Mar
10
Posted by
Alicia Castelli
The spring choir concert for my son’s school was this week and I realized how much I preferred it to the Christmas concert season.
My son is as big a music lover as his parents and joined his school choir last year. (This year, the fourth-graders get to learn how to play the recorder but I think I’ll save the joy of that experience for another time…)
Christmas is an incredibly busy time with jobs, school, church and the requisite concerts. The school has a Christmas concert, the church has one and even my daughter’s daycare center hosted a Christmas concert this year.
I love everything about Christmas – particularly anything I know will create fond memories for my children. So we attended all the programs and were – guiltily – relieved when that round of...
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Jan
31
Posted by
Alicia Castelli
Turnabout is fair play.
I have been quizzing my son, Ryan, for quizzes and spelling tests for several years.
This year, I get to quiz my son, Ethan, as well.
As a first-grader, Ryan really liked this time with me. He also felt very grown up having homework and tests to study for at school. The older he gets, however, the less he wants to be bothered with homework.
Ethan has pretty much felt that homework is a bother from the beginning.
While I really enjoy studying with the boys, they would much rather play video games.
In my house, however, homework and studying comes first. Period.
Ryan’s enthusiasm for being quizzed on his spelling words is particularly lacking. Especially if we’re going over words he initially struggled with for a second...
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Jan
23
Posted by
Alicia Castelli
I hate reality television. Deeply and passionately.
My own reality is something I prefer to escape from. I have no interest in watching other people try to deal with theirs.
I have found, however, that I will do pretty much anything for my kids.
Which is why, eight seasons in, I found myself watching “American Idol” last year with my son…and actually looking forward to it this year.
Ten-year-old Ryan is in his school choir and longs to take guitar lessons. He loves music.
His 6-year-old brother, Ethan, is constantly singing little made up songs despite his offended insistence that he DOES NOT SING. I don’t think Ethan’s even aware he sings ALL THE TIME.
Four-year-old Keira loves to sing and dance almost as much as she loves books and baby...
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Dec
28
Posted by
Alicia Castelli
I may have hit upon a successful way of keeping the kids in line that focuses on rewarding positive behavior rather than using discipline as a deterrent.
A friend recommended it as she’d had quite a bit of success with it herself with one of her four children.
Since I, too, have one child for whom no punishment eliminated undesirable behavior in the long-term, I decided to give the reward system a try across the board rather than try using it for just one of the kids.
Basically, if the kids earn five smiley faces on the calendar in any week, they earn a reward. The rewards are free and usually consist of time alone with either Mom or Dad.
Four weeks in and I’m still amazed at how well this is working for all three children despite the range of ages. My...
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Dec
03
Posted by
Alicia Castelli
My son, Ryan, turns 10 this week and let’s just say his idea of what those double digits mean for his life vary from mine.
At Thanksgiving, Ryan was perturbed to find himself banished to the kids’ table in the kitchen. There were five children there and the next closest in age to him was his 6-year-old brother, Ethan.
I personally think he’s plenty old enough to sit with the adults, but it wasn’t my house. I felt kind of sorry for the little guy, truth be told.
The look Ryan gave me was half despair and half irritation.
The irritation may have had more to do with his adoring 5-year-old cousin’s complete lack of understanding when it comes to personal space than with having to sit at the kids’ table.
Still, Ryan is definitely growing up and...
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Nov
27
Posted by
Alicia Castelli
Parents should always think before they speak, especially when it comes to dinner.
My kids are more than ready for dinner by the time I pick them up from daycare. Last week I made the tragic mistake of forgetting there was a cooked roast in the fridge.
“Mommy!,” my kids greeted me with enthusiasm and hugs. “What’s for dinner?”
Like most parents, our brains are constantly multi-tasking. I was running through my list of things to get done before the kids go to bed, things I could get done after the kids are in bed, things I had to take care of the next day and things that would need my attention throughout the week. Dinner? What’s dinner?
“Eggs and bacon,” I said as I counted my children, checked their folders and lockers and tried to discourage...
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Nov
12
Posted by
Alicia Castelli
Costumes are not just for Halloween and dress-up is not just for little girls.
I’ve found that both my sons enjoy pretending to be super heroes as much as my little girl likes to twirl around in a gauzy skirt with a tiara and feather boa pretending to be a ballerina.
My oldest son, Ryan, recently came across his Halloween costume as I was spring cleaning. He was Boba…something-or-other from Star Wars. He put the costume on and spent the better of that day jumping out at me and slicing off various body parts with his “light saber”. I lost my arms, legs and even my head several times and he had a great time.
Procrastination on my part brought a Batman costume into the house. Ryan had to dress up as Harry Houdini for a school project and I was scrambling (and...
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Oct
26
Posted by
Alicia Castelli
My daughter has apparently decided random acts of vandalism against her glasses will result in her not having to wear the glasses.
Since Keira is only 4, I went with the “2 pairs for $99” deal at Great Northern Mall. I assumed the worst thing she could do was lose a pair and we’d have to bring out the backup pair.
Turns out I seriously underestimated her.
When “I can’t see with them on!” didn’t work, Keira decided she’d try sneaking them off when we weren’t looking.
When that didn’t work she tried outright refusal but she didn’t care for the swift and immediate consequences of telling her parents “no” so she gave that one up pretty quickly.
Then she insisted they were slipping down her nose. They actually were but Keira was...
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Jul
14
Posted by
Alicia Castelli
I’ve been seeing signs lately that my 9-year-old son, Ryan, may be cutting the apron strings a lit-tle bit and I’m torn between elation and sadness.
This is a child who, when still a baby, would scream the moment I attempted to cross the baby gate into the kitchen. He could still see me, but that wasn’t good enough. It felt like I had to be within two feet of him at all times or much crying and gate rattling would ensue.
This is a child who, as a baby, cried for four hours straight in his crib. He didn’t sleep if he was alone in his room and every “remedy” for this failed miserably. So I co-slept with Ryan. Otherwise, I was in the nursery every 90 minutes – sometimes three to five times within a two-hour period. Co-sleeping meant – well, sleep. I was all for...
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May
15
Posted by
Alicia Castelli
Mother’s Day gets a lot more fun as your kids get older. Oddly, it was my daughter’s lack of a gift that ended up touching me the most this year.
I have been waiting patiently for my Mother’s Day pictures and art-class clay pots and this year I hit the jackpot!
My oldest, Ryan, wrote me a poem and a letter in school complete with fantastic drawings and a badge I wore all day that proclaimed me “#1 Mom, 2009”.
I also got my first clay pot and it now has a position of honor on my desk at work. It holds exactly three pens.
My middle child, Ethan, made me a “MOM” key chain with lettered beads in his Kindergarten class that I immediately fastened to my keys.
Ethan also drew me a picture and filled out a questionnaire about me. Apparently I am ten...
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