Forget the Purell

Seeing that dirt is a major part of me and my family's life, especially my children, I thought I would share this article:

 

Playing in the Dirt Could Make you Smarter, Researchers Say

May 25, 2010 12:52 PM EDT

Go ahead, let your kids play in the dirt, it could make them smarter.

 After conducting a series of experiments, researchers have found exposure to specific bacteria in the environment could increase learning behavior, ScienceDaily.com reported.

"Mycobacterium vaccae is a natural soil bacterium which people likely ingest or breathe in when they spend time in nature," Dorothy Matthews of The Sage Colleges in Troy, N.Y., said.

Previous studies on M. vaccae involving mice showed stimulated growth of some neurons in the brain that resulted in increased levels of serotonin and decreased anxiety.

"Since serotonin plays a role in learning, we wondered if live M. vaccae could improve learning in mice," Matthews said.

Matthews and her colleagues discovered they were on the right track.

"We found that mice that were fed live M. vaccae navigated the maze twice as fast and with less demonstrated anxiety behaviors as control mice," she said. "It is interesting to speculate that creating learning environments in schools that include time in the outdoors where M. vaccae is present may decrease anxiety and improve the ability to learn new tasks."

The findings were presented Monday at the 110th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in San Diego.

Yay for dirt!

Solemnity of the Ascension

"Our right to Heaven has been given us, our place is ready; it is for us to live in such a way that we may occupy it some day."

~Divine Intimacy, pg. 535

Today is Ascension THURSDAY!  I'm not a big fan of transferring this Feast Day to Sunday, so we are celebrating today.  Unfortunately, Natalie has a sore throat and fever, so Mass is not on the menu, but I did make homemade cream puffs (aka cloud puffs...) for dessert, and I am making fried mushrooms for appetizers (cloud-ish as well ;).  Hopefully we can get in the Glorious Mysteries tonight in lieu of Mass.

"The Ascension is, then, a feast of joyful hope, a sweet foretaste of Heaven.  By going before us, Jesus our Head has given us the right to follow Him there some day, and we can even say with St. Leo, 'In the person of Christ, we have penetrated the heights of Heaven.'  As in Christ Crucified we rise to the life of grace, so too, we are raised up to Heaven in the Ascension of Christ."

~Divine Intimacy, pg. 535~

And, don't forget that the Novena to the Holy Spirit starts tomorrow in anticipation of Pentecost.  I've actually never said this novena, but in the Divine Intimacy meditation for Ascension, it says this:  "...they returned to Jerusalem where, in the Cenacle, they awaited in prayer the fulfillment of the promise.  It was the first novena in preparation for Pentecost..."  How cool is that?!  Sometimes the Apostles, early Christians, and even the humanity of Christ can seem so distant, surreal, and hard to reach.  But, reading that the Apostles said the same 9 day novena that we still say today (probably not in the same format) makes it seem so much more real!  So, I think I will make the effort and say my first Novena to the Holy Spirit to prepare for Pentecost!!  The meditation goes on to recommend that we should unite our novena to the Blessed Mother, just as the Apostles did (although, you probably already knew that...)

3 a.m. Fun

Early on Monday morning, around 3 a.m., Natalie comes running to our bedroom.  "Mommy!  There's a mouse in the bed by Andrew's foot!!"  Well, I'm guessing it wasn't a restaurant grade mouse like Little Chef from Ratatouille.  They never are!  Why do movies like to portray mice as some kind of cute, little creatures that are oppressed by humans??  Don't get me wrong, I love Little Chef...but, in real life, mice are WAY grosser than that.  Once, at our old house, I went to grab a pair of shorts off the top shelf of my closet, and I saw two little pairs of eyes and ears peeking out at me from the corner of my closet, on top of my pajamas!  The nerve of those things.  Mice are probably close to the top of my very short list of things that I don't like about living in the country....second only to snakes.  Anyway, back to Monday morning.  Of course, Natalie comes to my side of the bed.  So, I do what any logical woman would do in this situation...I shake Phil, who's still sleeping, and send him to save his only son from the mouse.  Meanwhile, Natalie gets snuggled up, all nice and warm, in our bed next to me and Rachel.  Phil comes back and mumbles something about "no mouse"..."must have been dreaming."  Natalie shoots up and quickly defends herself:  "yes there was!  I heard it squeaking, and I felt it when I pushed on it."  What, and then you just left Andrew to fend for himself against the ROUS???  Actually, I found out the next day that she did try to wake Andrew:  "I shook him and said 'Andrew, wake up, there's a mouse', but he wouldn't wake up, so I came and got you."  That's good to know...at least she tried to save him.  So, who knows.  Maybe there really was a mouse, and maybe there wasn't.  We have an excellent barn cat who we've actually seen hunting in the pastures, so while I believe Natalie wasn't making it up on purpose, I do think she may have imagined it (at least that's what I keep telling myself so I can sleep without being paranoid about mice in the beds).  But now, they are completely scared to sleep at night!  Last night, they must have woken me up 4 times!!!  "Mom!!  Did you hear that?"  "There's another mouse in the bed" (me:  "no there's not...go back to bed.")  Andrew came in at one point claiming he heard ducks!  Good grief!  They are really paranoid.  Hopefully tonight is better.  And then there's Phil...I was almost asleep last night, and he says "I just heard a mouse run across the floor!"...me:  "really??"...him: "no, just kidding, haha."  *SIGH*

Craft Basket Wednesday

I've been plugging along on the baby sweater I'm making for Rachel.  Now that summer is here, and we are done with school, I should have a little (note: very little) extra time to work on it.  We are going on a week long beach vacation, leaving this Saturday, so I will at least have the 4 hour car ride (there and back) to make some real progress.  The yarn isn't as soft as I'd expected, but I'm still hopeful that it will come out nicely.  Maybe once it has been through the wash...

These are pictures of the back of the sweater:

As you can see, I also discovered how to use stitch markers...greatest invention ever!  Thanks to the Knit Together blog for hosting Craft Basket Wednesday!

Best Mother's Day Present Ever!

Aside from the very cool, sleek, new digital camera that I got from Phil, of course.  Really, the best Mother's Day present ever is just being a Mom and experiencing the things that children are made of.  Yesterday, on Mother's Day, Rachel stood up for the first time all by herself!  She just stood there...for about 5 minutes smiling, and holding on to *nothing*!  I was very excited.  It was so cute.  She also fed herself for the first time yesterday.  It was too funny.  Her eyelids were almost glued shut by the time she was done from all the macaroni on it.  Thanks to my new handy, dandy (and fancy) camera, I was able to catch a few pics and a video (of the eating...not the standing...the camera came after the standing, and my old one is officially dead - RIP):

Haha..I have no idea what this expression is about ;)

Then, there are the times when, after months and months of constant reminding, the kids finally pick up on using manners!  This is really the best.  I've been working with Rachel on teaching her sign language, especially please and thank you.  Supposedly, it helps with tantrums and whining.  Today, she was sitting at her little table, playing with an empty cup and a straw.  She dropped the straw and started fussing.  I told her, "Rachel, please don't cry...say 'please'".  Well, she immediately stopped crying, did the sign for 'please', and said 'peeees'.  It was awesome!  I realize she is young, and we've still go a LONG way to go, but still!  It was very gratifying.  

Or, there are the times when their imaginations are just so precious, you just want to squeeze them.  Andrew told me today, "Mom, when you grow up, I want you to be a princess...and, when Daddy grows up, I want him to be a pirate.  And, can you and Daddy buy me a real Pirate Boat?!?!".  He was serious about this!  

And, of course, there are those rare moments and treasures when they actually tell you that they think you are a good parent.  Natalie does this most often.  Once every blue moon, she'll just climb on my lap and say something like:  "Mom, you are the best mom...you're so kind and gentle."  (She actually told me this once, months ago, so I figure I'd better get it in writing as proof ;).  

Those are some special moments.  Those are what make Mother's Day worth celebrating, and what make me glad to be a mother.  Because, sometimes, when I'm in the trenches and caught in the day-to-day mundane, and the kids are fighting and arguing, or we're all exhausted from lack of sleep, or if I'm so tired of changing dirty diapers I just want to cry, and I forget about the better moments, I think...if I could just not be a Mom for today, my life would be so much easier!  But, that is not my calling in life.  Christ didn't come so we could have an easy life on Earth, but so that we could have Eternal Happiness in Heaven.  But, it only works out that way if we keep our hand to the plow here and now...no matter how much we want to drop it and look back.  C'est la vie!  I'm just so thankful that God gave me these particular children, and my particular husband.  I don't think my sanctification would have benefited as much without them.

Plus, the fact that we spent the entire day just relaxing together as a family, and my husband both fixed dinner and cleaned up the kitchen after dinner, certainly made the day extra special.  Thanks, Phil, for making my Mother's Day so wonderful!!

