is here.It is well done with a Wild West theme this week, but be warned: Thereis a really annoying, computer-freezing, automatic download for somekind of music on the main page. Once I managed to stop it, there wasplenty of good reading there.

Discipline seems to be on people’s minds lately. I have heard from anumber of you in recent weeks asking questions about what “method” ofdiscipline we use. I think it is important to note that many of yourquestions have focused on the problem of children who have differenttemperaments and thus respond differently to the same methods ofdiscipline.

What works for one child does not always work with another. Kidsare so wonderfully different from one another. Their fascinatingdifferences are part of the beauty, the joy, and the frustration of family life.

I’ll never forget the first time we punished Eamon by having himstand in the corner when he was a toddler. Oh, the humiliation! Thepoor child sobbed so sorrowfully and was so sincerely contrite that wecouldn’t bear to leave him there any longer than 30 seconds. All we hadto do was say his name and he came running to us for hugs and kisses.The boy was (and still is) naturally sensitive and sympathetic—whichmakes him very easy to discipline.

But our Stephen was quite another story. When we first punishedthis child by making him stand in the corner, there were no tears.There was no contrition. There was only rage. And obstinacy. He wouldhave stood in that corner all day rather than admit he had doneanything wrong. Yes, indeed. This was a very different child. He was(and still is) a significant disciplinary challenge.

Though it’s helpful to have some guiding principles (ie: spankingor not spanking, focusing on positive reinforcement or emphasizingnatural consequences), through the years we have learned thatflexibility is an important part of any parental approach.

With Stephen, we have learned what kinds of discipline work for him(catching bad behavior before it happens, emphasizing the grown-upaspect of behaving appropriately) and what kinds do not (standing inthe corner, for instance). Without changing our basic family rules forwhat is and is not acceptable behavior, we have changed the way inwhich we help him to learn these rules in order to accommodate hisvolatile personality.

Let’s not have a spanking/no spanking debate, but I’d like to hearabout your disciplinary approach. In what ways have you needed to beflexible? In what successful ways have you handled a child with aparticularly challenging temperament?

Gabrielle:(pointing at the drive up ATM) That’s the line for getting money and (pointing at the drive up teller) that’s the line for getting lollipops.

There’s not a whole lot of room in my educational approach for rotememorization. I like for my kids to use their precious brain space forstoring useful information. Comprehensive list of helping verbs andprepositions? Yes. Proper spelling for an infinite number of words?Yes. Understanding and knowledge of the Civil War, when it happened,why it happened, who won and how, what the repercussions were for ourcountry, the fact that Abraham Lincoln is an absolute hero, and what itwas like to be a soldier or a slave during that time period? Yes. Exactdates, times, locations, names of participants, and other nitty-grittydetails of every single Civil War battle? No.

But I must add scripture passages to my list of worthwhilememorization. As this is just one of those things that we never quiteseem to get around to during the school year, I have been using ourrecent lazy summer days for this purpose. I printed up age-appropriatepassages for each child, handed them out, and then… nothing.

Their brains, it appears, had melted.

I decided to motivate them. With gum. 5-stick packs of Juicy Fruit, Big Red, and Wrigley’s Spearmint,to be specific. I filled a large zip lock bag with an assortment ofthese, made the appropriate announcement, and placed the bag on thekitchen counter.

It worked. Instantly, my days were filled with scripture verses.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth andrust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal,” I would overhearEamon reciting as I washed up the breakfast dishes. And “Praise theLord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name,” Juliettewould have me repeat and repeat with her, through diaper changes,through laundry loads, and through naptime baby-rocking.

I started out this project because I thought the children wouldbenefit from an increased familiarity with the Bible. But it’s been agood thing for all of us. The kids have been earning gum, but moreimportantly, our days and our minds have been filled with HolyScripture. God’s Word. This is so much nicer than humming thataddictive tune from the Vonage commercials while I’m sweeping thefloor:

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs!

Co-Sleeping? Parental Neglect?
I love it when Amy Welborn hosts a discussion of parenting issues.

New Catholic Homeschooling Mom/Writer Site
Christine at The Faith of a Child shares her thoughts about parenting, childhood spirituality, and more. Lovely!

Scripture: Necessary, But Not Enough
Read Mark Shea’s latest at the National Catholic Register.

Can You Guess What I’ve Been Doing?
The Social Security Administration keeps records of the most popular baby names by year.You can view a list of the top 1000 names for any given year since1880. I’m a geek about this. I find it fascinating to look through theoldest lists and see how many “old fashioned” names have made acomeback in recent years.

***And here is another baby names site many of you have emailed me. Cool!

with a close-up of the inscription) of this beautiful trophy I havebeen awarded by reader and friend, Catherine. Don’t be envious, ladies.I’m sure you deserve one too. We’ll just call it our trophy, okay?

