Thursday, May 31, 2012

The Things I Want

I think what I'm feeling right now is a dramatic lack of community. 

Being an introvert, you know it's bad when I say I want to be around people.

We have Acorn in SpiralScouts, and in daycare, and in special ed preschool (or, as they call it, the Early Childhood Program).

Preschool and daycare are working on things like early writing skills and cutting and gluing and taking turns...and on language. We've seen dramatic improvements at daycare (he eats for them!) and we've seen some small things, like putting his coat on and taking it off, from school.

SpiralScouts as implemented here is fairly secular but eco-friendly....but it's a struggle for Acorn, partly because of where he (in terms of maturity and language skills) is, partly because the way our group operates isn't quite preschool and very young school-age kid friendly, and partly because SpiralScouts isn't really set up that well for the youngest kids. And it's hard for him to make friends and build a community when you can't actually engage him in the activities.

Leaf has nurses and therapists. They play with her. But as we found with Acorn, there will come a time where they need to do more than make faces at her and hand her toys, like coloring and singing the ABCs, and that was a struggle to get them to do. I don't know about the newest nurse who starts in a week, but all the rest of our nurses are Christian (all but one I'm sure is Catholic, in fact). So it's not like I will likely get them to read mythology to her, or sing Pagan chants.

I've been working on getting a Pagan playgroup going locally, because (a) I think it's important that they know other kids who are Pagan, and (b) it's hard enough to find people we have things in common with, so I might as well start with a pretty specific category of people. It's been slow going, finding a time more than 2 of us can gather, but eventually I think we'll figure it out.

But right now, really, I wish there was a really good daycare/preschool with a Pagan-oriented curriculum, or a Pagan kids group that we could participate in, or something along those lines. In what seems like another lifetime, we were involved in a failed attempt at creating a Pagan community center here, and I wish we'd been successful, because there would be a community already, instead of trying to build one from scratch right now.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Ankh Giveaway

Giving away:  Baby's First Ankh

This is from my Baby's First Collection on janetcallahan.com - a tiny 10 mm ankh, on a ribbon of pink, blue, lavender, or yellow, mounted on a presentation card.

The quote on the presentation card is from Peter Pan:

When the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies. And now when every new baby is born its first laugh becomes a fairy.

Recommended as a Wiccaning gift or baby shower gift; use common sense when letting infants and smaller children wear jewelry, as this ankh is a choking hazard. May be strung on a necklace when the child is older.

Funny, I realized I have no ankh photos, only pentacles, but here's the pentacle version of this item:


There are several opportunities to get extra entries for this contest, so use the Rafflecopter app below to enter. Contest ends at 12:01 am on Friday June 1. Winner will be notified that day by email, and must respond within 4 days or I will choose another winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Note: This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. We hereby release Facebook of any liability.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Birthday Bash - Happy Birthday Leaf

Today my baby girl turns one.

Smiley girl, you were not supposed to be born yet - and yet you were, and we are sorting it out day by day. Thanks to you, we have now spent every personal holiday (like our wedding anniversary) along with every major holiday (like Memorial Day) in the hospital - though, to be fair, we had your brother's help on that front.

May 25, 2011

May 17, 2012, Eating Dried Mangos

Happy birthday, little one!

In honor of Leaf's birthday today, and Acorn's birthday in a short 20 days, I'll be hosting three contests over the next three weeks, starting tomorrow - so be on the lookout for it!

Monday, May 21, 2012

a new food adventure

I've tried gardening before, here in Michigan, and been largely unsuccessful. It's so unlike the part of Missouri I grew up in, weather wise, and we just don't have time to make it work well.


That said, we did grow some sprouts as a part of Acorn's SpiralScouts nutrition badge a while back, and we decided that adding sprouts to our diet regularly might be a nice thing. Sure, we get fresh fruits & veggies every week, but I hate buying sprouts because we can't use up a whole container before they go bad. Doing it ourselves means being able to make smaller batches more frequently.


So, I ordered a big assortment of different types of sprouting seeds, and we're going to try them all & decide what we like best.


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Friday, May 18, 2012

T-minus 8 days...

