Life Long Learning

We teach our babies to sign, our toddlers to walk, our two year olds to clean up, our three year olds to read ABC's and it keeps going... write your name, read a word etc... if we are teaching our children to be continual learners... why does this stop with some adults?

Today we all realize our children must finish high school, and we try to teach our teens to attend university... but how many adults, if after we get our 'jobs' do we just stop learning? Stop researching, stop studying? We loose the habit we spent our whole lives doing.

Great motivational speakers have one thing in common, they all believe in hard works, self discipline and life long learning.

So take a moment today and teach our baby a new sign, if not for them, for you to learn and keep on learning. Let's instill the habit of life long learning on ourselves and make it easier for our children to understand the benefits and delights that go with that.

Want to learn to sign to your babies?
Contact me through my website      www.StickyHands.ca
Find me on Twitter    http://twitter.com/#!/AmandaMinchauFind me on FB         https://www.facebook.com/pages/Baby-Signs-with-Sticky-Hands-in-Abbotsford/154292457993543

Keep learning!

Mean People Suck

You never know how you affect another, so remember MEAN PEOPLE SUCK, don't be one of them. The next time you feel upset, angry, frustrated don't take it out on the Timmies girl or the flaggers or the gym girl or the coffee guy... just breathe... usually things get better after a few moments. Most bad moments don't last too long, try to ride it through before lashing out and regretting it. It may make you feel better in the moment, but ultimately you'll be affecting someone else for a longer time afterwards and they may take that anger and take it out on another and so on... it travels fast and it's dangerous.

Tonight I wasn't feeling great, my family has been sick for days, but I needed to get out, so I decided to take my boys for a nice leisurely walk down our street to visit the "BIG HUGE RASPBERRIES" which are a new statue given to Abbotsford on the corner of Marshall and Clearbrook. They are my two year old son's favourite things ever. He always says he wants to "Eat them right up!" Lately, there has been construction near our place, as they are paving new roads and sidewalks, finally. We have been looking forward to having a real sidewalk for a long time. I have been taking my two year old to the site often showing him the BIG DIGGERS and excavators and rollers and cement mixers and telling him all about it. He loves it! He always says, "Big diggers working right mommy?" Anyhow... so tonight...

We are walking (on the road) beside the sidewalk... which looks wet, but finally filled in... and I am talking about how exciting it is going to be to walk on the new sidewalk and I stop and bend down and point to the ground and then to the wet part, saying to my two year old, "See, almost dry. This part is wet and this part is all finished." and suddenly this guy behind me starts screaming at me... "DON'T TOUCH IT! DON'T TOUCH IT!" Scared the crap out of me and my son. As if I want to put my fingers in the gross cement and get my hands all yukie and wreck the brand new sidewalk I have waited for like two years for.

Anyhow. I said, "I didn't touch it, I was showing my son." He screams again, DON'T TOUCH IT! DON'T TOUCH IT! 4 PEOPLE ALREADY TOUCHED IT! I said, "I told you I didn't touch it, I didn't touch it... quit screaming at me!" He continues as he walks towards me... "DON'T TOUCH IT!" I mean he must be deaf or something. I said, "I didn't touch it, I was talking to my son explaining how it's all wet." He screams back, "YOUR SON DOESN'T KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT, HE'S TOO YOUNG!" Oh my gawd... I wanted to loose it, snap... there was a sign in my American Sign Language I did remember and wanted to show him sooo badly at this point. How dare he tell me what my son does and doesn't understand. Why is he freaking out on me? My son has been communicating with me since he was 6 months old with sign and now talks like a 3 year old and understands plenty.

I wanted to scream back at him. I wanted to tell him my son is smarter than you are! I wanted to ask him why he finds it necessary to scream at people on the side of the road? Was his job of yelling at people all he could get with his grade 9 education? I wanted to tell him to take his cement and shove it when the sun doesn't shine. I suddenly had the urge to wreck his precious cement with a large stick! I was livid. How dare he ruin my evening by screaming at me in front of my children.

But I took a deep breath and all I did say was, "Please stop screaming at me in front of my kids." And how did he reply?... "I'LL WRITE YOU UP! I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH IT!" At this point I was sure he was crazy. I began to walk away and threw my hands up in the air and just as he was leaving my earshot, I couldn't help myself, I yelled, "I DIDN'T TOUCH IT!" It felt kinda good to do that.

But you know, it kinda ruined the rest of my night. I kept replaying over and over. It was sticking to me like old gum to a dirty shoe. That frustrated me. I was sure he went on with his night, yelling at his next victim of circumstance and instead I am festering over this and feeling like crap. No one likes to be yelled at and I felt sad for my curious little two year old who was listening all these weeks about the Diggers, Excavators, Machinery and how cool it will be to walk on the new sidewalk. And instead he looks up at me and says, "I didn't touch it!" This guy made me so angry for ruining something so great I was doing with my son. We have had nothing but great experiences over the last few weeks with all the crew there. We chatted with flaggers and workers and have had such a great time and now all I have is this to remember every time I walk on that stupid sidewalk. Boy did I want to wreck it!