(photo credit, Eamon Bean)

Here it is, as promised. This is me yesterday, 33 weeks pregnant and pretending not to be dying from the heat. Do enjoy.

To liven things up a bit around here I have decided to make this acontest of sorts. Now that you know exactly how far along I am and cansee exactly how I am carrying, you are invited to make prediction as towhether we will have a boy or girl and when this little one will beborn. For the uninitiated, here’s some background: An average pregnancylasts 40 weeks, but mine are generally shorter. I had one baby at 37weeks and with another I (horrors!) almost reached my due date.Generally, however, I have averaged somewhere around 38-39 weeks.

So here’s your big chance for fame and fortune. Or glory. Orwinning something, anyway. Tell me: Is this baby a boy a girl? When(date and time) will he/she be born? I’ll keep track and the closestguesser will win bragging rights and a year’s subscription to Faith & Family magazine.

***SORRY had to close comments here. Take that, spammers! If you still want to submit a guess, email me.

Swimming lessons are over for another year. Did you hear that? Over!Done! Finito! The kids all received certificates verifying theiraccomplishments after today’s final lesson.

Very nice, but.. I had something I wanted to say to those life guards. Something like this:

Thanks for the certificates, but what about me? Don’t I deservesome kind of recognition here? All those lessons all those days withall these kids and not a single one of them was lost to the lake. Noone was critically injured on the playground equipment. All squabbleswere squelched. All thirsts were quenched. All bellies were filled. Allskin was 30 SPF protected from the sun’s insidious rays. The beach’sworth of sand that I found in the van day after day was cheerfullytolerated. And that time the baby’s beach ball went bobbing andfloating way-way-way out deep, who had the courage to goslogging into the depths, wearing a T-shirt and shorts, in order tosave it from being lost forever? That’s right. I did.

I didn’t just want a certificate; I wanted a trophy. A big one. A shiny one. A gold one. And yet nobody offered me a prize.

When it was time to go, though, I pulled Gabby from the water,wrapped her in a towel, and hugged her dry. She giggled the kind ofgiggle that only comes from real joy. She sighed the kind of sigh thatonly comes from true contentment. And she hugged me back.

Really, I have to admit, that was all the recognition a mother could ever need.

Is this a conspiracy? Exactly how are all of you coordinating your efforts in an attempt to get me to post an oh-so-pregnant picture of myself? How do you decide whose day it is to send me an email begging and pleading politely requesting that I share a big ole’ photo of my big ole’ self?

I’ll be honest here: I am too vain. This is not something I am naturally inclined to do. But…

Since you all have been so good to me and since I have been so badand not posted anything else new today, I promise to go right now andhave a little person take my picture. And I will post it tomorrow. Ithink.

It’s so hot. Are you getting tired of hearing people say that yet? I’mnot because I think no matter how many times we do say it and no matterhow many official complaints we file, we still won’t have properlyrecognized the extreme-ness of this heat. I’ll try not to add too muchto any of the complaining here other than to caution you that if youhappen to see a puddle on the sidewalk later on today, please steparound it– it might be me.

This afternoon at swimming lessons (We are rugged New Englanders–lessons are held in 40 degree weather or 100 degree weather) I thoughtI might pass out from the heat while I was sitting in my beach chair with my feet in the water.All those other people who were hanging out at the lake weren’t helpingeither, what with their breathing in and using up what precious littleoxygen there was in the air. Honestly, the selfishness!

My Raphael is smart, though. He did a little swimming, but then hefigured that hanging out in this kind of weather made no sensewhatsoever. He repeatedly grabbed my hand and tried to lead me to thevan. “This is ridiculous!” his actions seemed to say, “Let’s get out ofhere!”

I agreed, but since my six other kids seemed oblivious to the heatand were playing in the lake, we couldn’t just leave. I convincedRaphael that sitting at the picnic tables in the shade and eatingquantities of sliced cucumbers from the cooler was just as good.

And it was pretty good. There we met a mother and her 5 week oldbaby who were also escaping the sun. Now here was an adorable creature!Thankfully, “Baby” begins with “B” which just so happens to beRaphael’s favorite consonant. Boats, birds, balls, bears, blankets andbottles are all “ba- ba’s” to him. Now he had discovered a new “ba-ba”to enjoy: Baby.

Raphael was so captivated by this infant that he kept pointing ather and whispering. I love how even the smallest of children recognizethe blessedness, the almost-holy feeling of being in the presence of anewborn.
The precious little girl opened her eyes wide as her tiny headbobbled over her mother’s shoulder. Her miniature mouth formed aperfect circle as she gazed in our direction. Raphael pointed andwhispered over and over again: “Ba-ba… ba-ba, Mama.”

Thank you God for summer heat and cool shade. Thank you God forjuice boxes and cucumbers. Thank you God for ba-bas, both big and small.