Doodle Tin - Usborne

In last week's post I talked about different items I have in my purse one were my ‘doodle cards’. I would recommend these to any Mommy or Moment Mommy. This tin contains 80 cards that have creative prompts, one on each side, to inspire a child to draw something. I have divided them into smaller groups and punching holes in one of the corner, placing a ring through the holes. This allows me to divide them among different children or  rotate through them, each week, and lightens the load. I also bought the fine tips white board markers so there is more variety of colors this also lightens the weight of what I need to carry.  A tip to save you some elbow grease whip the cards clean after the children are done otherwise it is very hard to clean them up.  

Most of the time the children that use them could care less about the prompts suggestions they just like to cover the fun pictures with their own scribbles, there are also those that get excited about the challenge the prompts suggest. So, it works for children of different developmental stages and temperaments. This allow a child to explore their own creativity and keeps them entertained for a while. All the children I have invited to draw on them enjoy and are entertain for some time.

Purposeful Purse Prevails

My purse is  more than holding my money, ID and any other personal needs that could arise, like headache medicine, fingernail clippers etc. It’s  purpose is to help me fulfill my goal of being a Moment Mommy. It’s good to have a few items in my purse so at a moments’ notice I can step into action. These items consist of  cute bandaids for both little girls and little boys (ex. Pixie Hollow fairies and Star Wars characters), finger puppets and last but not least my doodle cards and white board markers. The bandaids as I am sure you can guess are for those painful bumps and cuts as well as the imaginary ones that need a little loving, that only Queen Elsa or Lighting McQueen can do. The finger puppets and doodle cards are a quiet distraction of boredom, misbehavior or just to break the ice so the children and parent(s) know I am okay to share a few moments with them or their child. There are many examples of this. Over the last year or so that I have  started doing this.

Everything from attending my sister’s graduation I sat near a woman watching her husband graduate with their child. The child was good for most of it and then boredom struck and the child was done with the whole affair. I just so happen to be sitting close to her and handed her the finger puppets and this allow the child more quiet entertainment and also open the door to him to come and play with me. Another time in a meeting with other dance teachers the children were tired of their toys and the great length of our adults’ conversations. I was able to invite a few of the children to come and draw on my doodle cards with whiteboard markers. This also prolonged their entertainment in the situation. Yet, another example I was standing in a long line to return an item at a store and the woman behind me had two small children that had shopped till they resorted to tantrum throwing. I pulled out the doodle cards and markers and within moments all was quiet and mother and children were happy again.  There are several more examples of these tiny moments in which  I have been able to  help a child or a mother. These moments lift my spirits because I was able to help a child even in the smallest of ways.

This purse is also well known by my nephews. I feel there is a bit of a competition between our popularity with my nephews, between me and my purse. I am proud to say I come out on top almost every time. They love looking through it to play with my finger puppets or doodle cards, that I change to provide variety for them. I have two old apple products with fun children’s apps on each, which they fondly called “Blue Phone” and “Black Phone” (the colors of their cases). These are not always in there as I like to encourage other sources of entertainment for them as a priority as well as keeping them all charged and ready to go is quite a trick. Unless I am planning ahead of time.  

My purse is a bit on the heavier side because of some of these items but not enough for me to bother with or think that I am crazy. Quite the opposite with these items in my purse it helps me be on the lookout for children or mothers that could use a smile or a moment of friendship.  

Neighbor's Love

I use to have some neighbors, in which I taught most of their daughter’s either as a teacher or as a sub. They were the sweetest girls and a great treasure to me to have had them so close to me. I thought I understood how much I appreciated them, yet now however I see that I didn’t know the value of the treasure I had. Not too long ago their family moved away.

Whenever I came home and they were out on their front lawn, they would always come and talk with me show me what they were doing, tell me about their day and so on. It got to the point that as I pulled into my neighborhood I found myself hoping they would be out playing so I could hear all about whatever it was they wanted to tell me.  On the occasional day the youngest girl of about 4 years would even take to watching for me to pull up and come running out to talk with me. I would always invite them to come and play with me and my toys, for as a dance teacher there are plenty of toys to be had. However the logistics never worked out, as they were moving I heard from their Mom that the youngest would always ask to come and play if she saw my car parked out front. As it is so typical with life the timing was always off and this did not take place.

These short moments are past now, yet I have the pleasant memories of these interactions. I am grateful for them for in these moments they allowed me into their lives and I could love them.

