A Mommy Blogger

We do not have pets except for two gold fish and twelve geese. We can’t have a cat in the house because Doug is allergic to cats. We might keep a dog, a medium sized dog, maybe some time in the future.

For now, I don’t think we can have any pets of the four legged kind.

Denice has a big fear of animals. She has always been a fearful child and I do not think her fear of cats and dogs has anything to do with any bad experiences with the animals.

But the strange thing though, once we stopped to watch our neighbor’s horse, and she said she’d like to ride the horse. She does not seem to be afraid of horses or mules. She has taken a ride on her aunt’s donkey with daddy sitting with her on the donkey. She wasn’t afraid.

But she is very afraid of cats and dogs. She will jump on a chair or table if she sees a cat and cry in fear. If she sees a dog even if the dog is on a leash quite a distance away from her, she will cling to daddy’s legs and ask to be picked up. She refuses to enter a friend’s house because this friend has to two dogs, unless assurances are made that the dogs are outside in the back yard.

She’s afraid of the geese we have in our back yard too! We have a fenced area in the back yard so she can still play in that area without fear of the geese.

I don’t think her fear of dogs was helped when, during a visit to the grandparents, the cousin’s dog jumped on her! The poor girl was practically traumatized from that experience!

I don’t know how long it will be before she gets over that fear. Duncan has been asking for a cat, which I don’t think he’ll be likely to get any time soon. Maybe a rabbit?

Fear is a natural protective instinct in children, and as a child grows older certain fears will also lessen. We hope the same is true for Denice, and we are not pushing for her to get over her fears quickly. Let her get over her fears at her own pace.

THESE trinkets may look harmless – but they are the secret symbols used by paedophiles to communicate with each other.

The logos – etched into rings and coins and formed into pendants – have been sent to Scottish police by the FBI.

The US crimebusters warn that child abusers use them to indicate their sick sexual preferences.An FBI spokesman said: “This report has been made available to police forces in Scotland.

“These signs and symbols enable paedophiles to meet in the workplace or in social situations for the first time.”People with the same rings could identify each other as paedophiles.

“Abusers who prefer girls use a small heart-shaped logo surrounded by a larger heart which symbolizes a relationship between an adult male or female with a girl. Those targeting boys use a blue spiral-shaped triangle surrounded by a larger triangle.

Those who abuse both use a butterfly-shaped logo or one with rounded corners to resemble a scribbling by a young child.
Full story here.

The BoyLover logo’ (BLogo) “is a small blue spiral-shaped triangle surrounded by a larger triangle, whereby the small triangle represents a small boy and the larger triangle represents an adult man. A variation of the BLogo is the Little Boy Lover logo (LBLogo), which also embodies a small spiral-shaped triangle within a larger triangle; however, the corners of the LBLogo are rounded to resemble a scribbling by a young child.”

The ChildLover logo’ (CLogo), “resembles a butterfly and represents non-preferential gender child abusers.”

The GirlLover logo’ (GLogo) is “a small heart surrounded by a larger heart, which symbolizes a relationship between an adult male or female and minor girl.”

Now that we know about these symbols let’s all be extra vigilant when we see strange adults around children. We cannot be too careful.

I can get sooo aggravated when my kids start their whining! Why do kids, preschoolers in my case, whine?

According to an article by Julie Tilsner from Parenting.com, preschoolers whine because they have a low threshold for frustration, plus they might be going through some changes like starting school, or changing to a big kid’s bed.

There are ways, according to the article that can help kids break the whining habit.

The great thing about preschoolers is that they can still be distracted by a clever trick. For instance, Debbie Granick of St. Louis uses a “whine” cup, or bowl or bucket or whatever’s at hand. “Whenever one of them starts, I say, ‘Here, go pour out your whine and bring me your regular voice.’ It gets a smile, or at least that ‘Oh, Mom’ look, and then they’ll usually change their tone.” She then thanks her child for using a “pleasant” voice. Or whisper your answer back. “You may have to whisper it several times, but your child will have to be quiet to hear you, and a lot of times he’ll mimic your tone of voice,” says Karen Shaffer, a mom of three in Highland, California.

By the time they’re 4, most kids are able to understand that their behavior has consequences. So you can start using the “I can’t understand you when you whine” technique. “When my children complain, I say, ‘I’m sorry, but when you talk in that voice, I can’t understand anything you’re saying. Use your normal voice and I’ll try to listen to you.’ Then I ignore them until they start to comply,” says Audrey Smith, a mom of two in Long Beach, California. It works, she says, but you have to be as consistent as possible. And that’s not easy, as we all know. Who among us hasn’t caved in? Trouble is, if your child sees you can be broken, he’ll simply up the ante, and your whining problem will be worse.

Besides being consistent, look for ways to reinforce the behavior you do want, like thanking him when he repeats his request in a polite tone.

Now I’ll have to think of creative ways to distract my two 4-year-olds whenever they start to get whiny! And I’ll have to learn to be consistent with the way I treat them every time they whine.

My friend, Kathy, the one who gets aggravated by the untidiness in my house, is expecting her first grandchild. Naturally she is very excited at the prospect of becoming a grandma.

Her daughter suggested she converted one of the rooms in her house into a nursery. My goodness, the amount of work she has put into the nursery! Makes me ashamed I did nothing for my kids with regards to their room!

Look at how pretty the nursery is! Kathy and her husband painted most of the room themselves with a little help from another friend. I helped Kathy make the blue gingham valance on the window.

I also made the yellow gingham bumper pads on the crib. The valance and the bumper pads were my two contributions to the nursery. No, I did not pay for the fabric, I only provided the sewing.

One of these days, I will do up the kids’ room. Maybe.

Children can be very aggravating, but when your children come home from their preschool with crafts like this and tell you those are for you, it reminds you that they are worth the aggravation you received from them!

And when they suddenly come up to you and tell you, “I love and like you, Mommy” everything seems right with the world.

Happy Valentine’s Day.