Foundations: Early Childhood~ Week 2

This is my beautiful family, with me on the left, my husband Justin, and our 3 kids. I'm holding our newest member, our son Colton who is 8 months, in the middle is our daughter Payton who is 4 and a half and Justin's holding our oldest son, Grant who is 2. God has blessed us for sure! *~*~*~*~* I have SO many favorite children's books that it is hard to narrow it down to one! So I'll share 3 with you! One of my favorite children's book is Tedd Arnold's, "Parts". This book is about a little boy who finds lint in his belly button, skin falling off his toes, and wax coming out of his ears and he is convinced he is falling apart, until his parents (after reading through the book "Parenting for Dummies" which is shown in the illustration) tell him it's all normal! Tedd Arnold happens to be a local author from my town! :) I love this book because it's so true that children are mesmerized by the silly things like belly button lint and ear wax! Two other favorites are written by my favorite Christian author, Max Lucado. Although all of his books are fabulous, one favorite is titled, "You are Special". This books tells the story of the Wemmicks, who are little wooden people made my Eli, the woodcarver. The Wemmicks go around town all day sticking stickers on other Wemmicks, either stars for good behaviors or dots for bad things. If you're talented, you get lots of stars, but if you're not good at things you get lots of dots. One particular Wemmick named Punchinello only gets dots, but when he starts to spend time with the woodcarver, Eli, he begins to see how important he is to Eli and the dots no longer stick! The other favorite book by Max Lucado is called, "Because I Love You". This book tells the story of a village built by a man called Shadai where the children he loved could live in safety. He loved them, cared for them, and gave them everything they needed inside the village. One day Paladin, a curious boy, discovers a hole in the wall surrounding the village and Shadai warns him that it is not safe outside of the village walls. But Paladin's curiosity sends him looking and then venturing through the hole in the wall where he discovers that he can not return to the inside of the village. But just when he thinks he's lost forever in the scary, dark forest, Shadai rescues him and returns him to the safety of the village. Both of these books are mirror images to the love the God has for us and are told in a way that even children can understand. *~*~*~*~* My favorite "quote" about children is actually taken from the Bible and is a particularly meaningful verse to me. It is found in Psalms 127:3 and says, "Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him." This verse is so meaningful to me, especially after we found out that we were expecting our third child and our world was turned upside down. During this time, I found comfort in knowing that the little one inside me was a GIFT from God and he was rewarding me with this new life. There is no greater gift than to be a mommy! *~*~*~*~* I think the one thing that fuels my passion for working with children is the fact that they just want you to love them and have fun with them. They don't care if your hair looks bad, or your outfit doesn't match, or if you forgot to brush your teeth. If you greet them with a smile, ask about something in their life, give them a hug, or make them laugh, you are the coolest thing since legos! :) That was the best feeling when I was teaching kindergarten is the love that I had and the FUN that I had everyday with my students. There wasn't a day that went by when I didn't love my students and my job! (And although I love being home with my kids, there are some days where I really miss my classroom!) ;)