Anxiety, anger, fear, disappointment, concern, oppression, empathy—or hopefully a combination of all of the above, and all the other emotional colors of the rainbow that live within a human being.
I have no particular wisdom to add to the nationwide conversation that is taking place through words and actions—both positive and detrimental—and that’s not really what this here blog is about, anyway. This is my own tiny online universe that exists as a diary of sorts to document and share with those we love, the daily, trivial happenings of my kiddos. The magical little moments that amount to a life.
All I’ve ever wanted to do is raise my children to be good human beings. To show them through actions and words, what it means to live in faith, to love, to be humble, respectful, fulfilled and kind. Truly.
To just be good humans. Always.
The most helpful resource I’ve personally come across over the past couple of days is a post from a blog I follow semi-regularly. It includes an extensive list of interesting educational resources I hope to sort through for my own personal knowledge and growth.
If you’re interested and find it helpful, here you go:
With that said...the thing that always, always centers my crazy trio and I—whether it be due to illness or company that has come and gone, leaving us sad (like today), or general cranky moods, or the feeling that we need to connect and have better quality time—is projects.
Projects, projects, projects.
So that’s what we dove into today, to normalize our own little cocoon and center it around the joyful and familiar. And what a fantastic little project we had!
I purchased this kit two or three years ago, and stored it away for a rainy day. And because it seemed a little involved when my kiddos were quite tiny at that time, we just passed it over for some time, obviously.
But, man, was today the perfect day to tackle it. It’s such a joy to see my kiddos so willing and able and a bit more patient to tackle something that’s more involved. :)
We began with these cute little wind-up bases for the bots...
Then they each selected the specific bot they wanted to build, and I collected the corresponding arms and gadgets and adornments for them to color in...
With a lot of focus and attention to detail!
Then one-by one, as each kiddo finished coloring, I helped them assemble the box or cylinder components that made up the body of their robots. We had little brands to connect certain pieces that needed to spin or move (like arms). We added some colored-in stickers for flair, and, voila! The bodies were complete.
Then they each selected the specific bot they wanted to build, and I collected the corresponding arms and gadgets and adornments for them to color in...
With a lot of focus and attention to detail!
Then one-by one, as each kiddo finished coloring, I helped them assemble the box or cylinder components that made up the body of their robots. We had little brands to connect certain pieces that needed to spin or move (like arms). We added some colored-in stickers for flair, and, voila! The bodies were complete.
We just had to place the built body over the wind-up base, and secure it in place with some double-sided stickers.
The kiddos were seriously thrilled with their little dudes. And each one turned out so cute!
Naturally, we had to line them up and try to have a robot race...
Though getting them all wound up and ready to race at the exact same time was a bit problematic—even with Daddy’s help (he’s still working from home part-time).
They were seriously a major hit! A two-thumbs-up project for the day. :)
And we followed it up with some group math homework, some Osmo math game time, home hit cuts for the girlies (more on that later), a Moana viewing, and then a rockstar round of doodling Hei, Hei, the chicken from Moana), and Little Man totally slayed his drawing!
It was a helpful re-centering day, and I can only hope for the same for so many others who are feeling so much these days.
Over and out.
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