Wednesday, February 2, 2011

EC-God's practical and unexpected blessings

Another little note for today. This is a totally different topic. This will be about early toilette training practice. If you heard about EC (Elimination Communication) you will know what my happiness is about.

Shortly: It means that you watch your baby's signs for pee and poo. They do funny faces or show other signs. I think babies are all different in showing these signs for mummies/daddies. I read about it before our second daughter was born and decided to try it at an early stage. And I truly did so.

She was only about 3 weeks old when I put her above the sink (it's cheaper than a special potty design for little bottoms:) and said Psh..psh...at that time I only did it before going to bath and after getting up in the afternoon. (3 times a day) I experienced that running some warm water on her feet brought more success. I kept on doing this for another month this time only every 2 or 3 days. You can be more consistent of course but I was not especially consistent to be honest.

We had times with and without success. Then I let her and myself "rest" for another 2-3 month and did not do anything at this "battle field". Then about 2 month ago, when she was around 6 month old I tried it again before bath times and getting her up. AND ................. SHE did it.

And ever since EVERY DAY (now she is 8 month old) she is peeing or pooing when I take her to the toilette and say Psh-Psh. I hold her 2 legs tight and her back is facing me. I usually do not have time to watch her face for the special signs so I decided to take her every 1-2 hours and we experience success every time!!!!

I guess it is like learning languages. The Baby's brain is like a sponge, they say, and my experience proves this theory. Her brain must have stored the tone (Psh-psh), the special sitting position and she must remember every time now when I take her to the sink or hold her above the toilette. Isn't it fantastic? God is gracious.

This is cheap and hygienic! (We use one diaper for day and one for night time.)And it brings you joy each day!

You can read or watch videos about it online. Just write Elimination Communication into Google!

Ps.: I wanted to share this with you because lots of Hungarian mums may not have heard about it before.

Gardening...

Hello everyone! I haven't been writing here for a long time, so I deeply apologize. I am in the middle of translating a superb book written by a mum of 10 children so far. I am working on it every day hand in hand with the Holy Spirit which is an awesome experience. I would like to finish the translation as soon as possible. My thought was, if such a busy mum like, Elisabeth, had time to write this godly book, I should have time to translate it and God always makes it possible for me to translate just a bit each day. This book is so precious that Hungarian mums urgently need to have it in their homes, I believe. 

The title of the book is "Raising Godly Tomatoes". Isn't it funny? Raising our children is like "tomato stacking". In a nutshell it means that you must keep your children near to you, be consistent, have something to stack to, which in our case is God's Word,  and you should teach, train and nourish them all day every day. If you are an experienced gardener or has ever stuck tomatoes, you would know better than me what stacking means. I shall write more about this a bit later. I want to give details, too.They will be practical enough to do them!

While translating each chapter I am practicing the things in my home. AND...I TRULY CAN SEE the changes. My 2 years old daughter became so obedient so quickly that I can't be thankful enough to the author for enlightening some biblical basics and views which make child rearing easier for us, parents. 

Today's little experience: Today we went to the doctor. we had an appointment for both of our girls for 2 injections. I felt a bit apprehensive about it but remembered what I have just read in the evening (see below) we prayed with them and went off to the pediatrician with peaceful heart.
 
"Once your child understands obedience, everything else is pretty much taken care of.  Henceforth, you can simply ask him to come to you and he will.  You can ask him to pick up his toys and he will.  You can ask him to get ready for bed and he will trot off and do so.  You can even ask him to “stop crying,” and he will stop.  Simple. Obedience is really all you need to teach a little one.
  
In the waiting room my 2 years old said: Mummy, I know well, that Jesus loves me. He will take care of me, won't he? It will only be a bit painful." I was so glad that she remembered Jesus in this situation and she trusted HIM, too. She totally believed what she said. And when she started crying a bit I whispered into her ears: Jesus is with you! You are a brave girl. Well done. I am proud of you! And she stopped. Just as it said in the book. I was amazed, thankful and proud as well. She was always crying... so far.

Well, I must be off now and do the translation again but I will be back soon with some encouraging advice and news.

All in all: start with teaching them obedience!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Obedience shall be a heart issue

I promised to write some "hows" in accordance to training our children. First let's set a goal. One at once. I want my daughters to have the right attitude.  Therefore, my practical goal is to teach them obedience. Without this I won't get anywhere. Let's go back to the Bible first. I do this since I have experienced that with the Lord's guidance I can achieve things. When I tried it with my self created thoughts it either went wrong or my daughter did only applied it at that occasion and next time everything was the same. She forget what she should have done. Collossians 3:20 is a clear guidance in this.  
"Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord."  
It will take time for them to learn and understand the importance of being obedient. First they will obey because you tell them so and only after that they will see that this will please the Lord. I am convinced God helps us when we are stuck. He talks to our heart,  reminds us of verses and pours creativity into our minds, too. We are in need of all these when our little one is testing our nerves.
How do I  teach obedience? This question can only be answered if we think about how God teaches this. You never go wrong if you ask Him. He says: "let your heart keep my commandments" (Proverbs 3:1) and love the Lord your God and served Him. (Deuteronomy 11:13) Therefore, I shall expect my daughter to do what I ask her to do but love me at the same time. This can be hard sometimes. My daughter usually does everything I ask her but my question is whether she is doing that with a kind and cheerful heart. When I see groan on her face I think again. Is this right? No. She shall do what I ask because she loves me ant not because she is afraid of being spanked. What a big difference. We love the Lord therefore we obey. So this is what we shall look forward to when teaching our children obedience. This is for today. I pray now and ask God for teaching us His words and obedience so that we will be able to teach our beloved children the same.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Proverbs 22:6

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." 
This verse shall be in front of our eyes and in our hearts when training our children regardless their age. I am just learning this since my little one is only 7 month old but she is already challenging sometimes. We are about to begin saying "no"s to her when pulling her sister's hair or spitting out food. If we don't start disciplining them at an early stage we may realize later that their heart is turning towards worldly things. What do I mean by discipline? Teaching them how to behave more like Jesus. Is this high expectation? First we need to shape our  (moms and dads) hearts and minds to His image only after that will we be able to help them  with carving off their rampant offshoots. The hows will follow ...

Rainbow

They say new year, new beginning. With this freshness I start this new blog. I could not stop rejoicing when God put some precious thoughts onto my heart. There are so many things we miss when we are not listening to our heavenly Father. I would like to share some things here with anyone who is also seeking His will and guidance in the everyday life which can be so challenging sometimes. However, we can be sure that He never puts more burden on us than what we can handle. To be continued ...