Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
My Goals for Getting Outside
March 15th, 2010 | Author: Shannon
Debi over at Go Explore Nature gave me this idea, so I figured after the thrill of thinking about it, I’d share my discovery with you!
Our Backyard
We currently spend at least an hour a day outside, usually more… I want to keep this going.
I also want to explore our backyard more by:
- making a nature trail through our woods
- expanding our vegetable garden
- building a sunflower house (ref. Roots, Boots, Buckets and Shoots)
- having many backyard cook outs
- camping out in our pine forest this summer
- pick blueberries while canoeing on our pond
Local Exploration
We have an incredible number of local hiking places, yet we have so much fun at home, we rarely venture out… I want to:
- canoe or kayak down the Wood River
- wade in tide pools at low tide
- hike in Ninigrit Park
- visit Kettle Pond
- hike and take pictures at Trustom Pond through the seasons
- go to Normon Bird Sanctuary
- swim in the ocean
- take the ferry to Block Island
Further A Field
These are long term goals, so if I only get to one or two this year, I’ll feel successful but I’ve enjoyed thinking about some adventures for me and my little tree climber.
- go on an overnight backpacking trip with my son
- drive across country staying at National Parks and camp grounds
- go snowshoeing or cross country skiing in really deep snow
- visit organic or biodynamic farms locally and across the country
I’m excited, stir crazy and rearing to head outside!
A Gift of Heart
February 26th, 2010 | Author: Shannon
I love it when I see folks doing meaningful work with their creative genius. I went to school with the guys that made this video about the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.
Thank you Remedy for this gift from your Heart.
Guest Post!
February 8th, 2010 | Author: Shannon
Head over to Loving Nature’s Garden to see what my adventurer has planned this weekend!
Thank you Alison for this great opportunity!
Love Letters
February 8th, 2010 | Author: Shannon
According to Hallmark 188 million valentines cards are given world wide; which means the cards are manufactured, shipped, distributed, purchased, sent or give. A whole lot of energy and fuel goes into this love holiday.
I challenge readers to hand make valentines cards, chocolates and buy real plants or seeds for their loved ones this year. Find lovely verses, like the age old favorite, “roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you.” Hand write your love.
I challenge readers even further to let your love shine throughout the year with love letters. Make simple hearts out of construction paper and send them to friends and family, teachers, bosses, ministers, priests, librarians, all the people who serve our lives. I am going to send a love letter to my husband once a week this year. Reminding him of all the reasons why I chose to spend my life with him.
Homemade is special
In third grade, I have my teacher a handmade Valentines Day card, I made if from purple construction paper and glued dried flowers on it. When I graduated from eight grade, he gave it back to me as a memento from elementary school. Handmade cards mean so much to the giver and receiver.
Three years ago, instead of giving everyone in my family chocolates, I made a meal and invited all to share it with me. I decorated the table with chocolates, a beautiful table cloth and our best china, we spent the evening together. I did purchase little cards for each person, but I had a newborn baby and only had time for either cooking.
Three ways spend that special night
1) Have a potluck. Instead of heading to the restaurant, invite friends over for a candle light dinner; plan for a house large enough to accommodate kids with a movie and special dinner while the parents (adults) have a special night of conversation and cocktails. The romance can happen at home!
2) Go for a walk. Watching the sunset, snuggled under a blanket at the beach or on a mountain top or in a field of long grass is more romantic then any restaurant. Bring a picnic basket of your favorite finger foods, leave discussion of bills, and school, kids, or cars problems at home, and spend the evening basking in the last rays of the sun and the warmth of your honey’s arms.
3) Partner Yoga Find a class or get a DVD and roll out the yoga mats in the living room (maybe by candle light). Learn a new way of relating to your loved one by moving together through yoga poses to strengthen muscles, increase flexibility and bring you closer. (Other stuff can come later- that’s out of my comfort zone folks- I am talking YOGA here.)
What other simple fun (inexpensive) ways do you share your LOVE on Valentines Day?
This post was originally a contribution to 5 minutes for Going Green. Check out what the great writers over there have to say!
Share in a Spiritual Fasting
February 2nd, 2010 | Author: Shannon
Fasting means to “hold firm” or “have firm control of oneself”, it is associated with abstaining from food for religious observance or for medical reasons.
I woke up this morning thinking about fasting.
A few years ago, I did a weekly day long fast but with motherhood (and nursing) I abstained from fasting to keep my energy up. (Interesting that fasting- as in getting faster- is actually a way to slow down?)
