On my daughter's first day of school the kids were sitting at the breakfast table.  Usually they pester each other and it can be my most hectic and stressful time of the day, but that day Little Buddy (2.5 years old) reached out his hand to his sister (4 years old) and said, "Don't leave.  I'm going to miss you today while you're at school."

He almost had tears in his eyes and was visibly upset.  His sweet sister reached across the table, grabbed his hand and said, "Don't worry, Little Buddy.  I don't have to leave right away.  I can still play with you for a few minutes."  They sat there holding hands for a few minutes and I thought my heart would break.

Then I realized the full reality of this situation.  Poor little Buddy really was going to miss his sister.  A lot.  He'd gotten used to have her around for the summer months.  They do fight a lot, but they play together too.  I decided to try to come up with a few games that he alone would really enjoy.  True boy stuff since he so often gets stuck playing dress-up with princess costumes.  I came up with a bean ramp.

It was very simple, very cheap, and very easy.  My kind of project!  I just got out our sensory bin, which has beans and old pasta.  Then I taped an old wrapping paper tube to a chair and underneath this, I put a cookie pan.  I originally tried this with multiple paper towel holders taped together, but the beans kept getting stuck in there and frustrating Little Buddy, so I was happy to find this wrapping paper holder, which worked much better.

The cookie pan at the bottom was key.  He simply took out beans, pasta, etc., and put it in the tube.  It flew down and made a loud, "PING" noise when it landed in the cookie pan.  The noise was definitely his favorite part and it also contained the mess.  He really enjoyed this and even got out his cars and tried to run them down the ramp.  Of course, he was still sad about his sister being gone, but at least he got try something new.

If you enjoyed this post, you will love our book!  This summer The Happy Mommy Handbook: The Ultimate How-to Guide on Keeping Your Toddlers and Preschoolers Busy, Out of Trouble, and Motivated to Learn was released.  If you have ever tried to cook dinner while your kid clings to your leg and cries, this is the book for you!  We give you hundreds of ideas on keeping your kids busy but also helping them learn.  What makes this book unique is that we give you a Mom's point of view and a teacher's point of view, so that you can do activities that not only keep the kids busy, but also keep them motivated to learn and develop their natural curiosity.  Kids behave better when they are given challenging projects to work on, which will in turn give you more free time to do the things you really need to do, like washing dishes, paying bills, and relaxing so that you can be a better Mom!

I used to be an eternal optimist, nothing could get me down.  Then I became an adult.  I started to experience real adult problems, like pregnancy hormones, sleep deprivation, financial worries, and worst of all, watching episodes of Mickey Mouse day after day.  Over the course of the last four years, my sunny nature has slightly decreased.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm still an optimist and I have a great life, but once I get in a bad mood, it's harder to shake than it used to be.

So, after a recent vacation, I came home in a funk.  I got used to not having to cook, clean, or be anywhere at a certain time so when I got home and started preparing my grocery list for the week and thinking about everything I needed to do, I burst into tears.  I truly felt like I couldn't face my life and drastic measures needed to be taken.  How could I turn my life more into vacation?  My poor husband stood by, ringing his hands.  This was very unusual behavior for me and he was at a loss.  The poor guy finally said, "I didn't realize your life was so bad.  What can I do to help you?"

I realized what I really needed was a trip to my parents' house.  My Mom always knows how to cheer me up.  She hugged me, laughed at my tears, and reminded me of what a great life I truly have.  Three hours later, I started to drive home feeling much better.  My daughter, however, was still in a funk.  As always, the kids came home feeling a little tired and also out of sorts from our vacation, and I found my good mood starting to vanish as she whined for me to get her something to drink.  Then she dropped her book and couldn't reach it.  Then she realized she left something at my parents' house.  I started to get impatient with her and I thought about lecturing her on how she needed to learn to do some these things by herself, but then it hit me: I needed to teach my daughter how to look on the bright side.  This is a learned skill.  My Mom had to teach me to be an optimist so why would I expect my daughter to just know it already?

I began brainstorming about how my Mom taught me to be an optimist.  It took me several weeks to think of everything and make sure my list was complete (I did ask my Mom but she couldn't remember.  Then she said, "I may be losing my long-term memory but on the bright side I'm still funny."  Case in point, don't you think?.)

So, here is how my Mom taught me to be an optimist:

