Learning is Fun

I noticed lately, that I really enjoy this age of my children right now. Amelia is 5.5 years old and Elliot is 3 years old and they are both so much fun. We are out of diapers, they sleep mostly thru the nights and they understand what you are asking of them. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of tantrums (mild ones compared to Amelia at that age) on a daily basis when my son doesn't get his way and sometimes, my daughter gives a glimpse of what we can expect when she becomes a teenager (not looking forward to that at all!). But we are all getting along very well and the house seems much more calmer without all the screaming and crying. We settled in to a nice routine for our family of four. Often, the boys play together while we girls do stuff together and then we swap or hang out all together. 

Almost every night, we all play board games after dinner. Sometimes, all four of us play one game together or the girls play one and the boys play something else. Nonetheless, we are all enjoying this time of the day and 20 minutes can turn quickly in to 45 minutes when you are having fun. And since we are all kind of competitive, there is no letting the little ones win on purpose in this house. Plus, Elliot can already beat us in Uno and Sorry (Mensch aerger dich nicht)...it happens already too often.

And other nights we roughhouse: 

But right before bed, the kids love to read some books. Either together in bed or separate, but they love their books.  

There is lots of learning going on right now and I'm not talking just academically. Both of them are eager to learn new things, challenge themselves and absorb everything we teach them or show them like a sponge. Sometimes, this includes stuff you don't want them to know or do but that's life. 

Currently, Amelia is learning how to tie her shoes. We procrastinated on this for a while because it is easy to forgo it when they don't have a need for it (most shoes the kids own don't have shoe laces). We are using the bunny ear method and so far, she is doing really well. I really thought it would be more of a struggle for me and her as we are both headstrong but it has been fairly easy. It also helps that we used a Youtube video for reference. Next up is learning how to ride her bike without training wheels. For this one, Daddy will take the lead though :)

Elliot on the other hand is eager to do his "homework" with me every day. He enjoys the 10-15 minutes we spent together singing the ABC's, learning numbers, drawing something or working on his fine motor skills. 

A few weeks ago, it seemed he had no interest in the alphabet whatsoever, but that has changed now and you can often hear him sing it in the car or when he is playing. Somehow, I never can catch him on video singing it to himself though so I always have to prompt him...lol.

At the playground the other day, my little guy wanted to climb up to the top of this play structure and he was so proud of himself for making it:

But it is not just the kids that learn something new every day, it is us too. They keep us on our toes and every new developmental stage for them, brings new challenges for us. Even though we have a pretty good routine down, no one day is the same. I also challenged myself this week, and pulled out my sewing machine after a couple of years not using it. I wanted to make some pillow cases and I'm happy to report that everybody in the family now has one and I even made a couple of lace top extenders for myself. I honestly forgot how much I enjoy sewing and even though I had to consult my handbook for a couple of things to refresh my mind, it all came back to me after a while. Glad to know my sewing skills haven't been lost in the gray universe of my brain. 

Even though some days are harder than others, I love being able to spend so much time with my two children and to teach them about life, God, letters, numbers and what it means to be a family. It is all fun for them and so it makes it fun and worthwhile for us to create an environment and experiences in which learning happens and we are proud to be the first teachers our children will ever have.

One last picture  because it just makes me smile!