But fasting is not just about limiting food; it can be about limiting some foods, or limiting “plugged in” time, or certain thoughts and words.
“Holding firm” or having “self-control” is what motherhood is all about. Motherhood (in some ways) is about fasting from self-centeredness and selfishness; it’s about making sure that our children learn self-control and discipline.
There are many ways to fast some are a physical fast (as in limiting food) some are more a mental fast (as in limiting thoughts or words).
Cleansing the body is partially about cleansing the mind- because it takes the ability to “hold firm” and be disciplined; and cleansing the mind is partially about cleansing the body.
I am interested in exploring the Master Cleanse for a physical fast and I am considering re-committing to a weekly day-long fast from food. This summer I would like to try a longer fast (10 days perhaps) when I have lots of fresh veggies in my garden and can prepare my body with abundant homegrown raw foods.
Ash Wednesday is next week and in some religious traditions lent (which starts on Ash Wednesday and ends at Easter) is a time of fasting. Some fast from sugar, or chocolate, but this lent I want to go deep within myself to fast from negative thinking, from being critical to myself, and from setting my expectations so high that they lead to disappointment.
Not as a Christian tradition, but as a human spiritual tradition, what might you cleanse from this lent? What can you let go of that’s keeping you from your highest purpose?
This is part of the Steady Mom 30 minute blog challenge. Thanks to Jaime for this great opportunity to link-up and share with other mama bloggers. Have a great day everyone and be gentle to yourself and eachother! Please read about and support Love 146.
Cardinal in the Climbing Tree
January 29th, 2010 | Author: Shannon
In the “blizzard of ‘09″ a few weeks ago… I looked out the front window to see this little cardinal playing in our climbing tree.
Only a few months ago, we spent many hours every day catching leaves as they fell from this lovely tree.
I love the contrast in these two pictures- the radiance of the red and green, the softness of the snow covered tree- with the bright red bird.
I am excited to see what Spring brings to the colors of our climbing tree!
Have a great weekend friends! Spend some time playing outside!
Is there a special place in your yard that you notice as it changes through the seasons?
Being a mommy and a daddy
January 12th, 2010 | Author: Shannon
Before I became a mother, I was a perfect parent; even in my early mothering days with a little infant, I still felt I had a lot of the answers and few problems.
I made a lot of great decisions for my son and our family:
Although he was born in a hospital, I labored at home till I was in transition (imagine driving to the hospital in transition- I so wish I had a home birth!)
We had a “natural” birth. The first time my son suckled at my breast, his umbilical cord was fully attached.
His grandmother (not a nurse) gave him his first bath.
We nursed… and the advice my midwife gave me was, “if you put a baby and your nipples in the same room, that baby’s gonna figure out how to nurse. Don’t listen to the lactation consultants, they are looking for what’s wrong, not what’s right.”
We took a mommy-baby yoga class and started forming lasting friendships with dear friends who are still in our life.
I wore him around the house in a sling, then a wrap, then a back carrier.
I think I followed the “attachment-parenting” model almost to a T without knowing what it was. (I refused to read books or go to classes- I wanted to parent intuitively).
My son met all the bench marks perfectly or early. Infancy passed (he was walking by 10 months old) and with toddler hood upon us, life got a lot more difficult.
My very confident baby, was now a very confident little person with a mind of his own and the physical ability to accomplish his wishes.
Since that time, I have made so many mistakes: I have yelled, thrown things, slammed doors, let him watch TV- all sorts of things my pre-motherhood perfection would totally snark at.
And sometimes I become hyper-critical of my mistakes. But really, I am great with kids.
Bring me a behavoral problem with a little background, I’ve got some viable ideas for how to attend to it…
I am temporarily a foster mother to a little girl and she is thriving in my care. But I do still need moments of reflection for better ways to attend to my own son.
Then last week, my son and his friend were playing with our little baby girl.
My son said: “I’ll be the daddy and you be the mommy. That means we hug her and kiss her and feed her and love her a whole bunch. And she’ll be okay.”
Good night… sleep tight
January 5th, 2010 | Author: Shannon
One of my favorite rituals of the day is putting my son to sleep. First, we make his special night time tea- Yogi Bedtime tea, with a little honey, made in his special strawberry cup. Then, we read a couple books and finally we turn out the lights and I tell him a story.
These stories are about a little boy and his mother (guess who the characters are?) and all the adventures that they go on together. They start out, “Once upon a time there was a little boy who loved………………. (Birthday parties, snow, gardening, adventures etc.) And so his mother………….(did something to make sure the little boy got something he loved).”
