Snow and Babies

As you might have guessed, the topic of babies is another one inspired by Olivia.  As for snow…well, it snowed!  I noticed I keep rhyming (spiders and tea, horses and keys, and now snow and babies), but it hasn't been intentional.  Adds to the fun, though!

From My Fun with Words, Vol. 2: 1978 (Southwestern)

We went out on the snowy days to explore.  We used William's winter fundana to be a guide of things to find in nature.

We found most of the things.

A fall leaf, a green tree, and a green blade of grass

Icicles

Animal tracks above, from top left to bottom right: cat, deer, probably squirrel without claw marks, and chicken).
 

Burrow in ground and squirrel and bird nests (because we didn't go find a hole shelter in tree).
 

Those are of a red-bellied woodpecker (two different days, two different trees, same one that roams a territory) and two tufted titmouses.  I went out a few different times over three days, and the second day I saw a black-capped chickadee in a tree, but it flew away before I could snap a picture, and the kids didn't see it at all, so that square on the fundana had to be substituted.

These had to do on the "red berries."  I'm so happy that I finally this year properly identified the berries in the first picture as coral berries (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus).  The second ones were in a vine up in a tree, and I'm reasonably certain they're "possum grapes" (Cissus trifoliata).

I want to add more berries to our plant binder.  I found that coral berries can be eaten in small quantities and that they are in the honeysuckle family.  They can also be used medicinally.  I need to post a plant identification update soon! 

Making "snow angels" were also listed on the fundana, and the kids always love doing that.

During our trek along the edge of the woods on our property, I was delighted to discover this imprint of a leaf in the snow!

We cut out paper snowflakes.  William remembered how and cut his own.  I had to figure out how again and then showed Trust and Liv.  Then Trusten made his own, while I simply guided him with my words only, and he did a fine job!

He measured, marked, cut and folded.

More folding and cutting.  I should have gotten his child scissors.  But he did fine.

Sweet boy with his finished product. 

My snowflakes are the messed up ones--the two with big open gaps and the circular one at the bottom right.  The boys better knew what they were doing than I did!  Jaden's two are the one at the upper left and the miniature one.

Snowflake Bentley by Jackqueline Briggs Martin and illustrated by Mary Azarian is a new book that was bought for Olivia.  We didn't have any books on snow.  This is a neat little read that talks about a Vermont farmer by the name of Wilson Bentley who loved to study snow.  He's the one who figured out how to take pictures of snowflakes with a camera with a built-in microscope.  He discovered that no two snowflakes are alike.  I'd like to sometime get the actual book that Bentley himself wrote called Snow Crystals.

And then Jaden William made a snow volcano (using vinegar, baking soda, and red coloring), though it didn't turn out as well as the one he made in a past year, featured on Youtube.

Nearly all the snow was already gone.  He'd attempted one the day before, but it was an utter flop, because he'd done something wrong. He insisted on adding some fun to it by stuffing bits of alcohol-soaked paper towels in holes and lighting them.  Ha!

From My Fun with Words, Vol. 1: 1978 (Southwestern)

We reviewed the poster I have hanging in our dining room, that I bought a few years ago but only hung up a few months ago.  It details the various stages of fetal development from conception to full-term.

We read three books about how a baby comes into the world.

 

We've owned all these books for several years.

God Gave Us You by Lisa Tawn Bergren is about a mother polar bear who answers her curious cub's bedtime questions about how she got here and why they love her.  I've always really liked this book overall.  I'm annoyed by the cub saying "borned," because I always find it necessary to explain that is a cub speaking and not the correct grammar.  I also do not like how normal birth is treated like a medical event, with the polar bears rushing to the hospital when the mother bear is in labor, especially since these are animals!  Of course, they also do the typical American thing of going to a male obstetrician, which is something I personally think a male has absolutely no business doing.  But besides these things, we love this book!

Life Before Birth by Gary Parker is an ok book, but it's lengthy, and it's best read to most younger children in daily chapters, though when William was much younger, it held his attention fine. This book explains how DNA starts out with your complete blueprint, and how a fetus develops and is born.  I don't fully agree with everything the book teaches.

Where Willy Went by Nicholas Allan is a humorous tale explaining in a friendly way that a child can understand how a baby is conceived, develops, and is born.  Willy is a sperm who is bad at math but good at swimming.  He wins the swimming race and uses his two maps to navigate from Mr. Browne and into Mrs. Browne to go find the egg.  In the end a little girl named Edna is born, and it turns out that she is bad at math but good at swimming, which hints at that whole DNA blueprint. I like this book, though not everyone would agree to use this with young children.  The only thing that I don't like, besides Willy not turning out to be a male child, is that it shows Willy as the only sperm to touch the egg, when the scientific fact is that it takes millions of sperm to touch the egg in order for it to be fertilized, even though it's only one egg that actually fertilizes the egg.

