. It saddens me because it was one of my favorite ways to celebrate the season. Between the pumpkin picking and the games they had on the "Field of Fun," it was a great way to spend the day as a family. And we just discovered a new place where we can pick apples, too.

Parenting: Sharing

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Sharing is a word that is a double-edged sword.  It can bring tears of happiness to a parent's eyes or tears of anguish to the eyes of children.

With such a small age difference between my two littlest children (my son turned 3 in June, my daughter was 1 in April), most of the toys are interesting to both of them.  For example, both children love playing with stacking rings.  My daughter first starting using them when she was crawling.  She would put one in each hand as she would slide across the floor.  My son uses them to enact the television show "Color Crew" (Baby First's Color Crew).  Both enjoy stacking them but sometimes sharing doesn't work out so well.  Sometimes they both want them and other times my son wants my daughter to play with them with her but she is too busy on her own.

Another toy of contention in our house are Lego bricks. They have a total of three sets of the Duplo. My daughter is fascinated with pulling them apart - working on those fine motor skills.  My son likes to build laser guns and light swords based upon a popular sci-fi video game as well as build cakes. He first built a cake for me and said "Happy Mother's Day."  A little late, but very meaningful to this emotional mommy.  Of course, when his sister wants to take apart his creations, he has shed a lot of tears himself.

As they learn to play with each other, I see them wanting to play more and more together.  For example, my son has been building tracks for his Go Go Smart cars and my daughter has been using the cars on those tracks.  And when he colors, she has to have paper and crayons, too.  I think I am in for a lifetime of them sharing with each other and their older brother.