Unwrapping Your Children

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Well, about these girls. They came as they were, unique, wonderful spirits and my blessing was to just unwrap the package to see who they were and to help guide them into who they could be.  I didn’t ever feel like I had to mold them or make them into somebody different than who they were because they were so great when they came. It was a fun discovery to learn who they were. They are different, different people, but they are delightful fun daughters and I always enjoyed our children.

Julie B. Beck on her two daughters

I want to say that about my own children. I never want my son to think I don’t appreciate his own personality. I don’t want him to think that I expect him to be something he is not. That would be a painful thing, to feel like a disappointment. I don’t want my son to feel he disappoints me for being himself.

This means I need to never talk about his faults, or things I disapprove of, in front other people. I need to avoid criticism when he does things differently than I would do them. I need to make sure I don’t manipulate him into doing something I want, when his personality would do something differently. I need to always remember that he came to me a precious spirit, with his own personality. He will make choices different from those that I’d make, but that’s a part of his precious personality.

As his mother, I can help guide him into who he can be. I can help him discover his potential.

I don’t need to mold him: I need to unwrap him.

To listen to the entire conversation between Sheri Dew and Julie B. Beck and her two daughters, visit Mormon Channel.

“In the train restaurant we go!”

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[Paul drew a picture of the train restaurant. I asked him to tell me the story. There was a lot of back story to get to the train restaurant. Enjoy!]

“In the train restaurant we go!”

A true story by Paul          June 22, 2011

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Paul. And Paul’s parents were named Rebecca and Ryan. And the next day, Paul work up and his parents Mommy and Daddy woke up. And then all of the people took showers. And then Mommy and Daddy got dressed. Paul’s parents packed up to go to New York City. And Paul packed up to go to Sister Bether’s house and his grandma’s house. They get in the car with all the stuff they want to take with them. And then Paul’s parents get in their new car and then they started to drive. But first one of Paul’s parents opened the garage to drive out.

Paul went to Sister Bether’s house and his grandma’s house and his parents go to New York City. And then they get to a stoplight. And then the stoplight turned green. And then they finally go forward. And then they finally get to Sister Bether’s house. And they ring the doorbell. So, Emily gets to the door and says “Who’s there?” And Paul plays with the Bethers in the basement. And then Paul plays with Rexie. And the next day, Paul work up and someone rang the door bell and it was Grandma! Paul’s Grandma!

Paul came to his grandma. And then they walked to the car and Paul got in his seat. Grandma got in her seat. And they drive. And then it was very far to Grandma’s house. When they get to Grandma’s house, Paul played with Marble Works. And then all of Paul’s cousins were there. And then they go swimming. Grandpa opened up the pool. And then Grandma turned on the heat and it was just right. And then they get out and wash their hair. Grandma opened up the door and they get dressed.

Then they get in the car again and go to the train restaurant. When they get there, Granpa opened up the door and they get in. And then they play with the trains. And they go back to their seat and get what they want to eat. They play with the trains some more. And then their food comes back on a little train. And then they eat. And they get back in the car and go to Grandma’s house again. And the next day Paul woke up ….

(to be continued)

“Hooray we go!”

A continued true story by Paul            June 22, 2011

And the next day, they go back to Grandma’s house. It was Sunday and Paul go visit Jessica and Daniel. And Jessica came to Paul. And they got in the car to go to church. They finally got to church. They opened the doors and everyone got out. And then Grandpa came and then they had sacrament meeting. Paul and Jessica go to Jessica’s big sunbeam class. And then at the end, they go to Jessica’s littler class. Two people keep turning the light on and off. But if they do that, their mom is going to come! And then all of the family went home. Then all the people went home.

Next, they got back in the car. Then they went to sleep and the next day, they got up and had breakfast. And then they got to a parade. The parade was fun. And then they go to a baseball game and watch it. Paul had ice cream on a stick! First he ate a big pretzel. And then he had dessert. And then he watched it. And then Paul tried to trick Jessica. They try to go backward and forward. And they went back home.

The End.

Four Stories

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[I’m currently reading a book about encouraging creativity in your children by helping them write. Paul dictated the following stories to me. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed pulling them together. “Underground” is where Paul’s imaginary friends live. The others make as much sense to you as they do to me.]

“Underground”

June 14, 2011

Underground, there are no trees. There are cars and people. There are houses. I like to go under there. Sometimes I pack up things to take. Sometimes I take my toothbrush and toothpaste. Sometimes I take my animals. All of my imaginary friends live underground. And sometimes I take my weather chart. IF it’s raining I am not going to go under there. Sometimes I take my blankets and toys, and sometimes I pack up some books. Underground is a special place. Sometimes I pack my pillows. Sometimes I take a nap underground.

