Groceries on my head

My son Boden, 2.5, was helping me put away groceries the other day (a really great distraction from hitting his sister with plastic dinosaurs) and he reminded me how important it is to have fun. I know I sometimes get bogged down in the basics that need to get done - feed everyone, change diapers, brush teeth, comb hair and oh yeah, nurse, nurse and then nurse some more. But as Bode tried to balance the granola bar box on his head before he put it away I realized I should do that more often, or at least try it because I really don't recall the last time I tried balancing groceries on my head before putting them away. And it could be really great.

Think Thankful at Ning

I just started a Ning social network thinkthankful.ning.com
I originally had a vision for thinkthankful.com where there was a social networking forum just for people sharing what they were thankful for in their lives. I didn't really have the faintest idea of how to make that happen but I kept thinking "Oh wouldn't that be great where just pure positive energy and appreciation was flowing through online posts. Big things, little things, pictures, videos, whatever. All about appreciating." Well now there is and it was really pretty easy though the site is still in its infancy. I have a lot to learn about it but I'm excited for this challenge.
So come and join Ning and the Think Thankful community!

Art class update

So Iris finished up her week of art classes this week and she loved it! In fact today when I thought she was giving me a hug when I dropped her off she was actually pushing me out the door.
Sometimes as a parent you second guess yourself, especially when you see other kids doing things that your kids aren't quite ready for yet. Keith and I always *try* to be supportive of our kids own timetables. We were both unsure if Iris would even finish one of these classes and had decided that the worst that could happen would be losing $70. That's definitely not a good enough reason to get all worried about what would happen. So we let it go and she enjoyed them more than we had even hoped. Now she's asking when summer is over, so that she can take another set of art classes.
One interesting thing Iris said struck me about taking art classes - she said it was hard to do her own thing sometimes because she would look at what other people were doing and she thought that was interesting and she wanted to try to copy them. I guess that is the big dilemma about art classes: does it really bring about your creativity to design something when there are some set parameters first or do those parameters just kind of stretch your creativity in a direction you might not have gone without some kind of constraints?

Crying baby

We don't let our babies cry much, in fact as little as humanly possible. Gus is 3 months and growing so fast and the other day he started crying because her heard his big brother Boden crying. His eyes were sad and he had that trembling lower lip before he let out a big wail. I did have that fleeting thought, oh jeez - just what I need two crying instead of one; but then I realized how absolutely great it was! Gus is already so attached and connected to his siblings that he literally already knows their feelings. It is just so true that children can sense the feelings of those around them from the very beginning. I am so much more aware of that this time around and it is even more motivation to keep myself in a good place.

Art Class?

Here is some more from those musings of mine that I found. I really needed to find this stuff!

The inability of us as parents to manipulate our children's feelings is tiresome. It is probably the most difficult thing for us to deal with. Children know what they want and that they should feel good now. Sometimes we are just to tired to help them get there on their own and we just want them to obey or just be easy.


My daughter loves art. There are days (alright, its actually everyday and now you can picture how messy things can get around here) when the floor is completely full of cut papers, glue, markers, paint, crayons, tape and who knows what else. We live in a town that is big into art so at our community arts center I signed her up for a class called Draw, Paint and Create. When she heard the name and I asked her if she wanted to go she started screaming and running around she was so excited. I told her I wouldn't be in the room with her and she said that was okay.

Well the class starts today and yesterday we were all on the Iris roller coaster. Yes I want to go, No I don't want to go, well maybe, then NO, NO, NO. I guess we could have just made her choose one and stick to it no matter what, but that is not our style.
Instead I used it as an opportunity to talk about her feelings and what she thought would happen. I told her that if she did want to try it, then anytime she was nervous then she should just think in her head "I am safe, this class is fun." But if she didn't want to go she didn't have to and if she wanted to try it and leave partway through that was fine too.
Later in the afternoon, she looked at me with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face and said "I'm feeling really good about my class tomorrow, I'm having really good thoughts about it now."

I figure no matter what happens with her class, at least I know I learned something and I think she did too.

Back Again!

After a hiatus I am back! I am now the mother of 3 and our lives are pretty full :)

As in most homes with children, emotions are easily read and shown. This past week has been no exception and I was focusing on how that is good, because when all 3 kids are crying at the same time its really easy to doubt that. Today I found a piece of my writing from months ago and it gave me some calm:

Children trust themselves. They do not doubt themselves. What they feel is what they feel and the never think that they shouldn't feel how they are feeling. If they feel sad it is because they feel sad; it is a direct reflection. They don't feel good and they want it fixed right away. That is wonderful. They are connected to their well-being so easily and fully that when they are not, it is horrible. They know immediately and fully that they are unhappy and they want to somehow fix it NOW! The most important thing is getting back to feeling good. That's how it should be for all of us.They are the ones who have it right.

Just writing that again makes me feel better (that and the fact that my husband just took my two older ones to the farmer's market and the baby is sleeping)

Meditation Group

Although this blog is entitled Think Thankful, I have never written about the group that started this. I started a meditation/study group in June 2007 and named it Think Thankful. I wanted it to be about meditation but also about the Law of Attraction and living it and using it in your life.

Starting the group is one of those examples of just relaxing and not focusing at all on the "what-ifs" that plague all new endeavors. I mentioned it to my acupuncturist Megan who owns and runs Stonington Natural Health Center in Stonington, CT. I almost didn't even realize that I was doing it at the time but out it came. She immediately said she would sponsor the group so that we could have a beautiful new theater space in the basement of her building to use. She talks to clients about it, puts it in her emails and generally just promotes the group. I think within a week or two the schedule was set and the first meeting was planned! I enjoy running the group and I am proud of it and am happy to have my name attached to it.

Megan has done alot to encourage the growth of the group and in so doing has helped me to have something of my own. It can be easy to put yourself and your own interests on the back burner when you have young children. We also homeschool our children and so I don't have this idea that in a few years I'll have some set time to myself five days a week. Therefore the desire to pay attention to my own interests can't be put off a few years. I'm going to have children at home for at least the next 20 years!

Through Megan's support of the group my own support for my interests has strengthened and for that I Am Thankful!