It’s a new month, and I’m here (a few days late) to link up with Emily Freeman for the March edition of What I Learned. I’ve been keeping a tiny notepad handy and jotting these things down so I wouldn’t forget—I’m so glad I did!
So, without further ado, here are some things I learned in March:
• For me, sometimes being brave looks like:
holding a friend accountable
saying yes to a playdate
asking for help
being honest—more specifically, not pretending I know what someone is talking about and then googling it later
chaperoning a 2nd-grade field trip
• I have been missing out my entire life by not going strawberry picking. We took our kids for the first time, and they loved it. This activity is going on the list of new family traditions. Which leads to…
• Just because you can pick 8 pounds of strawberries doesn’t mean you should. My kids were all, “Yum, strawberries!” and “These are the best strawberries I’ve ever had!” until we got home from the patch, at which point they decided they were really more in the mood for other fruit.
Me: Want some strawberries?
Toddler: I want bana!
Me: But we have all these yummy strawberries, don’t you want some?
Toddler: I want booberries!
You get the idea. I now have about 6 pounds of strawberries in my freezer. Who wants a smoothie?
• Daniel Tiger offers good advice to my kids about 87 percent of the time. The other 13 percent have me running to turn off the TV.
Some examples:
“Whatever you do, think about what other people need too.” Good advice!
“When you feel so mad that you want to roar, take a deep breath and count to four.” Not bad, Daniel.
“If you have to go potty, stop and go right away.” Yes, that’s wise, thank you!
“When you can’t do what you want, stomp three times to make yourself feel better.” Wait, what? Are you telling my kid to throw a tantrum? Daniel, I don’t know how I feel about you right now.
Moving on.
• OXO Good Grips POP Containers have helped us make major strides with our shortage of kitchen storage. They stack. The lids are interchangeable. The food stays fresh. And there’s no crumple crumple of cereal bags waking up the toddler in the morning. Add these to the list of items I should have registered for had I not been 23 years old when I got married. (Because at 23, I was not thinking about kids and goldfish crackers and all the cereal.) Thanks, Bed Bath & Beyond, for that 20 percent off coupon—I finally used it this month!
• The Inside Out soundtrack is worth purchasing for $7.99. I love it, my kids love it. It’s delightful and inspiring. (That goes for the movie too, for that matter.)
• And [appropriately] last, I learned that sometimes it’s best to just be quiet.
Check out what others learned in March here, and join in!
Miss February’s edition of What I Learned? You can find it here.
I was late coming to the What I learned table as well. Enjoyed reading your list. I remember strawberry picking as a child – they always tasted so yummy straight from the patch. I so agree with “sometimes it’s best to just be quiet”. I need to remind myself of this often. I am not familiar with Daniel Tiger, but clearly, he is out of line on the stomping thing. 🙂
You sound like a kindred spirit. 🙂 Thanks for reading! I love checking out what everyone is learning!
This is such a great list!!
I had resisted the fruit picking thing for so long, but I LOVED going blueberry picking last fall! I can’t wait to do it again. And we are BIG Daniel Tiger fans around here lately…but somehow I missed that stomping episode. And that being honest thing…I may or may not have lied about having listened to a certain album recently. Eek. Thanks for the conviction on that!!
I was just thinking I hadn’t seen the stomping episode in a while, and then it was on yesterday – I laughed out loud. Even E thinks it’s a terrible idea, which I thought was hilarious.
And oh, I am guilty of that more than I’d like to admit. I’m inclined to do the nod and the “Oh yeah, me too!” when I have no idea what someone’s talking about. I’m working on not being afraid to say, “I’ve never heard of that. What are you talking about?”
(BTW, thanks for inspiring me to jump in on these posts, I’m really enjoying them!)