The End.

“Crash It” Day

June 16, 2011

When it is the “crash it” day, we need to cut the pretend grass. Then we are going to come inside and then we are going to play “Busytown Game.” It is called “crash it” day becasue they are special days, and we never had one ever. On “crash it” day, we play tag. And then we stop playing tag and we go downstairs in the basement together and play trains. And then we will come upstairs and then we will have special time. After special time, we will come upstairs in Paul’s bedroom and then Paul will read a sun story called “Brown Bear, Brown Bear.” Then we go downstairs and think about the stuff we like about “crash it” day.

The End.

Abracadabra in the Store

June 20, 2011

Once upon a time, there was a mouse. And then the mouse goes to a house. When he goes to the house, he went inside the mousehole. And then he went to the family room. The family room is beautiful! He climbed up the ladder. At the top of the ladder, there is a Christmas tree. The mouse went down the ladder and got his ornaments from the bag. He went back up the ladder and he put the ornaments on the tree. And then the mouse went down the ladder, and then he walked to a clock. And then the mouse went up the clock. The clock struck one. The mouse went down. Hickory Dickory Dock! And he went up the clock. The clock struck two. The mouse went down. Hickory Dickory Dock! The mouse went up the clock. The clock struck three. The mouse went down. Hickcory Dickory Dock! And the mouse went to all of the rooms in the house. Next room the moust went to was the living room! And in the living room there is a dog hole. And then the mouse went in the dog hole. And in the dog hole there is a nice dog. They played with each other. And then the mouse went out of the dog hole.

The End.

Winnie-the-Pooh and the Mice

June 21, 2011 (by Goldbug Reid)

Once upon a time, there were some mice. And the mice tried to find their friend Pooh. The mice looked up and down, here and there, front and back, left and right. But they couldn’t find him. And they started looking for Winnie-the-Pooh. They went to a bush and looked behind it. But Winnie-the-Pooh wasn’t behind it. They saw a snake behind the bush! And they go to a tree and looked behind. But they didn’t see Pooh. They saw Owl. That means they were in Hundred Acre Woods. And they looked right across from it. And they saw a house. And they looked behind the house, and they saw their friend Winnie-the-Pooh. And that’s the end.

The End.

How it Works

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Mom: “I’m going to make dinner!”

Paul: “What are we having today?”

Mom: “Spaghetti.”

Paul: “No. I want Macaroni and Cheese.”

Mom: “We’re having Spaghetti tonight. Maybe we’ll have Macaroni and Cheese tomorrow.”

Paul: “No, Mommy, this is how it works. I tell you what I want to eat, and then you cook it.”

The Perfect Age

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As we were driving to church the other day, I was struck by how perfect Paul’s age is right now. Although he sometimes has tantrums and he’s certainly opinionated, overall, it’s so delightful being his mother and seeing his blossoming into a human being, and not just a baby. I need to do a better job of recording the adorable and perfect age things Paul says and does. I am going to miss this age so very much!

Imagination

If he wants something, he simply creates it. He’s had a hard time grasping the concept of Christmas being a very long time from now. So instead he creates his own: “Did you know that tomorrow it is Christmas underground?” (His imaginary friends live underground.)

If I can’t play with him, suddenly the imaginary doorbell rings and there is an imaginary friend to play with him. And then there is the fact that he can create anything, you name it.

Games

Paul is in a serious board game streak right now. He loves them. He loves following rules and he loves making up rules. His turn usually takes him about five minutes, so I read a book waiting for my turn. Seriously. But he’s learning about taking turns, about winning and losing, and about counting and money (Monopoly). He loves to play games.

And the greatest thing is that he loves to make up games all the time. “Let’s race!” he says when it’s time to get dressed. “Let’s find shapes!” he said as we were driving to church. And when he said he saw “funny ovals” I was at a loss as to what he was talking about. “I see a lot of them!” he clarified. Cars, it turns out, are funny ovals.

Stories

Along with his great imagination comes his impressive ability to tell stories. I am reminded of my creative story writing when I was six and seven years old. Somehow, I lost that urge to write, to record creative inventions that I imagined in my mind. I hope I can nurture Paul’s story telling abilities so he doesn’t lose it. I’ll be so sad when he grows up too much for stories. I hope that never happens.

Learning

The other day, he brought me the guide book I had about NYC and said, “Mommy, this is about New York!” and I was amazed that not only could he read and understand it, but that he knows New York City is a place, that’s it’s far from here, that I went there. And I know most three year olds don’t read yet, but even without the reading, I love watching his discovery of new things. We’re learning about the moon and about outerspace this week and I love watching his fascination as we read a picture book.

