Week 11: Different and more relaxed

K has always been enjoying boyish stuff, but especially lately. He loves superheroes, tractors, dinosaurs, cars, and muscles. He cracks me up when he's showing off his "muscles" or when he's pretending to be a dinosaur, stomping all over the place.

Another thing: As soon as we get home, K loves to take al of his clothes off, except for his big boy underwear. Must be a boy thing, too! By the way, he is almost completely potty trained! It was incredible! One day, he's not "with it," and the next, he's holding it and going at the right times like he's been doing it for years!
In the past two weeks, he has had no accidents during the day, he has stayed dry during naps and has peed in his pull up at night only twice! I couldn't be more proud! And I am so glad that the worst is behind us. After all, he's a big boy...he'll be 3 in December. Sigh. Bittersweet...

About our homeschool, well, I am in awe that we've been at it for 12 weeks already. Incredible. We took it easy this week and didn't fret with schedules. There was a lot to do that wasn't related to homeschooling, that I was like "Oh well..." <shrug>
He still learned a lot; we just didn't, per se, do Calendar / Circle Time every single day.

For Chinese and Spanish, I made a poster of K's favorite animals.
He really likes it and tries to read them often.
I still have to help him with the correct pronunciation,
since he wants to read them with an English accent.

This is a chart of the colors in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.

"It is my deepest conviction that the children should be seen and heard as our most treasured assets.  They are not ours to be used or abused but to be loved and nurtured and encouraged to engage in life to the full extent of their being, free from fear."   ~Nelson Mandela

Homemade natural deodorant recipe

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I have since switched to a glass container.

My concoction:
-Baking soda (aluminum free)
-Celtic sea salt or Himalayan Salt
-Organic cornstarch or organic arrowroot powder
-Essential oils that you like (therapeutic grade, 100% pure)
Tip: I am a Young Living essential oils distributor. You can order from www.youngliving.com (click here to go to the link) and use my distributor number to order if you'd like (1498096).
-Makeup puff (like you'd use for pressed powder make-up)
-Glass container

Optional:
-Organic coconut oil
-Organic jojoba oil
-Organic vitamin E oil

Mix equal parts of baking soda, salt, and cornstarch. 
Add 10-20 drops of the essential oils. 
Mix in well. 

This will make it powdery. If you prefer it to be a bit “wet”, then add some coconut oil and/or Vitamin E oil to make it a bit pastier. These supposedly help make the mixture more effective. 

Use the poof to put on armpits or any other areas in the body that need to stay dry. It might take a couple of weeks for your body to adjust to not using antiperspirant, so you might need to wipe with an organic baby wipe with witch hazel and apply twice a day until the adjustment happens.

Personal note: I used 1 tablespoon of each powder. Mixed well. Then I added 10 drops of tea tree oil and 10 drops of lemongrass essential oil. Mixed well. I like mine powdery, but not too dry because then it doesn't "stay" very long. So I added coconut oil (you can add any of the above-mentioned oils) until it reached a mildly clumpy, but still dry consistency. I have Vit E oil, but didn't use it in this batch. I'll try it in the next one, I guess.  

Another thing, the sea salt in the mixture doesn't itch my skin, even right after shaving. I don't have sensitive skin, though, so if you do, maybe make a tiny batch and try no salt or half the amount and try it.

This amount usually lasts me a couple of month (sometimes I used it twice a day).

Other recipes I've found:
- One of the best deodorants is plain old baking soda. You can pat it right onto your skin or mix it with a little cornstarch for extra staying power and moisture control. Try 1/2 cornstarch and 1/2 baking soda. Some readers say that mixing in anti-bacterial tea tree oil makes it even more effective.
- Use Milk of Magnesium dabbed on with a cotton ball

Week 10: Went by fast!

Last week (Week 10 of homeschooling) went great. I am reaching the 8th month post-partum, so the hormonal imbalances should be subsiding soon and I feel more energetic, even though I am not 100% yet. Giving birth can really take a toll on one's body, even though you are eating right and staying fit, especially so if you let a little something called STRESS sneak into your life on a daily basis.

It is normal to feel stressed when big changes come to our lives. One of our biggest changes was the birth of our daughter. All of a sudden, we had a toddler and a newborn and things felt like they were spinning out of control some days. On top of all that, she turned out to be very high maintenance (at least compared to our son). So we all had to adjust to their individual needs. It has been stressful the last few months, yes, but it has been wonderful at the same time and, if I had the chance, I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.

I love my children beyond words and being a mother is the most challenging, humbling, and growing experience I have ever gone through. It has truly made me a better person. I have understood God's love for me better. I have realized that two pairs of little eyes are always watching and absorbing everything. They have taught me to laugh so much more than before and to capture and enjoy the simple things in life.

