Nah nothing to rant about today! Haha. Life got busy on me. I haven't had any time to write or anything to really write about in almost a week. But here is another four year old funny to share with my readers.
My son: Chi-Chi (grandmother) why don't grandma and grandpa (his great-grandparents) live in their house anymore?
Chi-chi (grandmother): Well they live in the nursing home now.
Son: Why?
Chi-Chi: Well they're old and sick. Sometimes when you get older you can't take care of yourself anymore.
Son: Why?
Chi-Chi: Well it just happens that way.
Son: Oh. Well why did they get old?
Chi-Chi: Well from the moment you're born you age and get older and older. Like last year you were three. This year you'll be four. Next year you'll be five. And some day you'll be 86.
Son: Uh-uh Chi-Chi. I'm gonna ask God to keep me new.
Don't you just love the honesty of a four year old? It keeps me young. Gotta go, the cookies are burning....
Monday, May 19, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Milestones
My baby used his first sign today!!! I am so excited. I am concerned about his hearing--I'm not sure how many speech sounds he is hearing, although I'm fairly certain he can hear. Anyway our little Buddha used "more" several times with intent during dinner tonight to get more food. Oh I was so excited!!! I couldn't help myself. I cried. I'm so mushy. We are hoping words will follow in the next three months or so, and more signs at any moment!
Then, when we were getting ready for bath, my oldest son took his own shirt off. This is the last getting dressed/undressed frontier. He's successful at everything else, but getting that shirt off is hard. Tonight, he took it off all by himself. I cried again. Double mush. Yesterday he said "go in the other room mom, I have a surprise for you." When he came out, he had his shoes on all by himself and a grin the size of Texas on his face.
Milestones are important. I don't know why exactly, but they are. Maybe it's a sign you did something right? Maybe it's a sign that you can't screw them up? I don't know, but I do know that each and every milestone is important to me and I write it all down. I can't help myself. I guess it's so someday when they're all grown up I can look back at the journey and enjoy the memories of this crazy wild ride that is being a mom. I can't wait to see what will happen tomorrow....
Then, when we were getting ready for bath, my oldest son took his own shirt off. This is the last getting dressed/undressed frontier. He's successful at everything else, but getting that shirt off is hard. Tonight, he took it off all by himself. I cried again. Double mush. Yesterday he said "go in the other room mom, I have a surprise for you." When he came out, he had his shoes on all by himself and a grin the size of Texas on his face.
Milestones are important. I don't know why exactly, but they are. Maybe it's a sign you did something right? Maybe it's a sign that you can't screw them up? I don't know, but I do know that each and every milestone is important to me and I write it all down. I can't help myself. I guess it's so someday when they're all grown up I can look back at the journey and enjoy the memories of this crazy wild ride that is being a mom. I can't wait to see what will happen tomorrow....
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
The Dinner Table
Is supper ready yet? Is Daddy home yet? Are we having chicken pot pie again? I only want milk and crackers for dinner. Some nights I just smile and say yes, no, not yet, you're right, I don't think so, just a few more minutes. Other nights I just throw up my hands and say, let's go get a sub.
Dinner is every mom's joy and pain. At first you're happy that you are making a meal for your family to sit down and enjoy. Then you're kinda grumpy because you know it will be eaten and everyone will scram with a big mess for you to clean up--in less time than it took you to make it. Sometimes you're so hungry yourself that your mood takes a nose dive with your blood sugar and you burn the biscuits, curse as you burn your finger, slam it all down, and glare at everyone daring them to do anything but eat it anyway. Then there are the nights when it all goes to plan. Everything turns out great. You even get the kitchen half way cleaned up before you sit down. The baby and the toddler eat what you've made and your husband tells you how much he likes everything.
Dinner is my favorite meal. It has always been very important to me. I believe every family should sit down to a meal together. Pick one--breakfast, lunch, or dinner. There is something comforting about breaking bread together that loosens the tongue, soothes the hunger (both real and imagined), and generally makes everyone feel they are safe. When I was growing up my mother chose dinner as the main meal. We would wait for my dad most nights. Then as we got busier and busier, my mom chose breakfast as our main meal.
My husband doesn't eat breakfast. He just chooses not to. So dinner is our main meal. I eat breakfast with the kids, but I try for us all to sit down to dinner at least a couple of times a week. Granted the children are small and can't always wait. There are many nights when my husband isn't going to make it in time. Regardless of these stumbling blocks (and countless others), I continue to try to make dinner a family affair.
