Just about 4 YO Tribe in october - Page 2

[DecemberSun]

Jaz- the Mary Had a Little Amp CD is just songs by regular people that kids like (Madonna, Indigo Girls, REM). I actually don't mind listening to it, or having it on in the background, if it will buy me 10 minutes of silence!

[famousmockngbrd]

We have a ton of toys - some are good, some are junky but the kids like them. December Sun, your house sounds like ours! We have all that stuff too, except the dress-up stuff because the kids aren't really into it. But in addition to all that we also have the plastic crap. I keep trying to weed them out but they just keep coming into the house!

Also, DS loves having lots of little toys that he can line up, arrange, sort, etc. etc. It is a little maddening to me because I also like to keep the cars all together, blocks together, etc. - you know, so you can actually play with them? DS likes them all in a big pile on the floor. In fact his latest thing is to take all the toys and kid books in the house and pack them ALL in plastic grocery bags so we can take them to "Dinosaur Land".

Have any of your kids started to say things like "You're mean" or You're stupid"? Mine has.

[famousmockngbrd]

Oh, and - we are going on a 6 hour road trip in a month, up to Chicago to the Field Museum to see the dinosaur bones. It will be the biggest road trip so far. I am eagerly reading all your suggestions. Unfortunately a DVD player is out for us due to financial restraints. My laptop plays DVDs but I don't know if the battery would hold out for a whole movie.

[MamaSweetP]

Originally Posted by majazama

I guess I'm not so crunchy anymore. Sue me.

Heh, I'm trying to get back to being crunchy . . . but the DVD in the car for long trips is one thing that I will not get rid of LOL. Heh, I need to be sane while behind the wheel, and after two hours stuck in a car with even my beloved little ones, my sanity is questionable without some quiet time for mama :

[Daffodil]

Originally Posted by famousmockngbrd

Have any of your kids started to say things like "You're mean" or You're stupid"? Mine has.

Oh, you bet! Lindy tells me I'm mean or rude or not a good mother. She also says, "No one loves me anymore," and "No one takes care of me." If DP gently tells her she can't do something she wants to do, she'll tell me, "Dad said I should go away and never come back!" She also complains that we give her timeouts and hit her (we don't - not even timeouts; we don't punish at all.) We just laugh about it, but I did explain to her recently that if she ever told another grownup that we hit her or were mean to her that they might think it was actually true and worry that we weren't taking good care of her.

[MamaSweetP]

Luckily, we haven't had that kind of thing (I hate you, you're mean, etc.) turned towards us, but she does come home from preschool and say "No one would play with me" with her well-practiced sad-face (I've seen her practicing this, in the mirror, and laughed hysterically to myself about that LMAO) when we know full-well from observation that she always has playmates. She just knows how to push our buttons. eh, I guess it's typical exploration.
xoxo
Charlotte

[saritasmile]

Originally Posted by majazama

I guess I'm not so crunchy anymore. Sue me.

Jaz, you are too crunchy!!

But I know what you mean. Sometimes I can't believe what I've come to. But really, you have to pick your battles. Especially as a single mom, you can't do everything 'crunchy' .

Our toy situation is driving me a bit crazy. We still have nothing that takes batteries but Razi seems to like to keep things that aren't really toys around. So there is toys but among that is...an old side view mirror to a VW bus, some kind of old battery tester thing, leaves and sticks from outside, etc. And all of that stuff is just in a huge pile. Every time I organize it, he just wrecks it all up. I'd really like to find a nice wooden toy box and just put everything in there so I don't have to see it.

Razi hasn't said anything specifically about not likeing me but he has been really bossy and demanding lately. Especially if I don't get up fast enough in the morning. But wtf am I supposed to do, I'm huge and slow right now. I'm getting tired of being bossed and screamed at :"RIGHT NOW MAMA!!!" I don't do that to him...

I am curious, do any other kids do represenational drawing yet? Razi just started drawing faces (that really actually look like faces) just in the last few weeks. And he is actually making things w/ his legos now too. He makes dogs, not just ramdom pieces put together like before. It's really cool but I have no reference as to when they start doing that. just wondering...

[Daffodil]

It's funny, after I read this thread this morning, Lindy said, "You're stupid, Mom!" for the first time.

She does a bit of representational drawing. She doesn't try to draw people, but she draws things she calls "moops." They're basically blobs with two eyes, a tail (or occasionally two tails), a variable number of legs, and sometimes a mouth. Once she added a tongue - and then added a second tongue. I think she'd rather draw something that isn't supposed to look like anything in particular than something hard like a person that she knows wouldn't come out right.

[saritasmile]

just wanted to clarify, the faces have a mouth 2 eyes and a nose and hair in kinda the right spot. It doesn't look like a 'real' face but you can tell it's a face...

[Mona]

sarita- my dd is always demanding.

[saritasmile]

Originally Posted by Mona

sarita- my dd is always demanding.