1. She Helped me Develop a Sense of humor:  We always found something to laugh about, and as quickly as possible.  This helped me realize not to take myself too seriously, which came in very handy during my early parenting years with severe sleep deprivation.
2. She Taught Me to Play the Happy Game: Sometimes people just find themselves in a crummy mood.  That's why they say someone "woke up on the wrong side of the bed."  You have to consciously think about things that make you feel happy so you can stop feeling so down.  Make a list of everything you appreciate in life, or simply things that make you happy.  The good will quickly outweigh the bad.  Keep it simple with things like, "Finding a good book to read, Waking up to see sunshine, getting to sleep in 30 minutes later than usual, when a stranger smiles at you, etc."
3. She Taught Me the Importance of Getting Plenty of sleep.  Help your kids understand that they really should go to bed because they will happier and healthier for it.  It may take 15 years for this to sink in, but I was one of the few college students in bed by 10:00 every night and that was the peak of my optimistic years.  It's hard to be upbeat if you don't get enough sleep.
4. What's the worst-case scenario?  I remember when I would get a B when I thought I deserved an A.  For some reason, I thought it was literally the end of the world and I remember being so angry.  But then my Mom made me realize that it wasn't going to prevent me from getting into a good college or getting a good job one day.  The worst-case scenario is a slightly lower overall GPA so when you look at it like that, it's easier to stomach disappointment and move on.
5. This too shall pass.  This was my grandpa's favorite saying and it's very true.  No matter how many friends are mad at you or how upset you are that you missed the last shot to win the game, within a few weeks, all will be forgotten and there will be a new drama.  This too shall pass.  I said it constantly to myself when my kids were waking up every 15 minutes.  At age 9 months.  And it did pass, Thank God!
6. Appreciate good moments when you find them.  When you do find yourself sitting outside on a beautiful day, take a moment to breathe deeply and appreciate the moment.  If someone does something nice for you, take the time to realize how lucky you are to have someone in your life who cares about you.  These are the moments that will carry you through when you're sad.

So, that day, I began teaching my daughter to be an Optimist.  We played The Happy Game.  It took my daughter almost 15 minutes to grasp it and I had to work hard not to get frustrated with her.  The game went like this:

Me:  "Let's play the happy game!  I'll go first.  It makes me happy when I wake up and see the sun shining.  Your turn!"
Munchkin Girl: "Nothing makes me happy.  I just want Lily!"  (This is the doll she left at her grandparents)
Me:  "I'm sure you'll think of something.  I'll go again.  It makes me happy when I get to see my kiddos laughing about something.  Your turn!"
Munchkin Girl: "I still want Lily!"
Me: "Okay, I'll go again.  It makes me happy when I get to hang out with my brothers.  Your turn!"

It went on like this for awhile until she finally caved and started playing.  By the end of the drive we were laughing and she had forgotten to whine.  Of course, this one game didn't cure her for life, and I fully realize that this will be a life-long process, but she already she has started asking to play the Happy Game when we get in the car or when she's sad.  And that alone makes me a very happy Mommy.

I hope you enjoyed this post!  Thanks for visiting!  I hope you will consider buying my newly-released book.  The reviews have been very positive and you can even download the first chapter on your Kindle for free! Please visit Amazon to read all the reviews and find out more.  Thanks so much to everyone who has already bought the book.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!!  

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It's hard to believe that just four short months ago my daughter was afraid of bugs.  She freaked out if even a little bitty ant came into her playhouse.  Then I was inspired by my co-author, Susan Case, to "create a little scientist".  Per Susan's suggestion, I gave her a magnifying glass and a net, and I have to say that I have created a monster.  Our current inventory is:

• 2 Frogs
• 6 Worms
• 4 Grasshoppers
• 1 Stick Bug
• 1 Cricket

Much to my husband's dismay, we keep these in small plastic containers all around the house.  It's turned into quite a circus around here and for our latest trick, we have figured out how to....Tame Grasshoppers!!   Again, I'm shocked that my little girl who will only wear dresses wants to do this, but she is hooked.  This is what a grasshopper looks like in a box.  A little creepy, huh?

Well, one day the kids decided to try to hold the grasshoppers and lo and behold, we discovered that after they've been captive for a few days, they turn into nice little pets.  Little Buddy was the one who started it and Munchkin Girl quickly begged for him to share his new pets.  They literally spent an hour one day carrying this little guy around, and passing it back and forth and talking to it like it was a little baby.  As with all of our pets, her name was Rosita:

The first thing they want to do when they wake up is look at their "pets" and this has been going on for weeks now.  I would say I definitely have two little scientists on my hands.  The ultimate showing of how we have tamed the grasshoppers came this weekend when the kids put them on Little Buddy's helmet.  Those little grasshoppers sat dutifully on his helmet while he raced around the driveway with his little balance bike.  At one point, he crashed his bike, and Big Sis went running out there.  We thought she was going to see if Little Bro was okay.  Instead, she knelt down by her grasshoppers and picked them up while cooing, "Are you okay my little precious ones?"  She did not give a backward glance at her brother, who was sprawled on the ground crying.  I guess we know where her priorities are!  Check out those grasshoppers on his helmet below!

We have an entire chapter in our book devoted to encouraging science in little ones, and how it.  To find out more I hope you'll consider checking out The Happy Mommy Handbook: The Ultimate How-to Guide on Keeping Your Toddlers and Preschoolers Busy, Out of Trouble and Motivated to Learn

It's official.  My daughter knows letters T, S, N, A....and well, that's about all the official ones for now but we are making definitely progress!  I still love the dot makers that we used a few weeks ago to make our amazing tye-dye coffee filters, so I decided to use these to work on letters.  I simply made the letters with circles first, sort of like I did for the Rock Letters, and then I just gave her the dot makers.   As you can see, she thought this was a super fun and stuck with this activity for quite awhile.

Even Little Buddy had fun with the dot makers, although he didn't exactly make the letters (he's 2 and a half), but he still enjoyed it and claimed that each letter was an "S!!!!"

If you enjoyed this post, you will really enjoy reading my newly-released book!  I teamed up with Susan Case who is a former Kindergarten teacher and a passionate advocate for learning through play, and we wrote the book together to give a Mom and a Teacher point of view.  You can watch a video that explains more here: