Tuesday, March 12, 2013

101+ things children should do

Awhile ago I made a list of things I hoped my children would be able to experience during childhood. I didn't post it because everyone has such different situations with their children, but since I was posting my own 101, I thought I'd might as well set down the 101 I made for my kids. Though, actually, I ended up with more than 101 things! But they have more years in which to accomplish it all, so I think it's fair. Ü

Again, this is just my personal list, and I set the age limit at 3-12, which so far, only applies to Livia.

The ones in bold are ones she's already done:


1.       Go fishing
2.       Fly a kite
3.       Build a fort outside
4.       Go camping
5.       Work in a garden
6.       Dig to china
7.       Have a snowball fight
8.       Go outside at dusk and watch the stars come out
9.       Find shapes in the clouds
10.   Build a snowman
11.   Watch a parade
12.   Build a gingerbread house and then get to eat it
13.   Spit watermelon seeds
14.   Catch snowflakes on her tongue
15.   Go to a museum
16.   Spend time with a senior citizen
17.   Have a favorite bedtime story
18.   Experiment with simple science projects
19.   Help bake a dessert from scratch and lick the bowl
20.   Ride a horse
21.   Camp in the backyard
22.   Go to the zoo
23.   Play in the bathtub until her skin wrinkles
24.   Eat homemade ice cream on a hot summer evening
25.   Blow a bubble gum bubble until it pops
26.   Experience a family car trip
27.   Own a stuffed animal or blankie that she isn’t forced to give up because “she’s too old”
28.   Go to a baseball game
29.   Take a night time hike by the light of the moon
30.   Go to a fair or amusement park
31.   Have a hobby
32.   Watch a caterpillar turn into a butterfly
33.   Have a pet
34.   Finger paint
35.   Learn a musical instrument
36.   Have a best friend
37.   Go the beach
38.   Take silly pictures
39.   Do chores inside and outside
40.   Have a pen pal
41.   Draw with chalk on the sidewalk
42.   Go for a boat ride
43.   Have a personal library card
44.   Ride a train
45.   Help cook breakfast or dinner
46.   Learn about the family history
47.   Experience holiday traditions
48.   Play with play-doh
49.   Find notes from mom in her sack lunch
50.   Write in a journal
51.   Write a thank you note
52.   Have a chance to sleep away from home
53.   Paint a picture
54.   Play classic games
55.   Blow bubbles
56.   Go on a scavenger hunt
57.   Learn basic sewing
58.   Play on a sports team
59.   Be in a water fight
60.   Play in the sprinklers
61.   Volunteer, or perform acts of service
62.   Make a marble machine
63.   Go berry or apple picking
64.   Perform on stage
65.   Learn how to swim
66.   Make homemade bread
67.   Make homemade butter
68.   Make a home movie or music video
69.   Go skiing
70.   Finish a challenging puzzle
71.   Learn how to roller skate
72.   Explore a tide pool
73.   Watch classic musicals and movies
74.   Go canoeing or kayaking down a river
75.   Eat at a nice restaurant
76.   Make up stories with her family
77.   Play dress-up
78.   Make Indian fry bread
79.   Learn about animals and nature
80.   Go to a water park
81.   Have a lazy summer day
82.   Visit a farm
83.   Have a lemonade stand
84.   Go bowling and mini-golfing
85.   Climb a tree
86.   Roll down a grassy hill
87.   Play in the rain
88.   Watch a sunrise
89.   Hunt for tadpoles, lizards, etc.
90.   Skim a stone
91.   Swing on a rope swing
92.   Hunt for bugs
93.   Make a grass trumpet or dandelion crown
94.   Climb a huge hill
95.   Get behind a waterfall
96.   Save up her allowance for something she really wants
97.   Learn Pig Latin
98.   Learn to ride a bike
99.   Make a paper airplane
100.   Start a collection
101.   Have a slumber party
102.   Help dad fix something
103.   Go to the circus
104.   Jump in a pile of leaves
105.   Learn to jump rope and hula hoop
106.   Catch fireflies
107.   Go on a picnic
108.   Laugh so hard she cries (or throws up, in Livia's case)
109.   Have a secret hiding place

101 in 1001

Some time ago a friend of mine did the 101 in 1001 challenge--101 goals that you have 1001 days to finish (just under three years). I've toyed with the idea of doing it a few times, and had listed out a handful of goals I would do. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I kept having these bursts of inspiration of things I wanted to accomplish in the next three years, so I sat down and made the full list. March 5, 2013 was my official start date, which puts my deadline at December 3, 2015.

I don't know that I'll be able to do them all, but even if just most of them are accomplished, I'll feel pretty good!