OMG does it just drive you crazy?!? It's making me : what am i going to do when the baby comes and I'm nursing or whatever and actually can't do what he demands?

oh wow, i'm having a contraction...not that i think i'm in labor yet, heehee

[Mona]

Originally Posted by saritasmile

OMG does it just drive you crazy?!? It's making me : what am i going to do when the baby comes and I'm nursing or whatever and actually can't do what he demands?

oh wow, i'm having a contraction...not that i think i'm in labor yet, heehee

wow, i still dont' want anymore kids, but i'd like to be pregnant and give birth again. that's so awesome sarita!!!!

so, with K, i just tell her to be patient. :LOL
we talk about that during times of waiting for kids to finish what they are doing until it is her turn. and then later i use that as a reference point. not that it always works. :P

of course, there are also the times that she just has to whine and cry until i am ready to get off my fat ass and serve her almighty royal queeness.
she likes to pull this at dinner time. just as i sit down she wants soemthing, and I have to do it, not dada. So i just tell her that she'll have to wait until i'm done eating or whatever if she doesn't want wes to get it for her. and damnit if she isn't so stubborn, she'll sit there and whine until i am done rather then have wes get it for her. :

[famousmockngbrd]

DS has been drawing things that are representational to *him* for a while, but it's only been in the last few months that other people can also tell what they are supposed to be. I love his drawings - the faces with the lopsided eyes and huge mouths. They are really adorable. For a while he was putting baseball hats on everyone, for some reason.

[hipumpkins]

Dd isn't into drawing but every once in while she will draw a great big oval with some dots for eyes..just recently she has added arms and legs.
DD experiemnted with "RGIHT NOW" but the waitress in me had to put a stop to that immediately. I can't stand to be ordred around.
She has her occcasions to be rude but I swear I will take this lovely almost 4 over 3 any day. from 3 to 3 1/2 was TORTURE!!
My DD is really inot pretend and I love eaves drop when she plays with her beanie babies...which btw multiply very quickly when you aren't looking. One time I did overhear a bear say, "Damnit!" Oh those bears I don't know where they get such language

[majazama]

Originally Posted by XmasEve

Jaz, what I figured was, if we were making the trip by horse and buggy, or some other au naturale mode of transport, I'd ditch the DVD. But cruising down a paved road, in a gas guzzling miracle of modern invention, wtf would I draw the line at a DVD player? And yes, we only use it for trips in excess of 2 hours. I adore my kids, and I love spending time with them, but several hours in a confined space, limited distractions... I want alone time! I don't even talk to dh after a few hours

Thanks for saying that! its so true.

[MamaSweetP]

Fiona does representational drawing. I'll have to scan in some of her stuff and post it LOL I'm particularly fond of her giant nostrils and bellybuttons. Her most recent portrait of me looked as though I had a great big hairy pubic area : and while nudity is no issue in our house (as in no big deal) I wondered if I needed to start being more aware of when I needed to put a robe on . . . until she explained to me that that was my belly button
My favorite drawing of hers so far is the centipede from James and the Giant Peach

[**guest**]

Ds isn't into drawing just yet. Kinda ironic...since I'm an artist. LOL.
He can draw a basic face but that's about all.

Ds's favorite movie is Harry Potter- The Chamber of Secrets
Does anyone else's child have sophisticated taste in movies?

[saritasmile]

Originally Posted by OdeToJoy

Ds's favorite movie is Harry Potter- The Chamber of Secrets
Does anyone else's child have sophisticated taste in movies?

Razi has seen the movie Baraka, that's about as sophisticated as it gets. I have to be really careful what he watches as he gets scared really easy (like literally shaking while watching) but won't let me turn it off. He couldn't even handle the curious george movie, let alone any harry potter!
I think he really internalizes what he watches, I know I do and have to be careful myself, if I start biting my nails, it's time to do something else

I have no idea why I'm awake right now *sigh*

[Daffodil]

Originally Posted by OdeToJoy

Does anyone else's child have sophisticated taste in movies?

Not mine! She really likes this absolutely awful Goldilocks and the Three Bears video that her grandma gave her. The story, animation, and acting are as bad as they could possibly be, but she sits and watches with utter fascination, smiling at the "funny" parts. She watched Lady and the Tramp once, but said it had "long boring parts." She has no interest whatsoever in watching any movie for adults - she just knows they're all completely boring.

[majazama]

my girls have a bunch of movies that they like, but some I can't stand, like Caillou, and little bear (wheres the hanging yourself smilie?) what I always do is imagine them with adult content, and laugh to myself, instead of disposing of the annoying dvd. :

They really like shrek, and those kind of computer animated ones, and I like those ones too. they are almost for adults and kids! I really recommend madagascar, its hilarious. I try to get them to not put it on all the time so then I can still enjoy it when its on. BUt they might watch one "movie" per day, max... it always seems to be shrek.

(i'm super picky about what kind of movies they watch, and Disney is pretty much out, they are always too violent, and with weird female/male roles)

Oh, we have this one called The storyteller, by Jim Henson, who was so talented. IT s awesome, with puppets and stuff. done before computer animation. we watch it together, as its kinda scary, but so good.