Gather around, kids...it's time for Family Rosary

Back in the early stages of my marriage, before we had children, I used to envision what family Rosary would be like.  It went something like this:  The whole slew of kids would gather around Phil and I, the older ones kneeling piously next to their Dad, in front of a beautifully ornate, yet tasteful, picture of Our Lady.  The littlest ones would snuggle up with me on the recliner, each playing quietly with their Rosary.  We would, of course, be saying the correct mysteries on the correct day, and no one would ever lose their place.  Then, the children came, and exhaustion reality kicked in.  Tonight, I was laying in bed while waiting for Phil to finish up a few things after dinner.  I started to think that we hadn't said the Rosary as a family since Lent, and since the kids were conveniently jumping on the bed next to me, unraveling my latest knitting project, I decided we would say one...NOW.  So, I send little Andrew to get everyone's Rosary from their home on top of the TV.  Ten minutes later he comes back with his sword, but no Rosaries.  "Andrew, where are the Rosaries?"  "I can't reach them"  "What were you doing?  Never mind...Natalie, will you please go get our Rosaries??"  She skips off and returns promptly with the Rosaries.  Phil comes in after getting ready for bed..."we're saying a Rosary?".  Excellent!  He's on board!  Gather around, kids...it's time to start!  In this particular scenario, the only picture we have in our bedroom is a framed playbill and two ticket stubs from Phantom of the Opera that Phil and I attended our first Christmas as newly weds.  But, if you relax your eyes a bit, and tilt your head to just the right angle, I'm pretty sure you can see the Holy Family in it.  Now, we used to use just regular Rosaries; you know, the beaded kind on wire.  But after many sessions of tears because Natalie's precious heart-shaped Rosary was broken and scattered on the floor, Crucifixes being ripped off and used as swords and daggers, and Rachel almost strangling herself, I decided to get something safer.  So, for Christmas, I enlisted the help of one of Santa's very Catholic elves - Jim from RealLifeRosary - to make everyone a corded Rosary to put in our stockings.  I don't remember now how much these little beauties cost, but they were worth every penny!!  So, we get started on the Rosary.  It's Thursday, so we should be praying the Luminous Mysteries, but no one can remember them (Natalie asks what Station we're on O_o), and I think Rachel may have eaten our card that lists the mysteries, so we go with the old faithful - The Joyful Mysteries.  Which is fine.  It's May Crowning season, so The Coronation had a special place this evening.  I tried to focus...I really did, but Rachel was crawling over everyone, screeching at the top of her lungs at anyone who refused to relinquish possession of their Rosary to her, so that she could wear them all as necklaces.  If you did, however, give in to her pleas, you were rewarded with a polite "ti-ti" (aka "thank you") in the sweetest, most angelic voice she could muster.  Andrew's got his Rosary wrapped around his wrist so tight, I'm worried his hand might fall off.  Then he starts making these karate noises, and re-adjusts his Rosary to bow and arrow status.  By the end, he's doing head stands and tuck-and-rolls on top of Rachel.  Natalie is asking me about every five minutes which bead we're on, but I have no idea because Rachel is using my Rosary as an accessory.  By the time we get to the Hail Holy Queen, I'm starting to get the fit of giggles, and I'm just so thankful that it didn't start until then!  We manage to squeeze in a final St. Michael prayer, and after we make the Sign of the Cross, Andrew, while standing on his head, says "that was good!".  I laugh and say "yeah, it was something."  Natalie says "It was prayer!".  Yeah, I guess it was.  It may not have been perfect, but it was our attempt at family prayer this evening.  Do you think three year old Jesus did head stands during the Holy Family's prayer time???

**I should probably clarify...we do not actually have monkeys for children.  We actually work hard at making sure our children are well behaved and respectful when it comes to prayer; however, life does not always work out the way you want, and every so often we have a situation like this...which always reminds me that it's not me who is in control here; it's God, and if I don't rely on Him for the graces to be a good parent and steward of the gifts He has given us, then our little family just won't work properly.  Besides...kids will be kids sometimes...and, that's ok, too =)

Little Thoughts

Andrew came to me in full Pirate regalia and said:

Andrew:  Mom, can you put my pirate hat on so I can get married?

Me:  You're getting married?

Andrew:  Yes, I need my pirate hat on.

Me:  Ok, come see...I'll help you.  Who are you marrying?

Andrew:  Natalie

Me:  Natalie?

Andrew:  yes, Natalie

Me:  ok

Andrew (without skipping a beat):  I was in the castle, and there was a witch, and I shoot her, and I killed her, and I cut her, and I ate her...in the castle.

Me:  you ate her?

Andrew:  yes, in the castle.

Me:  *trying not to laugh*  what did she taste like?

Andrew:  the witch?

Me:  yes, the witch

Andrew:  she tasted sour...I ate her in the castle

Me:  wow...ok

Andrew:  Now, I have to wait for Natalie to come back so we can get married...

Not sure if this is exactly a healthy use of his imagination, but it was still pretty funny.  The whole time we are having this conversation, Rachel has pulled up on the side of the chair that I am sitting in, and is going:

Rachel (while continually patting me on the leg):  mom, mommy, mom, momma, mommy, mom....

Me:  yes, Rachel?

Rachel:  she babbles for about 2 minutes, and then goes about her business of playing with a stick.

Whatever it was she was trying to say, she made sure I heard it!  Natalie was inside, busy getting all dressed up in her Princess clothes while all this was going on...no doubt getting ready for the wedding ;)  Never a dull moment over here!