Reflecting...

Stuff of Life Miriam is learning to read, and it’s so exciting to see her “getting it!” She’s been able to recognize upper and lower case letters for months now, and has been writing them fairly independently since at least February. This next stage is giving her an excitement about reading on her own. I remember some of my early books, and one specifically, called “Play with Us” by ladybird books, was at our local library. I took it out and Miriam is totally catching on to looking at the words and pictures to figure out what it says. I know, I know… the text is super simple and really not that interesting plot-wise, and some educators would insist that the quality is poor because it is written for the purpose of word recognition, not for story line, but I remember reading Dick and Jane books (yeah, it was still “Dick” back in the early 80’s believe it or not, but I don’t think that name will be popping up again any time soon!) and it didn’t matter that the text said “Run, Jane, run! Run! Run! Run!” What mattered was that I was able to read 6 words independently, never mind that five of them were identical! Next up, some other classics like “Hop on Pop” and “Hand, Hand, Finger, Thumb!” Spiritual Insight of the Day I’ve been praying for my children’s faith experiences since before they were born. That might tell you how important I think it is that they take seriously their own spiritual beliefs. So it should be no surprise that I still look at them and their character and desire them to be the best they can be. So lately, Miriam has been, shall we say, challenging. She is by no means “difficult” or “out of control.” There’s just a few, um, imperfections that are driving me up the wall! (I don’t expect my kids to be perfect, but there’s always ways to grow, right?) And I’ve finally realized something. In order for her to improve, I’ve got to improve myself. Why? Because she is a mini-me. She does what I do, speaks like I speak, behaves like I behave… I see and hear myself in her every single day! Granted, there are some things she says and does that are all her (like “You’re a pook-a-pook!” followed by fits of giggles). But really, the stuff that makes me reminisce fondly about my pre-mother days is the stuff that I need to work on in myself. So rather than get irritated at my girl, I’m trying to deal positively with her challenging behaviours, then reflect on how I can improve the way I behave so that she has a better example from me. And my prayer in this is that I would be a light to lead her and that my light to her would be the light of Christ reflected to her when I look to him for guidance. Scrap Idea of the Day Check out Youtube for some interesting demonstrations of scrapbooking techniques. Try keywords like: scrapbook, Close to My Heart, Ali Edwards, Becky Higgins etc… Once you find one, you can link to others, or look for other posts by the same host.