Sun Moon Clock

Techman said, "We're one step away from putting him to bed with a laser light show...and, like, fog."

Earlier this week, my Moms Club asked me to participate in a panel discussion on kids and sleep. What a riot! When the mail came in, I was already into 90 minutes of post-bedtime-routine negotiation with Starboy. We've tried a lot of things: earlier bedtimes, the "right" bedtime, wearing him out, star light (above), Mr. Sun/Moon clock (pictured), routines, stories, songs, yelling (totally ineffective, duh), baby gates, shutting the door (trauma-inducing), homeopathics, and I don't know what else.

We don't do cry-it-out, because...we just don't. It's not in my beliefs. The teen years are hard enough without planting the seed that no one's got your back when you feel really lonely. In the end, the things that have worked the best for him are: Looking for his needs, soothing him even when it seems ridiculous, trying to hit the magic "tired window," and just waiting (ugh, brutal) until his body is simply ready to do it. We co-sleep, which is great, and occasionally not great (but surely would be great-er with a king-sized mattress and a room big enough to fit it in.).

Starboy was two before I got a proper night's sleep, and by "proper" I mean five hours of sleep in a row—he was only waking up two or three times, instead of eight or 10. He is so afraid of missing out on the action. That, for sure, didn't come from Techman's side of the family, where pretty much the whole party is sacked out about the living room by 9:30, mouths agape, snoring in symphony. (Whereas, when we woke up after Thanksgiving with my family, we discovered my dad and his friend had been up until 4:00 a.m., partying it up)

I also discovered recently that Starboy has a lip tie, that I'm fairly certain affected his ease of breastfeeding and therefore his sleep (and mine. And Techman's). It was a real heartbreaker to discover—oh, if we'd known! The sleep deprivation causes so much frustration and stress. But somehow everyone on our granola team missed it, or didn't know. Starboy gained weight so quickly, it didn't seem to be an issue (except for the frequent feedings, the pain, and the sleeplessness, but whatever. He was plump and otherwise happy). But in hindsight, I'll bet having it clipped would have been a real game-changer. 

Our bottle-fed culture is having to re-learn obvious natural signs that grandmas had known for generations—midwives used to keep a fingernail sharpened for a quick frenulum snip. There are some kinds of progress that aren't always an improvement, are there? It's a thing to think about in these fast-paced times.

The panel discussion went fine, and since all three of us had creative comprehensive handouts on our own experiences, I felt really good that, regardless of what was discussed, the other moms had a lot of ideas to take home and try, to pick and choose. That's not the research-based way to do it, exactly, but that's pretty much what most of parenting is, isn't at? Except for the times when you are so fed up you manage to pull something genius out of the clear blue, just out of desperation.

Weekly rhythm chart

Calendar objects for game night, special holiday, school day, car trip, and home lessons.

I've been wanting for ages and ages to make a visual calendar for Starboy's week, to go along with his morning/evening routines chart. Waldorf folks would call it a "rhythm chart."

I had great inspiration from Sew Liberated, Playful Learning, Play at Home Mom, Homeschool Harmony, My Name is Snickerdoodle, and A Kid's Day. I'm sure you can see their influence. I encourage you to get inspiration from other artists like this, but if you are creating something to sell, you need to come up with something entirely new, and make sure you buy/obtain rights to use the imagery. Copyright or no, it's crappy to steal ideas from other creatives in order to profit from them.

Art class, baking day, hiking, home art project

I wanted a chart that was easy to manipulate. Absent a bulletin board—and really purposely avoiding a pocket chart—I wanted to do something magnetic. But I also wanted it self contained, so rather than making it fridge-centeric, I got a cookie sheet from the dollar store. It's a little smaller than I'd like. But this way it could be hung on a wall if we wanted it to.

I wanted to make the weekend days a different color, because Starboy knows them as "the day Daddy stays." But I found the columns hard to read without any distinction, since everything is crammed together. So I cut strips to delineate the different days via color.

It's really not as readable as I'd like, and that's why I haven't glued those paper strips down, yet. There may be more improvements to come.

The whole calendar.

Game night, special day, zoo day, post office, birthday

School day, car trip, Grandma/Grandpa day, library, playdate

Lessons, art museum, camping trip, aquarium, fitness walk

I wanted to make little collages, like Meg did at Sew Liberated (with influence from the fantastic Show Me a Story). I didn't think it was possible in these small squares (about 1 1/2"). So I had this great idea I was going to draw each item, but I immediately realized that was ridiculous and went straight to clip art from the Internet. It's a fair use, since we only use the chart at home, and it's not for sale. Much of the art is free from Discovery Education, I always have loved Mark Hicks' style, and used his images on my classroom hall passes and handouts when I was an elementary teacher.

I used a round and a square punch to make each shape from scrapbook paper, then I punched a second piece of cardstock and glued them together to be stiff. If you can find a chipboard shape you like, I recommend that as a better course. It's sturdier and lots less labor intensive.

If you have a Cricut or a Silhouette, then I don't want to talk to you. 

I colored the clip art with these lovely Lyra colored pencils (highly recommend), then trimmed it and glued it to the squares. I shellacked the squares with a glue/water mix (faux Mod Podge) only on the front side. I found if you glue both sides, the square will curl, particularly if the paper grain of the two layers are not aligned. (Actually I put the backing on after the square was decorated, so I could glue it and shellack it at the same time.)