Chapter Two - Something New

Over these past months I have been engaged in an internal debate, about the actions I want to take in regards to this blog. I have decided I am going to make some changes, I hope these changes are helpful to you all. I attended BYU Education Week (this is a week of 12 hour days that you can learn from hundreds of different topics) this year like I do almost every year. One of the questions I was seeking an answer to was this blog. I did gain more knowledge in this area that has overwhelmed me a bit, yet by the end of the week I was determined to try again and keep moving forward. The conclusion I have come up with is more variety in posts as a starting point I have also added different visual things that I personally enjoy.

The majority will still be Mommy Moments. In addition I will have posts about me, this is hard for me to do I much rather talk about children in my life. I hope however that you will be able to understand me as a person better and not just someone that tells stories. This being said I hope you can find me in my Mommy Moments because for me the children in my life are a large part of it.

Another type of posts I’ll be adding to this blog are ‘Useful Tools’, this will include things that help children warm up to me, teach them something, or that the children in my life just love. So weather you are a mother, or a Moment Mommy these posts could be helpful to you!

I look forward to this new chapter in my Moment Mommy Blog the above and others will start up again and be available once a week.

Stages

In my many child development classes we have talk about and learned of the stages of development. Though I no longer have the details memorized I am aware of these stages still and I love watching the children around me go through them. In my brother’s family I have watched their first son go through many of these stages and followed by his two younger brothers. Even though these stages are basically the same for each child I am more fully understanding that each child goes through them and finds joy. Joy to be had from each and every child entering and succeed in these stages.

My youngest nephew is an expert crawler now and  you can see such pride in his eyes now that he has the mobility to keep up with his older brothers to some degree. They run into a room and off he goes crawling as fast as he can to follow by the time he gets there he is so pleased with himself that he does not even care that his brothers have already moved on and out of the room or area.

Watching him do this over the last while has gotten me thinking more about the stages, we all go through. Sometimes as adults we take it for granted and just expect it of them I noticed myself doing this. Instead we as adults should find joy also in each child that reaches these stages for the first time, because after all it is their first time!

Second Hand Flower

This past month was recital time, the children get to show off to whomever they wish to invite that which they  have  learned in their dance classes. As part of the dance, or it’s roots may have come from somewhere else, nonetheless it is customary to give a dancer flowers at the end of a recital. As a teacher I as well get flowers, yet not as a rule. Last year I received my first second hand flower. It took place like this: A dancer of mine just finished her very first dance recital and was given a bouquet of carnations. She was so excited she brought them up to me to show them off with radiating well earned pride. I congratulated her and showed her my flowers too, that another student had just given me. She smiled and asked who had given me the flowers. I told her simply one of the dancers. She looked at the flowers I was showing her and then to her own flowers. I figured she was thinking that she was lucky that she had flowers just like her teacher. Then what she did next surprised me and I almost didn’t accept it. She took one of the stems from her carnation bouquet and handed it to me. I opened my mouth to refuse yet something in her eyes stopped me she had thought this through and in her selflessness she wanted to give them to me. Stopping her would be denying her blessing of her selfless service.

This event almost slipped away from me forever until this almost exact event took place a couple of weeks ago. When a little dancer of mine brought me a carnation and it look like it had come from her bouquet. I recalled last year and grabbed at this memory. Learning once again from two children about observing those around you and making selfless decisions that helps another person.

I also learn from this experience that we as caregivers of children need to allow children opportunities to service and sacrifice, otherwise they will miss out on great learning and character building moments.

Grandma's Validation

Thanks to a few small events that have taken place over the last few weeks I am back at it. I am finding joy in my Mommy Moments I hope the same is true for you and that what I have to share might help in some small way.

I put my whole heart and soul into teaching dance and in its turn the recitals. Therefore one of the causes or effects of putting so much of myself into these children is that I call my dancers my children, and receive a lot of Mommy Moments from them.  This being the case it is wonderful when validation is given to me in this area.

My Mom came out this year to see my dancers perform in their various recitals and support me in it. I am so grateful not matter your age you want your parents to be proud of you and how you chose to live your life. The fact that she traveled a day to support me, in and of itself  gave me great joy. I introduce her to as many of the parents and other teachers as I could in the chaos of after dance recital. After introducing her to someone my attention was drawn away in another direction I heard my Mom say something to the effect of, “For her; her dancers are her children, so I needed to come and see my grandchildren.”

Simple words with a power punch effect on me. When your heart aches to be a mother, love and be loved by children, it can be quite a burden to carry. Even as I have come along this journey for and now am finding my Mommy Moments and have become a Moment Mommy. Negativity is all around waiting to come when our defenses start getting tired. This statement from my Mom, the grandma of over 50 Moment Grandchildren, validate me in my efforts to make the most of what life has given me. My strength is renewed and my hope restored.

A little late for Mother's Day however still as true. Thank You Mom for being there for me and supporting me and always helping me find the strength to keep going and becoming more!