I know this choice will only get harder as our family gets older. Perhaps dinner will become a pipe dream once everyone is driving. I know that monitoring my blood sugar so it doesn't take a nosedive at five will only get harder as I get older. I know that nobody will call me no matter how many times I ask for people to be on time, or to call me ahead of time if they're going to be late. I know that I'm not going to stop the calls that come 10 minutes after dinner is already ready saying that they're late. But I'm not going to stop making dinner and it's not going to stop being a family affair. Attendance is compulsory until you leave this home for every man, woman and child, period. And that's all I have to say about that.
Dinner is every mom's joy and pain. At first you're happy that you are making a meal for your family to sit down and enjoy. Then you're kinda grumpy because you know it will be eaten and everyone will scram with a big mess for you to clean up--in less time than it took you to make it. Sometimes you're so hungry yourself that your mood takes a nose dive with your blood sugar and you burn the biscuits, curse as you burn your finger, slam it all down, and glare at everyone daring them to do anything but eat it anyway. Then there are the nights when it all goes to plan. Everything turns out great. You even get the kitchen half way cleaned up before you sit down. The baby and the toddler eat what you've made and your husband tells you how much he likes everything.
Dinner is my favorite meal. It has always been very important to me. I believe every family should sit down to a meal together. Pick one--breakfast, lunch, or dinner. There is something comforting about breaking bread together that loosens the tongue, soothes the hunger (both real and imagined), and generally makes everyone feel they are safe. When I was growing up my mother chose dinner as the main meal. We would wait for my dad most nights. Then as we got busier and busier, my mom chose breakfast as our main meal.
My husband doesn't eat breakfast. He just chooses not to. So dinner is our main meal. I eat breakfast with the kids, but I try for us all to sit down to dinner at least a couple of times a week. Granted the children are small and can't always wait. There are many nights when my husband isn't going to make it in time. Regardless of these stumbling blocks (and countless others), I continue to try to make dinner a family affair.
I know this choice will only get harder as our family gets older. Perhaps dinner will become a pipe dream once everyone is driving. I know that monitoring my blood sugar so it doesn't take a nosedive at five will only get harder as I get older. I know that nobody will call me no matter how many times I ask for people to be on time, or to call me ahead of time if they're going to be late. I know that I'm not going to stop the calls that come 10 minutes after dinner is already ready saying that they're late. But I'm not going to stop making dinner and it's not going to stop being a family affair. Attendance is compulsory until you leave this home for every man, woman and child, period. And that's all I have to say about that.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Just a Plain Old Good Day
Do you ever have plain old good days? Nothing fancy. Nothing new. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just plain old fine. I had one of those today. Except for the frantic way in which I left the house to make our 5 o'clock doctor's appointment, because we all overslept during afternoon nap, I had a perfectly normal, busy, regular Monday. We were out of waffles for breakfast, but nobody complained. The OnDemand didn't work and we had to watch Dragontails instead of Thomas the Train, but nobody complained. We had peanut butter and bananas for lunch with milk instead of going out or having something more palatable because it isn't payday yet, but nobody complained. We had a boring casserole for dinner, but nobody complained.
It's days like this that have me waiting for the other shoe to drop, because I don't know how to enjoy them exactly. I can't explain very well what I mean. I enjoy days like this. I even wish for days like this---particularly when my days are NOT like this. However, I can't quite accept that I can have days like this. For some reason if the drama is missing, I'm wondering what else is going to happen.
That's so silly isn't it? Ah well. Live and learn and then let it go. I'm betting I won't have another day like today the rest of the week. But, oh, it's been a plain old good day and I am just plain old happy with that.
It's days like this that have me waiting for the other shoe to drop, because I don't know how to enjoy them exactly. I can't explain very well what I mean. I enjoy days like this. I even wish for days like this---particularly when my days are NOT like this. However, I can't quite accept that I can have days like this. For some reason if the drama is missing, I'm wondering what else is going to happen.
That's so silly isn't it? Ah well. Live and learn and then let it go. I'm betting I won't have another day like today the rest of the week. But, oh, it's been a plain old good day and I am just plain old happy with that.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Instilling Gratefulness
How do you teach your child to be grateful? I'm not really sure how I learned. I think at first it was a guilty conscious actively working in my head. Then as a grew older and really began to see obvious differences in life situations I became more aware of my blessings. Later still, when tragedy hit me in various ways I began to see even more clearly that being grateful is an essential part to moving forward. Now as a parent, I am again at a learning point, this time in teaching lessons that plant the seed of gratefulness.