That man had choices and he didn't use them. When we first walk right by him, he could of calming said, "Hey ma'am watch out for the wet cement on the sidewalk when you go by it's not dry yet." or "When I said I didn't touch it (the first time) He could of said, "Oh sorry, we've had some kids wrecking the cement tonight, just trying to keep it intact."
or hey, how about this... why not use a dollar and go to the Dollar store and buy a long roll of yellow tape and tape off the whole area?? Put up a blockade until it's dry... how much are they paying that guy to scream at people?

I usually don't vent or complain on here, but I wanted to remind people that we are all here together, whether we know each other or not. You affect others and your attitude and behaviour affect others, so if each of us just take deep breathes and be the big person, maybe we make this world a little nicer to be in. Thanks for listening.

schedules

I have recently been listening and reading about Brian Tracy http://www.briantracy.com/blog/ and boy does he open your eyes on the life your leading. If any of you have read The Secret or know about 'postive thinking' etc... Brain Tracy takes this one more level and actually begins to guide you along on your path of success. He is very motivational and practical. Finally, someone who is successful business man and someone who believes in changing your life with thoughts turned into action. I highly recommend you give his blogs a read. He has traning modules as well. I am currently trying out his 'schedule your daily goals and to do's' to get a hold on my every changing life. It take the acts of writing out your goals for the next year, but you have to rewrite them everyday. The act of rewriting them keeps you more focused on them.

As most of you know I have three kids and my husband runs his own business and now I started running my own business as a Baby Sign Language Instructor. Brian Tracy is about to help me balance this all while keeping my sanity intact. Is this possible? I will keep you informed.

I am excited about my new journey and I hope I have the 'self discipline' it takes to 'stay on target' as Obi One from Star Wars would say.

That's all for today. I have to check my schedule and see what's next... wish me luck!

Bad Mondays

There are some days I wish I was invisible... I feel frustrated, alone, overwhelmed... the kids are loud, whiney, the housework is overfilling the sink, laundry room, the job demands are at me and I want to run off to Vegas. I am trying to smile and out comes a growl and my two year old, says, "what's wrong mommy?" I can only answer sorry honey, I am just frustrated. He says all better and moves on. I hide my struggles inside, trying to put on a happy face and get through my day. Some days are just like that. It is just normal. But ALWAYS and yes always at night. When I get to snuggle with my kids, my only job is to read books, tell the same stories again and again. Snuggle and love them, I forget all about my day. And then I sneak in later when they are fast asleep and wow... I am so lucky, they are healthy, sweet, wonderful boys and my life is so blessed.

I must remember my Mantra... I am too blessed to be stressed!

Warm Fuzzies

Who remembers warm fuzzies...

We use to give and get these little animals called Warm Fuzzies in school. They were flat, round, fuzzi creatures on a piece of cardboard shape feet with googly eyes. We would pass them around the class if someone did something nice.

If you said or did something kind to another person, then they or another would give you a warm fuzzi. Or you could give the warm fuzzi away and not say anything, just to pass the love on.

I just got a virtual warm fuzzi today from my hairdress / friend on facebook. She said kind words about me and I feel so good inside.

If we can all teach our children to give away warm fuzzies, then the future earth will be a great place to live!

Sunny days

These are my favourite days. Babies are quiet and sweet, the sun is out and hot, the leaves are dancing in the wind. The Baby Sign Language class went very well. Everyone is healthy and happy. It's a good day.

Family

Sometimes you need to just stop 'working' on house on business etc... and just be... with family.

Baby Sign Language - a business

Today I realized that not everyone can run a business. It takes passion at first, some risk second, and then you start. Most people can make it this far. But when it gets slow, messy, busy, difficult, lonely, a lot of people bow out. The passion fizzles and you let it go. To really run a business, you have to stick to it. Even when your feeling rotten, you have to Blog, even when you have no one calling you for business, you have to pick up the phone and convince them to come to you. Even when its crazy busy and your kids are all around you pulling you in many directions, you have to return emails, order product, post and file your work. The business doesn't care what workload you have, nor does it care how you are feeling, you still need to be persistent and never give up yourself. This is why not everyone can run a business.

So if your like me, a stay at home mom, trying to run a business... never sell yourself short. Never punish yourself because it isn't perfect yet or your not rich yet... just Congratulate yourself that your still plugging along and your doing the job no matter how hard or how your feeling.

Celebrate yourself today! This week is Home Business Week.

Play groups

I am off to Langley Child Development Center tomorrow as a guest speaker at a parent playgroup as Sticky Hands. This will help teach parents the importance of using sign with their babies to help increase the ability to learn to speak sooner.

I am feeling nervous and hope to dazzel them with my knowhow and my fun Bear, BeeBo.

First Class

Well after a long 12 weeks off with baby, I had my first baby sign class today. Geran went to daycare with his friends and had a blast. Nashy got some mommy one on one and my students learned their first 6 sign words. They all caught on fairly quickly. I think I have a great class with very attentive moms who are familiar with the benefits of sign already, so no sale, just learning.

