My book on toddlers suggests making a visual schedule for your toddler so they can start knowing what will happen next in their day and that will help them feel more control. I thought this was a great idea. Some parents say "he's so good at daycare and so badly-behaved at home" and the book suggests daycare and school have repetitive schedules they can count on and thrive on.
So far our visual schedule is.. not working. We still have some really good days and some really terrible days. I can't figure out what makes her calm, what makes him sleep and I barely get anything done. What really helps ME though is talking to my spiritual director (really, really amazing shot of grace) and... blogging! So thank you for reading my thoughts. I write in my diary, but it's just not as... creative. Another one of my pins:
These days have been especially hard. I am working on being more patient with my toddler and asking Jesus to help me love her like He does. I'm not doing a very good job. This baby business is really hard, even a second time around! The main problem is... their sleep!
I am a wimp when it comes to my spiritual life. I just finished St. Faustina's Diary and it is incredible how much she is willing to suffer for God and sacrífice herself. I have countless blessings, health, so much material comfort (St. Faustina didn't have any of that... precisely the opposite) and I whine soooooooo much when life gets a teensy bit harder? It's true.
From my Pinterest:
"That special power of loving that belongs to a woman is seen most clearly when she becomes a mother. Motherhood is the gift of God to women. How grateful we must be to God for this wonderful gift that brings such joy to the whole world, women and men alike! Yet we can destroy this gift of motherhood, especially by the evil of abortion, but also by thinking that other things like jobs or positions are more important than loving, than giving oneself to others. No job, no plans, no possessions, no idea of "freedom" can take the place of love. So anything that destroys God's gift of motherhood destroys His most precious gift to women-- the ability to love as a woman."
-Mother Teresa’s Letter to the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995
Happy SAINT Teresa of Calcutta feast day!
Spanakopita... pronounced with the accent on the "o" sounding like "oh" and with a soft "i" sound like "if". Apparently it's Greek in origin. After several attempts I'd like to share my spanakopita triangles with you. Every now and then you discover two ingredients that make a perfect marriage... like peanut butter and chocolate, or black beans and cumin. And with spanakopita I discovered spinach and dill.
Ingredients:
3 circles of filo dough (massa folhada), cut in half
2 packages of cottage cheese (or requeijão)
about 3 or 4 eggs
a pinch of salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of dried dill
2 bags of spinach leaves, wilted (dipped in boiling water)
some feta cheese
Instructions:
Mix it all together. Cut the filo circles in half and lay them, gently folded in half, on two oven trays. Gently lift them open, distribute the filling evenly, then pinch the sides all together. Cut two holes in the tops with a knife. Cook in a hot oven (175-200ºC) until the dough is golden (about 20 minutes).
PS My two-year-old loves this... hooray for recipes that get toddlers to eat spinach!
I have an article up called "The Devil Wants You Isolated" here: http://www.catholicstand.com/the-devil-wants-you-isolated/
Yes, it's about.. the devil... boo!
"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." - C.S. Lewis (apparently borrowed from French poet Baudelaire)
