Friday Fragments.

Wanna frag along with me? Click the image above to go visit the fantastic Mrs4444's place and join in the fun!

** First… could you do me a favor? There is this competition going on to garner a spot on the list of Indiana’s Top 50 Blogs. Voting is super easy. Click to the site and click on vote. That’s it. No registration or anything. Could you swing a vote my way? I’d love to get on the list! And if you feel like leaving a comment over there… that would just make my day even brighter!! Thank you!!!

** The Harvest Party at Teagan's school was a success! I think the kids really had a good time. My personal fave was the square dancing. They did really well with it and then we did a big old free for all and it was a blast! One little boy took to the floor and was break dancing to bluegrass. It was so fun! I asked Teagan at the end of the day what her favorite part of the party was and she said, "Having Mommy there!" Awwwww!!!

** The meltdown yesterday was apparently just a big old stress reliever for Teagan. She was fine at school and fine when we went out to dinner and fine at Music Team. She loves Music Team (music practice at church with the praise band)- says she likes to hear me sing. She also loves when some of the other group members bring their kids and the kids get free reign over the church and can run around and play and be crazy. It's a great energy release. Well, no other kids came today. And Teagan didn't get a nap this afternoon. About 30 mins before practice was over, Teagan dropped a lego structure she'd come up to show me. She stopped on the steps, put her head down and pouted...

And fell sound asleep.

** Thanks to a comment made by Karen on that meltdown post yesterday, I happened over to Namaste by Day and looked for information on some sort of seminar that had given the blogger great help in dealing with her 2 year old’s behaviors. This lead me to Love and Logic. I downloaded one of the course offerings- one that I felt I really needed. one on calming the anger- calming your own anger. That really rocked me yesterday. Being so angry that I had to walk away from my daughter because I really felt like I was going to hurt her. I’ve been listening to this conversation about tips on controlling the anger, the frustration. I’ve got one tip that has been working well already- respond with empathy instead of anger. I used it at dinner. “Oh… I’m so sad…” If nothing else, when I dig into this stuff, I always feel more grounded and refocused. Oh! Another interesting tidbit- that I’ve thankfully not had the chance to use yet- is to sing instead of yell. Because you can yell if you are singing…

** I am watching The Office right now and Jim’s costume was FANTASTIC! Anyone else see it??

** Teagan is a child that needs to know the rules and limits and wants to, generally speaking, follow them. She was born into this world with this sense of boundaries. She’s not cautious but she just seemed to know when things were too high, too steep, and so on. She has never colored on a wall. She’s never been told NOT to color on a wall. She’s just always known that coloring is for paper. Zach is the opposite. Zach has to be watched very carefully. He will run directly off the edge of the playground. He will climb to the highest slide without hesitation. He will pick up a pen and write on anything around him. Including the instruction guide to my camera, a small cookbook, and our couch’s ottoman.

The best part? Jeff and I were right there. Zach was sitting at my feet with a little fire fighter coloring book in his lap. I look down and… ink marks all over the ottoman. Little stinker!!

** Did you hear about the Payless-Oprah deal?? It’s only good today. 50% off your entire order!! I’m taking the kids shoe shopping today!

** I won’t get around to visiting other fraggers until after bedtime because I’m spending the day with both kids at home and I want to be off the computer and on the floor playing! Enjoy your Friday!!