How does one do this? I don't know. I have learned in my short parenting tenure, that being grateful is a learned behavior. It is not automatic and it is not an easy lesson to learn. I am not sure I can explain gratefulness to my children. One must have a certain amount of empathy I think before the feelings of gratitude arise. How do you teach a child empathy? You can teach them please and thank you. You can talk to them about helping others. You can have them with you when you go to church, when you pray, when you visit the needy, or take a casserole, or assist a loved one. But can you really teach them to be grateful? I think having them with you while you do things you do out of gratitude is how they learn. You cannot instill gratitude by saying, "you ungrateful little wretch" or "how can you act like that after all I've done for you?" I have stopped myself on many occasions from saying those words. They aren't helpful and they aren't instructive. First of all, your child hasn't got a clue what you're talking about. Secondly, that's not teaching gratitude that's teaching conditional love.
I had a wise teacher from high school who gave me some excellent advice once. I had not seen him in 10 years or so. We were at a reception for one of my friends and I introduced him to my husband and first son. Before we left he said, "make sure you give him plenty of standing time." I was puzzled and I didn't know what my former teacher was talking about at first. And then he elaborated, "you know make sure he (my son) sees you doing the right things." It is probably the single most important comment he personally ever said to me, and even though I was no longer his student, I took it heart and think about it often.
So how do you teach gratefulness? Give them plenty of standing time. Let your children see you doing things with a grateful heart for a grateful purpose and tell them why you are doing it. I promise in time you won't be disappointed. I may be 50 years old before I ever see the fruits of my labor, but I know some day I will see them.
How does one do this? I don't know. I have learned in my short parenting tenure, that being grateful is a learned behavior. It is not automatic and it is not an easy lesson to learn. I am not sure I can explain gratefulness to my children. One must have a certain amount of empathy I think before the feelings of gratitude arise. How do you teach a child empathy? You can teach them please and thank you. You can talk to them about helping others. You can have them with you when you go to church, when you pray, when you visit the needy, or take a casserole, or assist a loved one. But can you really teach them to be grateful? I think having them with you while you do things you do out of gratitude is how they learn. You cannot instill gratitude by saying, "you ungrateful little wretch" or "how can you act like that after all I've done for you?" I have stopped myself on many occasions from saying those words. They aren't helpful and they aren't instructive. First of all, your child hasn't got a clue what you're talking about. Secondly, that's not teaching gratitude that's teaching conditional love.
I had a wise teacher from high school who gave me some excellent advice once. I had not seen him in 10 years or so. We were at a reception for one of my friends and I introduced him to my husband and first son. Before we left he said, "make sure you give him plenty of standing time." I was puzzled and I didn't know what my former teacher was talking about at first. And then he elaborated, "you know make sure he (my son) sees you doing the right things." It is probably the single most important comment he personally ever said to me, and even though I was no longer his student, I took it heart and think about it often.
So how do you teach gratefulness? Give them plenty of standing time. Let your children see you doing things with a grateful heart for a grateful purpose and tell them why you are doing it. I promise in time you won't be disappointed. I may be 50 years old before I ever see the fruits of my labor, but I know some day I will see them.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Just One More Time
Let's do it just one more time. Please please please please please. One more time! one more time! ONE MORE TIME!!!!!!!!!!
As long as this request isn't directed I me, I just love hearing it. I know that my son is really really enjoying whatever it is he is doing. I especially love hearing it when he is with his dad. I love how much the play together. My husband and my sons really get into each other, what they're doing, what they like, what they don't like. My husband is very patient with them both. I love to watch them "work" in the yard, or "help" daddy with the tools. My son will run in from being outside while my husband is doing yard work and say, "I gotta get my hammer. We're buildin' sumpin. I'm very busy with my work mommy. I will see you later."
Last night I was at a meeting and I came home late. My husband looked spent. "What happened?" I asked. "Did everybody go to sleep okay?"
"Oh yeah," he said. "We played trains one more time about five times. And then played one more minute in the tub for about 20 minutes. We read one more book, got one more drink of water, got one more hug, went to the potty one more time and finally we both collapsed in bed."
I couldn't help but smile. "He loves you so much," I said.