It's been a really crazy few weeks here. We're getting the hang of Acorn's new therapy schedule. Leaf has new therapists from early intervention. Work has been much like the Lemony Snicket A Series of Unfortunate Events books. Everyone has had various doctors appointments. Acorn ended up with a sinus infection, which turned into an ear infection even with tubes (he has a huge blob of ear wax either completely covering the tubei n one ear, or the tube fell out and the wax is where it should be) and then he reacted to the antibiotic he was given, which meant two days at home with lots of icky diapers.

And speaking of diapers...in just over a week, we're embarking on a potty learning adventure.

We've done a lot of work with Acorn on potty skills, and as recently as early last fall he would go when prompted (he wouldn't ask, and he was still working on clothing management, but put him on his potty chair and he'd go right in it). Then came the November of doom, and after his hospital stay, he wouldn't even sit on the potty.

It's not like the standard bribes work. He hates stickers. He has put an m&m in his mouth (after months of work) but spit it back out. Cheerios are a primary food source, so putting them in the toilet may result in him reaching in to pick them up and eat them - and reaching in is already a problem, because he loves playing in water.

We've finally gotten him to sit (on the big-people toilet even). And he's gone a few times. But over Memorial Day weekend, our plan is to dive right in and try going diaperless and going on a schedule. In the past, I've thought that naked time wouldn't help - it's never bothered him to go on the floor, in the bath tub, or anywhere else. But maybe 3 days of concentrated effort will at least get us back to being able to stay dry if we're on a schedule.

If not, we're in trouble anyway - he has great bladder control, and a prefold no longer holds a whole pee.

Wish us luck!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

almost wordless wednesday

All acts of love & pleasure are her rituals says the Charge of the Goddess. Even swinging.


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Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Pagan coming out day

It's International Pagan Coming Out Day. I'm always torn about this sort of thing - I'm pretty much out everywhere, but I don't often walk up to people & say, "hey, I'm Pagan!" without some context.


That said, the more "normal" folks who step up & tell people they're Pagan, the better off we all are, because it means we're less likely to be marginalized by the majority.


I've been places where being Pagan was not safe. I've been in lots of situations where it wasn't comfortable. For those who are in those situations, and for myself, I'm  out as best as I can be, in hopes that a time comes where it's not an issue for anyone.


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Tuesday, May 1, 2012

What Kind of Parent Are You

I know it's been kind of quiet over here lately. I've been working on a new project, writing some guest posts, and generally trying to keep my head above water amongst all the appointments and therapies.

It's a funny thing - clearly, I'm both a Pagan parent, and a parent of children with special needs, but a lot of times....I'm just a mom. We get the children ready in the mornings, make sure they're fed and diapered, try to figure out what to do about potty training, play on the swings, and bathe and pajama and do bedtime, just like everyone else.

And some days, that feels like it's plenty - like just being a mom doesn't leave time for being a special needs mom or a Pagan mom. It's something I've been thinking about a lot lately.

Some people think that Pagan parenting means teaching your child to write in the Enochian alphabet with the same ease they write in English (and frankly, if I was going to go that route, I'd go with runes - a high school friend used to take class notes in German using runic characters, just to mess with teachers, and that's way more my style anyway). Some think it's taking children to Pagan festivals. Some think it's having a little altar, or reading mythology or having a preschooler who knows more Pagan chants than typical preschool songs.

I don't know that it's any of those or none of those.....but I think there has to be a balance. A balance of living in the mundane world and teaching about the Gods and the energies around us.

And right now? Balance is not our strong point here. There's too many appointments.

*****

This past weekend I had 2 guest posts:
http://www.thepaganvillage.com/2012/04/beltaneplans/
http://thepaganhousehold.com/guests/energetic-household-cleansing 

I also started a project that may or may not help me out on this search for balance. Actually, it probably won't help with balance in the short term, but will likely help in the long term with adding Pagan things into our day. I'm starting a website for Moon school lessons and plans for children's workshops for festivals. The website isn't up yet, but you can read more and get updates on our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Your-MoonDay-School-Adventure/233327923442045