I got the pregnant and nursing mother doll and her baby when Olivia turned one, after having eyed it for years for whenever I had a girl.  It stays up in my closet, though, and I only get it out for her on rare occasions.  It's been a looong time, and this was the first time that she really got to handle everything seriously.  It's back in my closet now, and she won't get to take it until she gets a little older.

The mother doll has a pregnant belly with a pouch where the birth canal is.  The baby folds up like a fetus normally would inside a mother.  The baby has a placenta and umbilical cord attached.  The cord snaps to the baby's navel.

The baby's mouth is also a snap, as are the mother's nipples.  I love the doll and think it's great for a little girl.

One day the boys went outside for a good while, and the girls and I sat to watch one of my unassisted birthing videos.  It'd been years since I'd watched it.  Olivia was fascinated by the births and loved seeing the babies. She asked plenty of questions.

I needed an excuse to make chocolate mousse, and it wasn't near Sabbath prep day, yet, so I thought, "Aha!  Chocolate mousee pie with a snowflake design made from our little Elyon marshmallows that we use for our hot cocoa.  It may be a bit ugly, but it sure was delicious!  I love chocolate mousse!

Around the time we were doing this theme, a couple of friends of ours welcomed their new baby into the world.  The kids can hardly wait to meet him.  I was able to go see him myself.  :-)  Olivia has been talking about that baby coming for so long, but it will be a bit before she's allowed to see him.

There are a lot of scripture verses in the bible about snow and even more on babies, but I selected a few that I wanted to use to teach the kids certain lessons.  We went over the scriptures on a Sabbath.

Snow Verses

He gives snow like wool: he scatters the hoarfrost like ashes (Psa. 147:16).

Have you entered into the treasures of the snow? or have you seen the treasures of the hail (Job 38:22).

For he said to the snow, Be you on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength (Job 37:6).

As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool (Prov. 26:1).  (We of course read over this one a lot since we continually read through Proverbs, so the kids were already familiar with it and know the meaning.)

His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire (Rev. 1:14).

His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow (Matt. 28:3).

Baby Verses

And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41).

And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children (Ex. 2:6)

And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages. And the women took the child, and nursed it (Ex. 2:9).

A woman when she is in travail has sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world (John 16:21).

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yes, they may forget, yet will I not forget you (Isa. 49:15).

And they brought to him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, and said, Suffer little children to come to me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, Whoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein (Luke 18:15-17).

And as for your nativity, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to supple you; you were not salted at all, nor swaddled at all (Eze. 16:4).  (I also pointed out in my elaboration on this one that it's overall not a good idea to salt a newborn.  I explained the reason(s) why they probably did so then (and some still do), but I also explained that there are alternative ways to care for your baby and that it can be very dangerous to salt an infant.  The main point this verse was making was that of a comparison to an infant not cared for, and their belief then was that salting was good care.)

I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works; and that my soul knows right well. My substance was not hid from you, when I was made in secret, and curiously worked in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in your book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them (Psa. 139:14-16).

All the verses I selected made for good lessons.

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I've got some other posts coming soon.

Until next time...

Archery, Cuttlefish, More Art, and Rock Examination

August 22, 2010, Roman calendar:  We left Jasper to come back home.  We went to Branson first, though, and Nathan bought Will a new bow.  

August 23:  Will did his writing, and he also drew a house and some trucks with a dry erase marker.

House with chimney smoke and trucks

August 24:  We went to get groceries.  Will drew more pictures on his dry erase board.  Here is another:

Truck driving by rocky cliffs

The white spot is from the camera flash.  I love all his pictures, regardless of whether they'd win any awards, and I know most of them would not.  Some are better than others.  I think he probably takes more after me as far as art ability.  I have never had a gift in drawing, but I do have artists in the family, so it may be that one of my children will have a gift in art.

Nathan instructed me that Will must understand his bow's owner manual before he could shoot it; he told me that I had to read the instructions, then Will had to read them to me.  So, I did just that.  I read each warning/instruction aloud to him, then I gave the book to him and had him read it to me, and then I also made him repeat each instruction in his own words so that I knew for sure he understood.   He then shot his bow. 

