August 19, 2002
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Yeah
My homeschool stuff has a home and is organized. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Now I just have to start schooling them. 
We have had such a nice relaxing day today. We woke up and decided to go out to breakfast at Chestnut Cottage. It tasted sooooo mmmmmmmmmmm
And our kids were angelic. Which was very very nice.
We then proceeded to Walmart got the oil changed (over-due) and picked up some odds and ends. Mainly shoes for the girls who aren’t gonna be able to wear their sandals for more then a week or two before it starts raining. And some wire shelf stacker thingy-ma-bobs to store homeschool stuff on. The kids were again 98% well-behaved. The 2% being Samuel…we do not know how to get him to be calm in the store. He’s a looky-lou. And forgets that he’s supposed to stay with us. So today we thought we’d try a new approach and not nag him about coming. We were hoping to “loose” him in that we would know where he was…but he wouldn’t know where we were in an attempt to scare him into staying with us. UGH! didn’t work. He thought that meant the freedom to run round & round aisles. Fortunately nobody was in the store or that could have been disastress. SOOOOOo how do I keep a 4 year old walking quietly beside me. I’d love to just stick him in the cart, but theirs no room.
And i’ve also tried making him hold the side of the cart, but then he keeps pulling the cart the direction he wants to go which is VERY annoying. Suggestions??????
If it stays nice this evening I was contemplating asking Rob if we could sleep outside on the trampoline with the kids. But now the clouds are rolling in…so we’ll see closer to the time.
Father God, thank you for letting me get stuff done today. Thank you for your love. Enable us to honor you today. In your sons name, Amen
Comments (8)
Oof! What a challeng with so many itty bitties to keep track of! My Em is four. But there is just me, little Sophie and Emily. So Em alternates between riding and walking beside. Now. It’s usually just the three of us who shop and I’ve gotten deeply into asking her to help me find certain things. She’s not too advanced so I can offer this with a bit of confidence. She speaks good, but not super well — not like a four-year old. Trust me. She is super eager to please and goes bonkers in the produce section — she loves veggies and fruit. I always have to stand still and scan for you. Do you go to a Super Walmart? They are amazing stores.
There are times where I simply have to put my foot down and she gets a swat. I have yet to get anyone angry at me for correcting my child. I think what with the craziness of abducted children of late and the panic in my voice, most folks totally understand. And soooo many beautiful people are quick to catch my girl and bring her back. It’s astounding. This is VEGAS. But it’s full of many decent, lovely people who come from everywhere across the U.S.
I’ll keep you in my prayers. My SIL had some troubles with her oldest running off on her too. Em ran off one day when I was 8 months pregnant and I belted her right there. I was in immense pain and so freaked out. I got a lot of half hugs from total strangers. LOL. Wild, eh?
But at four… with no pregnancy… I’d try to find ways to engage his interest and his feeling of… belonging? of being useful to mommy and papa. That sound okay? Can you tell I’m mulling this over as if we were sitting over a cup of tea? *g*
I like the sound of the usefulness idea. A lot of children, even older ones, respond well to that kind of thing. I have children in my class who LOVE to be doing something responsible… and would otherwise be climbing the walls somewhere…
good luck with homeschooling the kids..
I cant beleive summer is almost gone..I sure hope we get some much needed rain this winter…its been hot and sticky..
take care,
rubymoon
I had one of those wrist things for my runaway kiddo… but I don’t that might work for you. Hopin’ you come up with a solution. Glad your day was otherwise productive!
Yes, Caleb has been known to sneak off, but for the most part has gotten better now that he’s older–except for a little incident at Long Beach while on vacation a couple weeks ago that just about had me in the padded room…the little… well anyway.
But at the time I was actually more worried about him getting out into the street–there weren’t too many people around but there was a side door that led right to the street and he’s really bad about watching where he is going or paying attention to what’s going on around him.
We start homeschooling Wednesday. Today I finished getting all my stuff organized too and switched another couple shelves around between my daugher’s room and the playroom. I needed more space in one area and the other shelving thing was bigger and had extra space so we swapped.
Yeah for your homeschooling stuff.
Glad you got all your stuff organized. It makes you feel so much more productive!!
We’ve tried that “fake losing” trick on my kids too.
I’m still working on getting my homeschooling stuff together. Eeeeek!
My children have never seemed to fear getting lost from me. They seemed to realize that I would be hysterical long before they thought they were lost. The only suggestion I have is something that does work on occasion – involving them in all the things I need to do and what is on the aisles on the way there. It takes a good bit longer, but it makes it a much more sane trip.