I loved having a space just for my class, no more living room disruption. James has worked so hard on the room, it was nice to finally be in there. I know it will morph and grow with the weeks to come. Each weekend we will be adding to the classroom. I am just so happy to finally be able to show it off to some great moms!

Nashville learned a lot too. He really enjoyed the songs. All the babies and toddlers stopped and danced or looked or listened when the music was on or the parents were singing. It is amazing how much music effects kids. We should be using this more and more as a behaviour strategy for kids in school.

Even high school kids respond to music... hello... should this not be in every classroom redirection program?
Just a thought.

What a fantastic first class and I know I will only get better with time... like wine.

Go to Sleep

I must go to sleep, but I am so excited about my first class in 12 weeks and in my NEW Classroom that my husband and I have worked so hard on. It is 'ready for now'... with still lots of tiny things to do, but here I go... diving in.

I must sleep... hope it turns out good. Still need to put some little things up on the wall... in fact my friend, Shannon gave me this beautiful addition to my classroom... I will take pictures and post it soon! It is awesome!

First Tooth

Sometimes I am so caught up in everyday life. The struggles with housework vs business vs personal vs parenting that I loose myself in 'business' of it all. I run around picking up laundry, picking up babies, wiping, cleaning, the house, the children, the fish tank. I organize, shuffle papers. I blog, Twitter, Facebook, Meetup, and post, post, post as I struggle loosely in the social media cesspool of internet identity.

I balance, trip, fall into and out of relationships with mothers, husbands, friends, family, clients. It feels like I'm tossing a small floating ball into the open sea of life, screaming out, "I'M HERE!"



I climb through books on Writers Marketing and tease my inner child as I sift through publishing companies to see who is accepting writing for publication. I jot down a few picture book ideas and leave them floating around the ether. I am certain they will be lost along with the passion they were once intended.



I make a card, hang a picture, buy a shelf and tack up a new to do list. All this running around doing the thises and the thats makes it very difficult, almost impossible, to sit down. My mind races most nights until I fall alseep. I wake up with my brain already on caffeine, shouting, "I've got yet another great project idea. Wake up and get going!”



I button, tie, comb, wash and clean myself, babies, home, business and forget to slow down, to read, to look up at the night sky and say, "wow." As usual, in the middle of the storm, once you reach this eye of the craziness, that is when it happens. Right in the middle of, "no, no, it's your turn to change him,” and you do the baby shuffle. Right in the middle of, “Can you hold him while I pee, or Can you put his pj's on, while I try to shower or shove something down my throat for survival purposes.”

It happens. Right when you're overwhelmed, exhausted, and you think that one evil thought you try to push out of your brain when your low on self assurance, love, passion and energy; that thought that says why did we decide to move into a larger house, get a dog and have babies?” Right then, it happens. When the most magic happens. You watch your tiny 4 month old baby laugh and you see it... his first tooth!



His first tooth... while I ran around with bibs under his chin, cold teethers in his mouth, pacing the floor at 3am, he did it, he cut his first tooth. What a champ! I felt so proud and excited for him. Little baby Nash cut a tiny tooth. A huge discovery in his life. I thumbed it all night and let my two year old feel the new tooth. We showed it off on the web, to grandma, to loved ones. Everyone celebrated. Nashy's first of many firsts.

This is when it all slows down. This is when everything is worth it, cause I was there. I discovered it. I may be running around like a tornado, most of the time, but tonight, I found my son's first tooth. I didn't miss it and I was HERE!

Welcom Wagon Baby Shower Trade Show

What a great time we had at the Trade Show. I love when the moms bring in small babies and I can use BeeBo and sign with them. it captivates them and show parents how easy and fun it is to sign with babies. My favourite age is about 7-10 months...the crawling age. They climb all over Beebo and try to copy signs. It is sooo cute to see. James, my rock, my love, was such a great support. He is so open and honest about his feelings on signing and how it helped him bond with his sons.

Many moms were interested in sign.... and many of them will be taking classes with me in the future. I learn so much about how to pitch this essential idea and at each event I learn more and more. I learned that saying less and asking more questions engages more interest. I also learned that each mom is so different than another, but all the have one thing in common... the desire to have less frustration and stress when they have their baby. Signing will do this for them.

I love that I have the ability to change their lives!

Trade Show

I am so excited about going to the Welcome Wagon Baby Shower Trade Show tonight!

My husband is coming with me to support me and help out. My amazing friend Myra is watching BOTH babies... that is right BOTH! What a great friend she is.

Wish me luck! I have all my materials organized and packed! Benefit sheets, product displays, laptop and DVD video etc...

Amanda

hard being mom

Sometime it's hard being mom. A mother of three boys, juggling all the responsibility and loosing yourself in your family. Many friends falling away who are not traveling up current with you. How do you say please don't loose touch with me? Please don't think I have the plague or some rare skin disease. I am a mother, yes, but I am still a person. A person with feelings and dreams and the capacity to do more than one thing at a time. Sometimes it is hard to be abandoned as a girl to be left with motherhood only. Luckily children give so much love and distraction, you mostly don't notice until you look behind you at the river you just traveled and realized there are not that many fish left.