For quite some time now, Ella has taken to calling herself Baby Dora (named, I can only surmise, after Dora the Explorer whose television show is one of Ella's favorites). If we call her Ella, she will quickly correct us. "No, Mommy, I'm Baby Dora." This is cute as long as she is not milking the 'baby' part of her new name to avoid doing a task she knows how to do. Neither Josh nor I has a lot of patience for her refusing to put on her shoes or go to the bathroom because "Baby Dora doesn't know how. She's just a baby."
Then a month or so ago, she heard the French children's song Alouette and started calling herself Baby Dora Alouette. This was frequently accompanied by her singing Alouette which is charming in all of the adorable mis-pronounciations of the French words.
Most recently, she has told us that her name is Baby Dora Alouette Bad Guy. And sometimes Baby Dora Alouette Bad Guy Bad Man Bad Fish. I blame the boys in her class at school for teaching her about bad guys although, rather adorably, when you ask her what a bad guy does, she tells us that he is someone who throws other people's things in the trash.
Somewhere along the way, she decided that her brother needed an equally good name to go along with Baby Dora so she started calling him Baby Beluga. There are frequent references to Dash being a little white whale which is actually pretty spot-on. He is little and he is white. And he is (kind of) on the go. Are you singing Raffi to yourself yet?
Tonight I said to Dash, "You are such a sweet boy!" and Ella replied, "No, Mommy, he's such a sweet WHALE!"
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Omar, lost in the woods
Based on my recent posting about Ella and the last number, you are probably thinking that Ella is some kind of math genius. I am here today to tell you that we still have some work to do.
This afternoon we took a walk around the block because the weather was so darn perfect. The sun was shining and the fall leaves were dancing to the ground in the wind. As we were walking on the street, I asked Ella to hold my hand and she asked me why. I explained that I wanted her to be close to me in case any cars came by. She then explained to me that Omar did not hold her hand when he was on a walk and he got lost.
Me: Lost where?
Ella: In the woods!
Me: How did he get home?
Ella: Someone else found him and brought him home.
Me: When did this happen?
Ella: Um, thirty years ago.
Me: How old is Omar?
Ella <with a look that says Come-on-Mom-why-do-you-ask-such-ridiculous questions>: FOUR!
This afternoon we took a walk around the block because the weather was so darn perfect. The sun was shining and the fall leaves were dancing to the ground in the wind. As we were walking on the street, I asked Ella to hold my hand and she asked me why. I explained that I wanted her to be close to me in case any cars came by. She then explained to me that Omar did not hold her hand when he was on a walk and he got lost.
Me: Lost where?
Ella: In the woods!
Me: How did he get home?
Ella: Someone else found him and brought him home.
Me: When did this happen?
Ella: Um, thirty years ago.
Me: How old is Omar?
Ella <with a look that says Come-on-Mom-why-do-you-ask-such-ridiculous questions>: FOUR!
Teaching about giving
I've started thinking about how to teach my children about giving. On a daily basis, I hope that Josh and I are passing on the message that helping other people is an important part of life. But as the gift-giving holidays are approaching, I've been trying to come up with more concrete ways to show our kids that giving to others is an important part of the holidays. Ella has been asking a lot about Santa and what kinds of presents he might bring. I try to bring the conversation back around to gifts she might like to give to other people in our family but I can tell this is going to be an uphill battle. And I don't want her to only think about the people in our family but about our larger community and people who might really need things that we take for granted every day. I know that Ella has no idea how lucky and privileged she is, and that's OK. She's three, so her world view is not exactly, well, worldly yet.
But how to really show her how to give? That's a tough one. Josh and I have taken the easy road in the last few years - we take our holiday bonuses and give a large portion of them to a few charities that we really believe in. Each of us picks one or two organizations each year and off go the checks. It takes almost no time and almost no effort and it makes us feel like we've done something good. I hope we'll always be in a position to give to worthy causes but somehow writing a check doesn't seem like a lesson that will mean much to our three-year old.
So lately I've been feeling like we could do more to actually show our children some helping activities in action. You know, that whole 'kids learn by watching their parents thing'. The reality is, of course, that we are painfully busy with our everyday activities and I haven't yet come up with a good volunteer opportunity that Ella could actually witness.
One thing that I love about Ella's preschool is that one of their core principles is Tzedekah (the practice of justice and charity) and they actually act on this concept quite a lot. This week the children are bringing in cans of food for a Thanksgiving canned food drive in conjunction with the synagogue where the school is located. They line them up in the hallway and make a huge number line to count all the cans as they come in. It's a good numbers exercise, at least, and maybe it's starting to plant the right seeds.
What are some good ways to teach a young child about giving back? I'd like to know what other parents with small children do to start instilling this important value.
[An addendum.... one of my favorite irreverent parenting sites had a relevant post about this topic that made me laugh: Lydia's Plan for the Holidays]
But how to really show her how to give? That's a tough one. Josh and I have taken the easy road in the last few years - we take our holiday bonuses and give a large portion of them to a few charities that we really believe in. Each of us picks one or two organizations each year and off go the checks. It takes almost no time and almost no effort and it makes us feel like we've done something good. I hope we'll always be in a position to give to worthy causes but somehow writing a check doesn't seem like a lesson that will mean much to our three-year old.
So lately I've been feeling like we could do more to actually show our children some helping activities in action. You know, that whole 'kids learn by watching their parents thing'. The reality is, of course, that we are painfully busy with our everyday activities and I haven't yet come up with a good volunteer opportunity that Ella could actually witness.
One thing that I love about Ella's preschool is that one of their core principles is Tzedekah (the practice of justice and charity) and they actually act on this concept quite a lot. This week the children are bringing in cans of food for a Thanksgiving canned food drive in conjunction with the synagogue where the school is located. They line them up in the hallway and make a huge number line to count all the cans as they come in. It's a good numbers exercise, at least, and maybe it's starting to plant the right seeds.
What are some good ways to teach a young child about giving back? I'd like to know what other parents with small children do to start instilling this important value.
[An addendum.... one of my favorite irreverent parenting sites had a relevant post about this topic that made me laugh: Lydia's Plan for the Holidays]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)