I used a glue gun to put the magnets on the back. Glitter glue! You know you want it.

I have some super-strong magnets to temporarily hold the calendar to the fridge. I'd like to swap them out, because they are the kind of magnets that, if a kid swallows two or more of them, real problems could occur internally. I'll probably glue some lesser magnets right to the board, or else sew a long fabric sleeve for the magnets, so they can't be swallowed individually.

The fridge did seem like an obvious place for the calendar, so that's where it's living now.

Daily rhythms

Waldorf has such nice ideas about rhythm and routine for children. When kids know how and when things are going to happen, they can spend their energy growing, rather than worrying what's coming next, the theory goes. From a Montessori perspective, a chart can allow a child to become more independent. And I would have to think there are mathematical benefits to learning a one-to-one correspondence between the task item on the board and the task you have to do—and not to mention language arts benefits about sequencing and storytelling: first, next, last.

I love this idea of simple rhythms, but have been too undisciplined so far to really follow it. Even though I know Starboy really would benefit. So, to get started, I decided to try a daily chore chart. I got inspiration from Play at Home Mom, Homeschool Harmony, A Kid's Day, Playful Learning, and more. If you don't feel crafty enough to create your own chart, check these out (and Google more), as some of them are downloadable or for sale.

Morning tasks: Brush teeth, get dressed, eat breakfast (pic is of eggs), potty

I wanted to make this interactive using magnetic morning birds and evening stars, but the chart was becoming too big. I'd have to find a place to store all five birds (I have to add "take vitamins"), and seven stars at the bottom of the wood board, before moving them into place when the task was completed, and I couldn't make it work on this small board. So I decided not to let "perfect" be the enemy of "good." They all are glued in place.

Evening tasks: Put dirty clothes in hamper, set out clean clothes for tomorrow, take a bath

The stars are wooden and the birds are chipboard. All have scrapbooking "stacks" paper glued on with white glue/water, and are shellacked with the same glue. The drawings were done with a fine Sharpie. The board is a wooden craft board with scrapbook paper glued on and shellacked with white glue/water. A string handle allows us to hang the chart on his bedroom door.

Right after I hung the chart up, I remembered I was going to make a vertical tree, so that the chart would not stick out the side of the door. So. Consider yourself warned, you non-planners.

Evening tasks: Put on PJs, brush teeth, potty, bedtime stories and songs

Now when we talk about getting ready in the morning, I ask Starboy, "Have you done all of your birds? We can't leave until we do all the birds." At night, we "do our stars." Sounds so much better than "chores," or "grooming." And it is helping a little with getting out the door.

Storytelling — Free Sparkle Story and giveaway

Head over to Frontier Dreams for a great interview with David and Lisabeth Sewell McCanns of Sparkle Stories, a giveaway, and a free story to download!

These stories are great for building children's imagination, literacy and more. And they are a great way to spend quiet time together as a family.

I've entered the giveaway and you'll notice this post gives me another entry, however I am happy to promote the Sparkle Stories even without compensation. Starboy loves them; we've been listening on our 20-minute drive to school.



Here are some more sources for free storytelling of all varieties. Do you have others? Please comment and share!

Barefoot Books podcast

BBC Children's stories

Heather Forest on Gentle Wind

Maestro Classics 

Story Nory

The Pea Green Boat (Montana Pub Radio)

Reading Roundup

10 Steps for tired Mamas to get the break they need, without TV, Rhythm of the Home (Fall 2012)

Great story about Nature Tables, Tinkerlab (Sept. 10, 2010)

Pocket Playground, Life At the Zoo (Aug. 30, 2012). Keep eight items in your bag, and you'll have access to 50 activities to keep your kid calm while waiting in line, on the airplane, etc.

How to write a Twitter bio that'll make you stand out as a journalist, Poynter (Sept. 7, 2012). Note: I barely understand Twitter and hashtagging, I don't even have a handle. My prospects of ever working again are likely doomed.

An interview with Lori Pickert, Rhythm of the Home blog (Aug. 31, 2012). With links to her blog and other Reggio Emilia bloggers
"I owned a small private school from 2000-2007. I have no background in education- I’m an autodidact all the way. So to open my own school, I had to spend a year doing extensive research....I spent the next eight years experimenting with those ideas....It was a wonderful experience....By the time I closed my school, I was working as an educational consultant, training teachers, giving workshops, and speaking at conferences. I really love sharing these ideas."


On striking and unions, Teacher X (Sept. 9, 2012)

"Chicago is founded on the hard daily struggle of working people. It is the birth of the labor movement—not a movement just for wages and benefits, but a movement that stopped child labor so that each of the kids in CPS schools could attend school instead of working. It was a movement that stopped the practice of working conditions so unsafe that consumers were eating the actual workers who fell into the mix while they were making hot dogs. It was a movement that fought so that workers could have some tiny measure of time with our families rather than spending all waking hours working for the enrichment of their bosses."

Why Men Fail, New York Times (Sept. 10, 2012)
"To succeed today, you have to be able to sit still and focus attention in school at an early age. You have to be emotionally sensitive and aware of context. You have to communicate smoothly. For genetic and cultural reasons, many men stink at these tasks."