7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 122)

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Grace is…an unexpected day-off when you are well beyond the ready-to-collapse point, a friend’s successful breast cancer surgery, going to daily Mass, speaking truth with love, compassion, and understanding, listening attentively, the joy of three silly sisters laughing, your husband visiting you at work, a homemade meal, a much-needed hug, unsolicited kisses from little cuties, beautiful weather, a glimpse of how God sees others, encouraging others in tough times, receiving a card out-of-the-blue from a best friend, the support and counsel of prayer warriors focused on doing God's Will above all else…

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Happy 70^th Birthday! Kevin  and I had a blast celebrating Dick Commander's 70th birthday this past Saturday evening. He and Jeannine throw a great party! It was wonderful to see and have a chance to catch up with so many members of our Cursillo family! 

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It Takes a Village Kevin and I love the girls for whom I nanny as well as their parents very dearly. It is such a tremendous blessing to work with and for Carl & Jess, who work so hard even after long days at their jobs to do what's necessary to keep their precious daughters safe and healthy. Lord, thank You for the gift this family continues to be in our lives. Help us to be open to the ways You want us to serve them. Amen.           

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A Broadway Style Fair Trade I take full responsibility for the 3 year old who was running sprints inside the house not too long before her nap/rest time the other day while singing the two lines she recalls from a Singin’ in the Rain number I played for her sisters and her a few times on Youtube: “Good Morning” and “It’s great to stay up late!”  I texted her mother to tell her about this and added that I hoped she didn’t adopt that philosophy until she was a bit older. Her mom said she’s fine with her daughter staying up late as long as mommy gets to sleep late. 

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Too Tired to Text Wednesday evening I was having trouble texting as is evident in the following excerpt of a conversation I was attempting to have:

Friend: “…had Mass for the parish school today which was really fun…”

Me: “School Mass foes sound fun…” (realizing my mistake added)

Me: “School Mass foes sound diabolical, not fun. Another long, draining day that has left me unable to text or talk intelligibly.”

Friend: “LOL! Diabolical?? 500+ kids all singing and praising the Lord and receiving him. So much fun!”

Friend: “What are you doing this evening?”

Me: “I need to work on the Rooster Review (the Cursillo newsletter for our area), but since I can barely manage to text at this point, maybe that’s not a good idea for this evening. 

Friend: “Maybe not J”

Friend: “Now I understand your precious texts”

Me: “R my texts precious?  I’m guessing you meant previous but r still using autocorrect-which couldn’t even help me now”

Friend: “LOL”

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Childproofing 101 Children by their very nature will manage to get themselves into dangerous situations of their own concocting, so it’s best not to give them an easy way into trouble and becoming another statistic or sad story in “What to Expect When You Don’t Childproof Your House” type series of books—as it will take several volumes to document and describe all of the illnesses, injuries, accidents, including but not limited to: gaping head wounds, cuts requiring stitches, burns, poisoning, a sudden supposedly accidental loss of limb, and/or other households little shop of horrors tales from beyond the crib and the crypt.  Click here to read all of “Children Shouldn’t Be Crash Test Dummies (My Nanny Diary).”
    

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Miss U Much I’ve been pleasantly surprised a number of times this week to have the opportunity to spend time with people I don’t necessarily get to see very often.  I was quite humbled and touched that some people are so happy to see Kevin and me, that they pray for us regularly even without having any contact with us, and that they miss us when we aren’t up to or able to attend some of the Masses, prayer vigils, and/or other get-togethers like we have in the past.  I know I feel that way about many people, but it’s nice to be reminded that there are people who are grateful just because you are present.  The three girls get so excited when Kevin comes over.  It's so cute to watch him playing with them.

   

                  

Check out Jen Fulwiler’s tradition of 7 Quick Takes Friday at her tremendously popular blog Conversion Diary.

Children Shouldn’t Be Crash Test Dummies (My Nanny Diary)

Children by their very nature will manage to get themselves into a dizzying number of dangerous situations of their own concocting, so it’s best not to give them an easy way into trouble and becoming another statistic or sad story in a “What to Expect When You Don’t Childproof Your House” type series of books—as it will take several volumes to document and describe all of the illnesses, injuries, accidents, including but not limited to: gaping head wounds, cuts requiring stitches, burns, poisoning, a sudden supposedly accidental loss of limb, and/or other households little shop of horrors tales from beyond the crib and the crypt. 

Childproofing 101: The Rule of Thumbs

For the safety and well-being of children, it’s absolutely necessary to be proactive about childproofing and safety concerns.  The worst way to find out something should have been done is after someone is seriously injured because it wasn’t.  There are so many different basic childproofing things that need to be done, and they vary from one house to the next.  What's more, the basic baby and childproofing needs for your little one can be much more extensive than the lists of some other mothers.  This is by no means a complete or exhaustive list.  It's merely a jumping off point (pun intended) like everything that's in your house will become if it hasn't already.    

Before your child can roll over, install plug covers on any outlets at floor level in rooms where you will let them play.  You will be amazed at how quickly they can get from one part of the room to another when they get on a roll (literally).

Put gates at the top and bottom of staircases once your child can roll, but way before he or she is crawling.  It will help you preserve whatever sanity you have left when they become more mobile and will boldly explore in all directions. 

Any heavy furniture, shelves, etc. that may tip over should be tethered to the wall.  You can be certain that when climbing capable your child will try to get something out of reach by scaling whatever they need to in order to reach new heights. 

If there are more children than there are adults the majority of the time, then there needs to be two to three times more childproofing done, and/or your place will need to be up to Department of Social Services Standards for Child Care Centers if you intend to make it through the baby and preschool years with a below-average number of trips to the pediatrician's office and/or emergency room.

If an older sibling does it, their younger siblings will learn from them possibly/probably sooner than the first child learned it and do it as often as they can if they receive a high level of alarm from parents or caregivers.  This factor is multiplied with twins and multiples.  What was okay when you just had one little one running around is NOT necessarily safe when you have two or three young ones.

A funny-in-retrospect true story to prove toddlers are smarter than you think, so watch out!

When one of “my little guys,” who resembled a little old man when he was using his walker/push toy, shuffled up to the huge wooden door and pushed on it with his toy, presumably to see if he could get it to open.  I laughed and jokingly said to him that, “maybe if you got a running start…”  That was my first mistake.  I underestimated the kid, who I knew could understand what I was saying.

He was young enough I didn’t think he’d take what I said to heart and have the reasoning power to execute it, especially on a huge, heavy nine feet tall door built in the 1800s.  Wrong again.  He looked right up at me when I said that, then looked over at the closed door.  I always kept this particular door closed once the boys were mobile if I was the only adult present.  This was my sturdiest back-up so as to keep the two toddlers from gallivanting about the dining room, living room, front entryway, and downstairs bathroom, as well as the really big main staircase, none of which were fully childproof.  

 
This cutie backed up from the door a bit further than he had been before, and the little skunk moved as quickly as he could in jeans that were a tad big for him and a somewhat unwieldy walker back over to the door and rammed it even harder this time.  I was initially amused at his cleverness and persistence until the huge, heavy door opened. 

     
The important lesson learned here is that if you’re going to give a kid some pointers, even jokingly, thinking he won’t listen or use them, that’s when he’s most likely to awe and distress you with his cleverness and comprehension.