August 25:  Will did reading and math out of CC2.  We read our daily chapter in Proverbs, as usual.  I'm also reading to the boys from the gospel of John.

August 26: Will did his near-daily writing.  Most days he copies a paragraph or two from a book.  Some days he writes a letter to someone.  He still needs spelling help, so most of the time he wants to write a letter, he tells me what he wants to write, and I type it for him and print it.  He then just copies.

August 27:  We just cleaned the house then went for a walk.  We saw some animal tracks.  

What appears to be an opossum track

Deer track (toward center of photo)

We also saw cat tracks.  It was dry for so long that the road was very dusty.  Our sandaled feet were filthy by the time we got home.  After we got home, I let the boys watch some YT videos.  Will had asked about film developing a few days before, and he also asked about older-fashioned grain milling, so they watched videos on these things.

August 28:  The sabbath day!   Besides our bible reading, the boys and I read some of their Ranger Rick magazine.  We all went for a walk, including Nathan.  We tasted some wild plums.  

August 29:  We finished reading RR.  We learned about cuttlefish and their amazing camouflage abilities.  I showed the boys some Youtube videos about cuttlefish later, as well as a video on metamorphosis that discussed butterflies, frogs, and dragonflies, and a cute little cartoon duck video for preschool age children, which is good for Trusten.

We also read the July issue of Heaven's Family, and Will did some writing.

August 31:  I don't know what we did the day before, but this day we went to get groceries, and Will did his writing.  Of course, we read the bible, as usual.

September 1:  Will did writing, reading, and math.  He is now very interested in rocks.  His interest has been growing more and more.  I was very much into rocks at that age, too.  He likes busting them open to find crystals, dirt, or whatever else may be in rocks.  He enthusiastically shows me what he has found.  

September 2:  We went to town to run some errands.  

September 3:  I spent a great deal of the morning just talking to the boys.  We also prepared for the sabbath, and then we watched a good Star Trek (New Generation) movie.  It was Insurrection.  Will did some math from CC2.  He's been learning "regrouping"  (or what I know as "borrowing"), taking from the tens place and converting it to the ones place.  I used Cuisenaire rods to help him better understand.

September 4:  The sabbath day.  I had a nice day of relaxation.  Nathan finished working on an animal cage with Will, all except putting hinges and a lock on the door.

September 5: The children and I went grocery shopping.  On the way, we were sitting at a red light, and there was a red Corvette convertible sitting at the red light on the opposite side.  Now to give a bit of background information, a red '69 Corvette Stingray is my favorite car of all time.  So, I said, "Will, see that car over there?  That's a Corvette.  That's the car I like.  You'll see it when he takes off.  Just watch."  

The light then turned green, and off the guy went.  I figured he'd have quite a take-off, but he went faster than I assumed he would.  He took off and got down the road so quickly, his tires squalled a bit.  I said to Will, "Well, apparently the guy driving it really likes the car, too.  I think he likes it a bit too much, and he's wanting to show off in it and wants everyone to see him in it."

Will then replied, "Well, no one is going to see him in it.  He's driving too fast."  Hahahaha!  That child sure knows how to make me laugh.  He had a good point, though.  

After we got home and were about to eat lunch, I asked Will to dump some scraps we had outside.  He came back in and complained about Beaver, one of three cats we have.  Beaver, though, hates the other two cats, which are her kittens.  She hissed and was mean to them so much that now that Sylvester, the adult male, is bigger, he chases her off.  Beaver is bad to try to trip us up when we go out there.  Will did trip and fall this time.  He said, "Momma, Beaver is soft and easy to pick up, but I know all that is deceptive.  She's really bad."  I once again got a good laugh.  I've been trying very hard to get it across to him that outward appearances can be deceptive, and for him to say that the cat's soft hair made him deceptively like her was hilarious.  But, again, he had a good point.  He's always thinking.

September 6: We had errands to run in town.  We cleaned.  I don't think we did much else.  I explained to Will about Labor Day and why certain things were closed.  He asked why his daddy was working then, and I said it was because he had work to do and that we didn't always keep that holiday.  We were working, too.  Will did reading, writing, and math.

September 7:  Will did writing, reading, and math.  Will also started a book the day before this one, and he finished all but one page (not sure why he didn't want to read the last page until later) of it today.  It was his first chapter book that he read by himself.  He kept avoiding it, thinking he wouldn't like to do so, but he thanked me for making him start reading it.  He did something the day before to forfeit his play privileges, and so he did a lot of writing and reading.  The book is 61 pages long.  

Until next time...