Lazy

To keep her out of mischief, I let Crystal have her own little bowl of popcorn in her playpen while I got ready to go out. When I came back she had it balanced on her tummy and was laying on her back eating it like a lazy bum.


What a little Goof ball! She never ceases to amuse me.

Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours

I am currently in the process of reading a really great book called "Making Children Mind Without Losing yours" By Dr. Kevin Leman.
Dr. Leman, is a well known psychologist and the author of 21 books on marriage and family, and also has been a guest on Oprah, The view, Regis, Good Morning America and many other popular television programs.
Unlike many psychologists, he is a very devout Christian and father of five, who believes in incorporating the Savior in all family aspects, including how we discipline our children.
The book, is largely based on the scripture Ephesians 6:1-4 which states:
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)
That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."
Of course, not being LDS and not using the King James version, his quotation is slightly different, however the idea is the same, making it applicable to LDS parents as well as those of his own religion.
A lot of what he writes is how our relationship with Christ can make us a better parent, and a better friend to our children.
One of the key methods he uses in parenting is called Reality Dicipline, which incorporates establishing a healthy authority over your children, holding them accountable for their actions, letting reality be the teacher, using action more than words (instead of warning your child a thousand times what your going to do if they keep up negative behavior), and living by your values.
He explains the differences between healthy and unhealthy discipline, as well as explaining why children misbehave and what to do about it.
He also gives informative and simple suggestions to everyday issues in raising kids like picky eating, temper tantrums, sibling rivalry, attention seeking, lying, forgetting, talking back, bedtime battles, potty training, watching too much TV, road trips, dangers of life, peer groups and many, many other issues that parents continually deal with. His suggestions can be applied to children from as early as 2 years old up through the teenage years.
He has entire chapters on setting suitable allowances, curfews, and privileges, and how to use them as a means of discipline when the child misbehaves.
Accountability is a big deal to this author. He explains that children as a whole in society are growing up without learning to be accountable for their own decisions, and as a result, struggle when they start to grow up and enter the real world.
Something I also like about him is that he makes it clear that child rearing is an art form, and a lot of times you have to go with your gut. He also explains that although his book offers many suggestions, that it is up to the reader to decide what is appropriate to use in their home and what they choose to do without.
Not all of it is easy, especially how he emphasizes on remaining calm as a parent when your child is acting up, and to be careful not to discipline them in the heat of anger and frustration. However, his suggestions make a lot of sense, and I hope to practice many of his suggestions with my own children.
Anyway, I recommend this book to all my friends out there who are raising little children of their own, and would like to look at some new options on ways to teach your child how to be responsible and successful, while using authority and decisiveness to show your children that you care about them.
I bought it used, on amazon for four dollars including shipping and handling, and I'm sure you can all find it for the same price if you just buy it used instead of new, which I also recommend. Have a nice day! (:

Fall season is here, so far so good

Sorry it's been a while since we stuck in some new posts, (a special apology to Liz). I guess it's easy to get sidetracked into the daily stresses of life and loose track of the little things. September was a good month. Not too much new going on around here. Crystal has become obsessed with the magnets on the fridge, so we bought the little alphabet letter magnets, which have become her new favorite pastime. It actually comes in handy as a great distraction when she starts getting whiny. Lately as soon as she acts up, one of us will say something like "Go find me a letter J." She then gets a huge grin on her face and runs to the fridge and stares at it for fifteen minutes until she finds out where the J (or whatever letter we ask for) is hiding and brings it to us. Now that it's October, we're helping Lisa's parents with their somewhat famous Halloween display in their front yard. Every year they successfully frighten all the young trick-or-treaters in the neighborhood with their decorations, smoke machines, sound effects, etc. They go all out, and as a result, many in Lisa's family look forward to Halloween every year. We'll be sure to post a few pictures when it's finally all set up. Conference was awesome, as always. We look forward to reviewing the talks for the next six months to catch anything we may have missed when Crystal would get loud...but hey, that's parenthood, right? Other than that, nothing too new happening. Here are some fun pics of Crystal being Crystal to pass the time:

Halloween decorating

Here is a Witch Lisa made with her mom during the priesthood session while the husbands were gone. We added a cape which we bought at Savers later on, but it's not in the picture. It's going to be the newest addition to the display in her parent's front yard. Isn't it nice and ugly?