The look on his face when I start the story is priceless. The stories always finish at the end of the day when the mother gives the little boy a big hug and kiss and tells him how much she loves him. Then I say, “And that’s what I am going to do right now.” And I do.
Then, he gives me a big hug and drifts off into dream world. He’s not always the best sleeper, but these stories help him through a tough transition. I really like giving him the chance to add parts to the story. I also like that he knows I make them up right then.
The other day, he sat on the couch “reading” a book to him self. I didn’t want to interrupt, but I did ease drop a wee bit, and he was telling himself a story… and it wasn’t all that different then a story I might have made up.
This is one way children learn, through the oral tradition of stories passed down for generations. It brings such joy to my heart, and butterflies to my belly when I think that perhaps one day, he too will do the same for one of his children.
How do your kids go to sleep at night? What oral traditions are you handing down?
This post is part of the 30-minute blog challenge of Steady Mom. I almost skipped posting this week, but I enjoy participating so much that after putting my little one down for bed I decided to write this post. Thanks for reading!
Post start to finish: 20 minutes (ish).
Snow Castles and Deer Tracks… Focus it’s 2010
January 5th, 2010 | Author: Shannon
Little children are wonderful scientists. They ask “why” all the time. They are curious about what is under every rock, why the stars are so small, where the sun is at night, why birds like bread, etc. (I’ve been asked these questions in the last 24 hours).
This morning, when we came across some deer tracks in the snow one little girl asked me “why was the deer here and where was it going?” I said, “It might be going to find some food or get warm.” The response, “but it’s cold out here; do deer go inside?”
Mountains of snow caught our attention and the conversation was dropped. But I was so excited to be engaged in this conversation. To me, this is learning. This is the creative process.. walk outside look around and ask questions.
Darwin, Einstein, Galileo…(to name a small few) did this too and came up with some profound answers that shape the way we see the world today.
This is why I love to take children outside and although I am so excited to share games, songs, and stories with kids to jump-start play time, I really think the best thing to do is open the door and let ‘em outside.
We are in the age of information… after I publish and tweet this post… tons of folks will have access to it. There is information flying around the airways so quickly it is unbelievable.
Well, I believe that there is innate wisdom, knowledge and information in each of us and that children are most connected to that intelligence. My work has given me the opportunity to observe children accessing this innate intelligence, and I see kids get so excited as they discover new things. To me, as an adult, I might chalk it up to some scientifically explained whatever but to my little preschoolers it’s new knowledge and experience.
This is why I think that the outdoors is the best kind of classroom for children. For young kids, their experiences lead to new knowledge, as they access this new knowledge from within themselves and their own observations, they become more confident to pursue new ideas.
For instance… my son went outside to build a sandcastle today… with SNOW. Imagine if I had told him “you can’t build a sandcastle, the sand is covered with snow.” He probably would have looked at me like I was an idiot and went on about him business. Instead, he experienced some similarities in two substances that are different but have some similar properties.
Here at Backyard Mama I plan to give you more of my observations of young kids learning in nature. Why? So that nature play seems less like something we need to prepare for or think about and more like a natural occurrence in the day.
I love all the blogs I read about activities to do with kids outside; I write a fair amount about it too. Then I get all the stuff together for my “plan” and out we go to do one thing and then nature has it’s own plan: baby turtles, or icicles, snow mountains, deer tracks, crocuses blooming in the snow, a red hawk.. and I have to switch gears to go with the natural lesson.
It’s through this flexibility and spontaneity that I see children thrive and grow and become curious, confident little boys and girls.
And that’s my focus for this year. Happy New Year Friends.
What happened to you the last time you canned a plan cause a better opportunity presented itself to you?
I am dreaming of….
December 17th, 2009 | Author: Shannon
A White Christmas.
And here’s what I want to do:
1) Make maple syrup “snow cones” with fresh fallen snow.
2) Make a snow angel.
3) Look for animal tracks or human tracks.
4) Use the tracks to “tell the story” of who walked on the snow first.
5) Shake the branches of a pine tree and wait for the snow to fall on my head.
6) Have a snow ball fight.
7) Build a snow man or maybe a snow woman!
Put out bird food and see who eats it first.
9) Make an igloo.
10) Dig out a fire pit and make a winter bonfire.
11) Drink hot chocolate outside in the snow and look up at the stars.
12) Make a list of all the great things I want to do in the next snow storm.
What do you love to do in the snow?
