Words to Live By

This is Nora.

 

It is an exciting time in Nora's life because she is learning to talk! Actually, she has had some words for quite a while now - baby, ball, bye-bye - and has been slowly picking up new ones as they suit her needs - uh-oh, shoes, outside... Of course, they all sound adorable coming out of her little mouth, and because of her insistence on saying hi to everyone we pass in the grocery store,

we have been making a lot of new friends.

Recently, though, Nora has taken to making her wishes known by yelling. And I mean YELLING.  It happens more when she is tired, or frustrated, or vying for my attention, but regardless of the reason, it is insanely loud and borderline intolerable. When it happens in public, people shoot me glares as if to suggest I might actually be able to control her. Ha! 

Equally intolerable is her great disdain for the word "please" and her rapidly increasing use of the word "no." Sweet Nora, who spent so much of her early life sleeping peacefully, now not only wants to learn new words, but also to control if and when and how she uses them.

Ahhhhh.....the power of words.

We are no strangers to the power of words, as we have learned firsthand from our older two daughters just how much strength the words of a child can hold. We have also learned which words hold strength for them, like the d-word (dumb) or the h-word (hate) or the s-word (stupid). Obviously we are just at the beginning of all of this, but it got me thinking:

If words are powerful, why not use them? Why not fill our home with words to live by - words with such strength that, if they hear them often enough, might sink into the depth of their souls? Might strengthen their character?  (I like to have realistic goals as a mother :)

So......what better place to help me in this child-rearing endeavor than Michael's?
Ok, so here are some of the supplies I picked up:

I decided to use these frames, which were actually matted pictures from Target. I just removed the picture from each and was left with a backless frame:

Since I wanted to hang these in my kitchen, I decided it would be cute to have a cork background. Michael's sells it by the roll.

Step 1: Cut a piece of cork to fit the back of the frame (the same size or just smaller than the frame)

Step 2: Glue the cork to a piece of foamboard the same size or slightly smaller

Step 3: Choose your words carefully :)

Step 4: Use pushpins to secure words in place

Step 5: Stretch cork across back of frame and use small nails or staples to hold it in place

Step 6: Cut one final piece of cork to use as backing. Attach it to foam board using spray adhesive.



Step 7: Hang on the wall in your kitchen and reference them often. 

In terms of your kids' character, hope for the best :)

Thanks for taking a peek inside my Lemon Tree Dwelling!

I hope you feel right at home :)

-Cathy