Another haircut

Okay, this is the last time I'm going to cut it for a while, I promise. I guess I just get bored so I mess with my hair a lot. I actually did it a while ago and forgot to post it for those who care, so here you go. As you can see, it's a couple inches shorter with some added highlights. I like it.

Elmo is religious

So every night before Crystal goes to sleep I run through a little prayer with her. She loves to pray with me, and is very obedient when asked to fold her arms. Her favorite part is saying "Amen!" at the end. As a matter of fact, she doesn't call it "praying", she just refers it to doing "amen". Well the other night after we said our prayer together we read her usual Elmo book. On one of the pages Elmo is bending over and laughing with his arms crossed over his belly, and when we got to that page, Crystal brightened up and said "Elmo amen too!" I never looked at it that way before, but she did...what an observant little girl!

Strawberries

Crystal is addicted to strawberries. Lisa offered her a cookie and then took out a crate of strawberries for herself to eat in front of the television. (Lisa loves to eat fruit while she watches TV.) However when Crystal saw Lisa bust out the strawberries she dropped her cookie which she only licked without biting and took the strawberry Lisa was about to eat right out of her hand. Every time Lisa would try to eat a new strawberry Crystal took it away from her to eat it first. It was really funny, and Crystal ate almost the whole thing by herself. Unfortunately, her outfit isn't going live to see another day.

Dinosaurs

One night, we were watching Night at the Museum at home when Crystal noticed the part where the big skeleton of the T-rex came to life. It terrified her, and she then developed a fear of anything dinosaur.
She usually overcomes her fears when we let her see up close how something works and how harmless it really is. For example, when she was younger she was afraid of the vacuum until we showed her how it worked and let her touch it.
Well, it just so happens that the worlds largest Dinosaur museum was only 10 minutes away at Thanksgiving point, so we took her there yesterday to check it out.
She really enjoyed some dinosaurs...


and was still afraid of others.

But most of it, she found fascinating.




All together, the expedition was a success and even though the ones with big teeth make her nervous, she likes dinosaurs. She even has toy dinosaurs that she plays with at home now.

Here are some more pictures of our trip to the museum for those who enjoy looking at them:

Fight Night

Lisa's brother, Matt, has been into boxing for the last 6 or 7 months. He has been working with a professional trainer/boxer, and had his first real fight last weekend on Saturday, September 15th. The place was packed, and there were 8 fights that night, but Matt was last since his fight was the main event. Not only that, but they paired him up with a professional boxer in his age and weight range, even though Matt was a rookie. The fight ended up as a draw, but Matt had the biggest punch of the whole match, when he knocked the wind out of the kid, and sent him to the ground. Not bad for his first fight. Good Job Matt!

Little housekeeper

Crystal loves to help keep the house clean. Unfortunately, I can never find the broom because she takes it everywhere, and I have to keep her from throwing things we need in the trashcan, because she found them on the floor. Yesterday she threw away my Mp3 player, her pajamas, some toys and her Sunday shoes. It's a good thing I looked in there and found them, or they would have been lost forever.

Hogle Zoo

Today was Crystal's first visit to the Zoo. She had a great time and especially enjoyed the Ape exhibit. Even after watching them she played on the Brass Ape statue outside for a while before we finally had to tear her away...but she kissed it goodbye. There's nothing more rewarding to a parent than watching their child's pure delight at the world around them. When she laughs and smiles at the world, it makes us feel like the happiest and most blessed people alive. After the Zoo we ate a late lunch at a nice Italian restaurant. What a fun day!

Bored in the car

On the way back from the zoo crystal got bored so we sang "Winnie the pooh" to keep busy. Even though she enjoyed singing, she still had a case of the wiggles, as you'll see here:

Angry Crystal

I was on the phone with my friend Paula and was telling her that even though Crystal can get excited, angry, and hyper often and in extremes, that she usually backs down with a verbal warning. This video is a classic example. Scott and I told her she's not allowed to play with anything on the entertainment center and she got angry and yelled at us, but like always, began to back down when we told her not to be mad. Also, just so you're aware, we gave her a big hug after she showed that she was sorry/sad. The other reason why I posted this is because I think it's hillarious when she's angry.