If it were for my daughter, she'd be the happiest baby on earth if I were to hold her on my lap and we stare and smile at each other for hours on end. It is the sweetest thing to feel so needed and loved. Breastfeeding has definitely made our bond stronger. I feel so blessed to be able to breastfeed. It is so rewarding! All in all, being a parent makes one feel "lost" at times, but we find ourselves again in our little ones' eyes. Sigh...lovely!

Homeschooling

This week, K worked with the number spindles. He enjoyed it and caught on quickly. After half a demonstration, he was doing the activity all by himself. He liked it so much that he kept doing it over and over.

Basically, you have a wooden box cut in half and divided into 5 slots
with numbers from 0 to 9. The two halves are placed side by side. The
child then puts the corresponding number of spindles in the slots.
For example, the 0 gets no spindles, the 1 gets one spindle, etc.

In Chinese class, K learned to say "slippers."

Since he already knew how to say "dinosaur,"

he put them together to say "dinosaur slippers."

Kong long tuo xie!!!!!

This is a work of art that consists of cut up construction paper, glue, and flower petals.

For science/art, K went around the backyard looking for stuff in nature.

He collected leaves, flowers, rocks, dirt, dried grass, and some seeds.

He glued all of the items on black construction paper.

This is what it looked like in the end. Beautiful! 

More art!

This is another Montessori Sensorial activity. It is Color Box #1.
It is quite simple, just matching the three primary colors as he manes them.
I made it a bit more interesting. First, he named the colors (super easy).
Then he matched the colors (like you see in the picture above).
Finally, I made patterns and he had to copy them. This was a bit more challenging,
but he caught on quickly and was successful at replicating every pattern.

This is the Bolts and Nuts Set 2. Basically, there are 5 screws
ranging from thin to thick. The holes match with each thickness
in that same order. Put the screw in and twist, twist, twist until
it doesn't twist anymore.

 Food

This week, I did try a couple of new recipes, including baked eggrolls that were a big hit. They did have a little bit of ground beef, but they were about 80% veggies. They were delicious.

I am collecting some egg cartons to start to plant my seeds for our fruit and veggie garden. I went to a meeting a couple of weeks ago where a horticulturist taught us how to plant and when to plant a garden. I am excited to get started again and I am hoping that it'll be a successful project, especially now that I have learned some important tips. I'll update on this project every week or two.

On a different note, I ordered some grapeseed oil to try because its flavor is neutral and it can substitute butter in baking recipes. I really like it! You should research it's nutritional and healing properties; it's truly incredible. I am now going to alternate using it and coconut oil, which is also an awesome product.

Other

Homemade toothpaste: I made my second batch last week with a few changes and I must say, wow!

Here are the two recipes I like:

Recipe #1

Aluminum free baking soda

Coconut oil

5-10 drops of Peppermint essential oil (therapeutic grade, 100% pure)

2 drops of Clove essential oil (therapeutic grade, 100% pure)

Make a paste with all of the ingredients above until desired consistency. It will thicken up if it is cold and it will be more oily if it is warmer (properties of coconut oil).

Recipe #2

Aluminum free baking soda

Grapeseed oil

5-10 drops of Wintergreen essential oil (therapeutic grade, 100% pure)

2 drops of Clove essential oil (therapeutic grade, 100% pure)

pulverized egg shell (1 egg shell) - I used a mortar and pestle

Same thing as above. Make a paste until desired consistency. I made this one last week and I am loving it.  The egg shell has calcium, which helps strengthen teeth, but the fact that it is a powder, it helps to remove plaque and other impurities on the surface of the teeth. I don't want to overdo it, so I will alternate between the two.

Oil Pulling: All I can say is whoa!

I had hear about it, but after talking about it with my neighbor, I became even more curious and decided to try it. I am in shock at how well it works.

Visit this Oil Pulling Website and learn all about it.

In my experience, I used sesame oil and have done it a couple of times. I have felt more energetic and I can see that my teeth are whiter (already, yes, already). It is so simple and so natural that I can see myself using this as a remedy to many ailments, not just to whiten and strengthen teeth. Check it out!

Fall Recipes

Click here to go to the post of my very favorite rolls recipe in the world! This recipe is a keeper; trust me!

Apple Nachos! Yummy!

I made these for Bible Study this week and they turned out great! It is one of Pampered Chef's Fall recipes. The only three changes I made to the recipe are: 1) I used vanilla extract instead of almond, 2) I used real cherries instead of maraschino cherries, and 3) I used coconut oil instead of canola.  I got great reviews from this recipe, so I am definitely making these for my Fall Pampered Chef show in a couple of months.

Gluten free pumpkin pancakes

Delicious Eggless Oatmeal Cookies

Homemade Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (YUMMM)