1.        Watch “Gone with the wind”
2.        Burn all home videos onto dvd
3.        Make my own pasta from scratch
4.        Volunteer in the community
5.        Go on a bike ride
6.        Do something that terrifies me
7.        Travel to a foreign country
8.        Have a baby
9.        Roast a chicken
10.     Visit Yosemite
11.     Fly a kite
12.     Organize my recipes into a binder
13.     Update our will
14.     Read “Anna Karenina”
15.     Take a picture every day for a month.
16.     Do a puzzle (500+ pieces)
17.     Eat at Five Guys
18.     Make homemade rolls
19.     Get my Grandma Fitt’s bread recipe and make it
20.     Buy a piano
21.     Visit Napa
22.     Visit Hearst Castle
23.     Visit Filoli Gardens
24.     Send a card or package to someone (birthdays don’t count)
25.     Reconnect with an old friend
26.     Potty train Jane
27.     Volunteer at Livia’s school
28.     Sew new pillow covers
29.     Sew a skirt
30.     Actually get in the water at the beach
31.     Visit my sister in Seattle
32.     Read “Gone with the Wind”
33.     Finish the Hornblower series
34.     Read a non-fiction book
35.     Attend a classical music performance
36.     Attend an operatic performance
37.     Go see a musical or play
38.     Go to the ballet
39.     Do 25 real push-ups in a row
40.     Go on a family picnic
41.     Sit outside at dusk and watch the stars come out
42.     Go ice skating
43.     Take Livia fishing
44.     Go camping
45.     Take the girls for a ride on the train
46.     Take a night time hike by the light of the moon
47.     Lay in the grass and find shapes in the clouds
48.     Go to a trampoline gym
49.     Off-site storage for important photos and documents
50.     Organize my filing cabinet
51.     Organize my e-life (i-tunes, computer folders, bookmarks, etc.)
52.     Begin PAF
53.     Try to get old family pictures from Self, Baldwin, and Adamson side
54.     Find a form of oatmeal that I enjoy eating
55.     Build up food storage
56.     Build up emergency savings account
57.     Prepare 72 hour kits
58.     Scan my journals
59.     Make binders for each child’s projects
60.     Throw a party (not a child’s birthday party)
61.     Attend a Bollywood class
62.     Learn to do a backward walk-over
63.     Play tennis with Chase
64.     Play monopoly with Chase
65.     Finish a New York Times crossword without any assistance
66.     Learn to make a good green smoothie
67.     Learn two new embroidery stitches
68.     Make a new friend
69.     Finish London scrapbook/album
70.     Attend a professional soccer game
71.     Buy lipstick and wear at least once
72.     Blog once a week for two months
73.     Go on a good hike
74.     Attend the temple at least 10 times (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10)
75.     Get up with the girls every day for a week so Chase can sleep in
76.     Go to the De Young museum in SF
77.     Host a game night
78.     See Michelangelo’s David and the Sistine Chapel
79.     Get my wedding ring re-plated
80.     Take a free online class
81.     Leave a 20 dollar tip for a meal less than 20 dollars
82.     Make a pie on Pi day
83.     Learn to do the splits
84.     Plan a date night with Chase every week for a month
85.     Go on a double date
86.     Have pizza in Naples
87.     Paint on a canvas
88.     Buy a hat and wear it
89.     Put emergency supplies in both cars
90.     Try Zumba five times (1 2 3 4 5)
91.     Spend a solid hour of undivided attention with Jane every day for a week
92.     Read “Charlotte’s Web” to Livia
93.     Play in the rain with my girls
94.     Ride a trolley in San Francisco
95.     Buy a new dress
96.     Re-read the New Testament
97.     Finish reading The Book of Mormon as a family
98.     Cook a new recipe involving fish
99.     Refinish a piece of furniture
100.   Read all the books I’ve borrowed from my grandmother
101.   Buy 10 songs that are on my i-tunes wish list

I hope to provide occasional updates on my blog as to how I'm progressing on this list. Wish me luck! Or, even better, make your own list and join me!

Friday, March 1, 2013

Mary, unplugged

I have a problem. An addiction if you will. I am seemingly incapable of doing one thing, and ONLY one thing at a time.

Eating breakfast? Reading blogs at the same time.

On the phone? You can guarantee I'm cleaning up the kitchen or deleting junk mail from my inbox.

Reading a story to my girls? Half the time my mind is reviewing my to-do list or thinking about something I need to look up on the computer once I'm done.

Some things work and make sense, like listening to an audio book while doing the dishes at night, or watching a show with Chase while I fold the laundry.

But I realized it was getting out of hand when I could not even brush my teeth without feeling the need to come out to the living room to check my e-mail.

I DON'T EVEN HAVE A SMART PHONE. And you can see why I'm still avoiding it, since I clearly don't need another avenue of distraction and multi-tasking.

I'm a mom of two young girls who are with me 90% of the time. I am busy. It would be impossible to completely focus on them at all times. Dinner must be cooked, laundry must be washed, bathrooms must be cleaned, and I think they need to learn how to entertain themselves anyway. But what was killing me was that when I was spending time with them, I was often mentally absent. I need to re-train my brain to be more still. To just be present.

I'm starting small, but here's what I've been trying this week

  1. When I'm brushing my teeth, I must stay in the bathroom. This sounds silly, but it's actually been hard for me to do, so I know it's good for me.
  2. I'm not allowing myself to check e-mail for the first hour of the day. This has set a very different tone for my mornings.
  3. I'm only allowing myself to look at facebook and blogs for a short block of time each evening after the girls have gone to bed. I was constantly meandering over to the computer or grabbing my i-pod whenever there was a peaceful moment, and my attention really should have been focused elsewhere.
  4. And finally, just realizing that I need to be more aware of this issue for myself has made a big difference.
Wish me luck in being more fully present in my own life! Things have already felt better.

Lately


One Saturday we meant to go do something fun and exciting, but ended up going to the library and neighborhood park instead. The girls couldn't have been more pleased.

I've mentioned that Jane is a messy eater before, right? Right. This picture speaks for itself.

I took the girls to the SF zoo one day. It was a great zoo day, with all the animals actually awake and moving around. Jane loved every minute of it. Livia whined every minute of it.

Birthday party at the park for a friend of ours.

Vacuuming party. Whenever I vacuum both the girls get out some sort of push-toy and follow me around. I much prefer this to when Jane use to run away from the vacuum, screaming in terror.

Playing "jack-in-the-box." Boxes make the best toys, don't they?