Honesty and Sincerity

Sometimes I don’t appreciate his honesty. (“Yuck! I do not like this soup!”) But other times I find it so sweet.

“I love you,” I say.

“I already know that!” says Paul.

Elephant and Piggie

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New York was a wonderful trip. We had fun just being together, seeing the touristy things of the city like the Statue of Liberty, etc. I took lots of pictures but have not had a chance to look through them yet.

I went to a book expo, and it was okay. I don’t read a lot of modern fiction, and of course that was what it was about. I did enjoy meeting a number of picture book authors (although I missed meeting Mo Willems; I couldn’t get a ticket). I also did really enjoy the Book Blogger Convention. Notable authors I met include Katherine Paterson, Jan Brett, and Judy Schachner (Skippy Jon Jones).

One highlight of the week for me and for Paul was I got to meet a life-sized Elephant and Piggie. Apparently, Paul was telling all his preschool friends about them the next day (after I talked to him on the phone). They did not know what he was talking about.(Sorry, awful pictures, taken with my phone)

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We love Elephant and Piggie in our house. Perfect for a budding reader. Paul reads one of them (usually Gerald) and I read the other. Gerald always has more words because he is a worrier, but it’s amazing to me how much Paul is able to read.Our favorite of the 15+ books is We Are in a Book. I’m thinking I may need to track down a copy for our permanent collection.

Quick Update

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  • I did not forget my fifth wedding anniversary on Friday. Ryan worked at the temple until late. We’re celebrating starting tomorrow when we head to NYC together, sans Paul!
  • I’m working on scanning pictures and archiving them in a personal flickr account. If you befriend me on flickr (rebreidfamily) then you can see all the albums. I’m going to post some of the images on our new Family Gallery page, but most will, for privacy’s sake, be hidden to strangers. In honor of our wedding anniversary, see our Wedding Festivities page.

  • Paul is very excited to spend time with his friends (two nights) and with grandma (the rest of the week). He started packing a bag last week, but I’ve been trying to convince him it’s still too early to pack.
  • Paul’s imaginary friends are still around. They keep multiplying. One of his newest friends is Pinecone.
  • I took my first Karate belt test on Saturday night. If I passed, I’ll be a red belt. If I didn’t pass, I’m still a white belt. Either way, I’ve got to keep working out. My stomach is no longer satisfying to me.
  • For three days in New York, I will be attending Book Expo America and a Book Blogger Convention; I’ve been invited to be on a panel talking about special issues for bloggers writing about the classics. They have paid my way to the convention. Although I don’t read a lot of newly published literature, I’m still ridiculously excited.
  • Today was Paul’s last day of gymnastics class. We might do it again in the fall; I don’t know yet. Trust me, even though he’s getting lots of help in this video, he’s much improved.

Lucky Bookish Treasures

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When Grandma passed away, my mom gave each of her children a special something from Grandma. My item was a book published in 1852, the fourth edition of Young Ladies’ Oasis. This book is a collection of poetry, essays, and stories “appropriate” for young ladies.

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Today, I wanted to browse through it, and what did I find but what I’ve been looking for all my life: A lucky 4-leaf clover.

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Years ago, Mom told me a story. When she was a young girl, her Aunt Florence was sitting in their backyard when she said, “oh, I’ve found a four-leaf clover!” She was sitting in a patch of them. I have been looking for my own four-leaf clover since I first heard that story.

Apparently, Gram (Josie Lecta Dedman Wilson) took one of the clovers home and pressed it in this book of hers, which we assume she received from her mother (Dora May Allison Dedman).

I love how the clover has left a mark on the page. A shadow of that lucky day.

The clover is pressed between pages 192 and 193, in the midst of an essay called “Pretty Women.” It ponders pretty women throughout “history” (Rachel in the Bible, Helen of Troy, Cleopatra) and wonders why women today (1850s) aren’t using their good looks to their best advantage.

Every lady is at liberty to bring out her own ” good points” as she thinks best, and it is easy to do so, as well as to conceal her weak ones, without departing from the fashions that prevail.

One of the two of these ancestors of mine (probably not my grandma, Helen Wilson Benac, given the ageing), also left a few other treasures.

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This looks to me to have been embroidered with hair. But maybe I’m just wishing. It’s probably thread. I’ve always thought the embroidered-with-hair thing to be very cool, but my husband says that it is disgusting. Are you in the disgusting camp or the cool camp?

And then, someone enjoyed an autumn afternoon while reading Young Ladies’ Oasis. I love the dark spots on this leaf. I haven’t read this essay yet.

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Young Ladies’ Oasis is, of course, available online by now. Are you going to read it? I am. Not in the fourth edition, though. I’m going to read the ebook. The ten minutes I spent with it today have done far more damage to this family heirloom than I’d like to admit.