As long as this request isn't directed I me, I just love hearing it. I know that my son is really really enjoying whatever it is he is doing. I especially love hearing it when he is with his dad. I love how much the play together. My husband and my sons really get into each other, what they're doing, what they like, what they don't like. My husband is very patient with them both. I love to watch them "work" in the yard, or "help" daddy with the tools. My son will run in from being outside while my husband is doing yard work and say, "I gotta get my hammer. We're buildin' sumpin. I'm very busy with my work mommy. I will see you later."
Last night I was at a meeting and I came home late. My husband looked spent. "What happened?" I asked. "Did everybody go to sleep okay?"
"Oh yeah," he said. "We played trains one more time about five times. And then played one more minute in the tub for about 20 minutes. We read one more book, got one more drink of water, got one more hug, went to the potty one more time and finally we both collapsed in bed."
I couldn't help but smile. "He loves you so much," I said.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Worship
Today my husband and I went to the contemporary worship service at our church. He enjoys going to the contemporary service when he is at church by himself. We are usually traditional sanctuary service attendees. I enjoy contemporary Christian music, I just don't usually experience it at church.
I had such a wonderful time today! The service was so warm and open. Yes the music was contemporary, but the praise band was so genuine and worked so hard on their music, you can't help but love it. I bounced to the beat and sang along with every song. Our minister is so in touch with the congregation. He too is a genuine person. You feel like you're really having a conversation with him. While I truly enjoy and crave the "high church" practices--liturgy, candles, choir, crucifix, etc., there was something so familiar and earnest in the contemporary service that isn't present in the traditional service.
While we were listening to the sermon all of a sudden I had a vision of the Sermon on the Mount. I pondered how this service was similar to that congregation Jesus preached to. All kinds of people were there to listen to him--Jews, Gentiles, old, young, men, women, children. In our service, children were everywhere. The attendees were so wide and varied--people in jeans, people in suits, college kids, toddlers, white, black, hispanic, old, young, men, women, people with special needs, people with physical handicaps. We had a true cross section of the city at church! I thought, this is what Jesus wanted. He wanted the barriers to the gospel to be gone. He wanted all to be welcome. He wanted us to come together for the distinct purpose of learning and praising and worshipping together. The message of the minister was clear. It wasn't sugar coated. It was serious. And yet, the message was delivered in a way that felt so accessible. I was just overwhelmed.
I probably won't give up going to the traditional service. I love the traditional service. I was raised in it. I'm comfortable in it. But I will start going to the contemporary service more often. I think there is a place for me at both types of worship. I have different needs on different Sundays. I feel like worshipping differently depending on the kind of week I've had. Sometimes I want to cut loose and sing and sway and sometimes I want to open that hymnal and sing the old songs I love so well.
I think that God meets us where we are every day not just on Sundays. But on Sunday mornings, I think He's in both services. I think He hears both services. I think He wants us to worship in all kinds of ways. I am so blessed to be a part of a church that recognizes and affirms the diversity of Holy Spirit in its members and visitors.
I had such a wonderful time today! The service was so warm and open. Yes the music was contemporary, but the praise band was so genuine and worked so hard on their music, you can't help but love it. I bounced to the beat and sang along with every song. Our minister is so in touch with the congregation. He too is a genuine person. You feel like you're really having a conversation with him. While I truly enjoy and crave the "high church" practices--liturgy, candles, choir, crucifix, etc., there was something so familiar and earnest in the contemporary service that isn't present in the traditional service.
While we were listening to the sermon all of a sudden I had a vision of the Sermon on the Mount. I pondered how this service was similar to that congregation Jesus preached to. All kinds of people were there to listen to him--Jews, Gentiles, old, young, men, women, children. In our service, children were everywhere. The attendees were so wide and varied--people in jeans, people in suits, college kids, toddlers, white, black, hispanic, old, young, men, women, people with special needs, people with physical handicaps. We had a true cross section of the city at church! I thought, this is what Jesus wanted. He wanted the barriers to the gospel to be gone. He wanted all to be welcome. He wanted us to come together for the distinct purpose of learning and praising and worshipping together. The message of the minister was clear. It wasn't sugar coated. It was serious. And yet, the message was delivered in a way that felt so accessible. I was just overwhelmed.
I probably won't give up going to the traditional service. I love the traditional service. I was raised in it. I'm comfortable in it. But I will start going to the contemporary service more often. I think there is a place for me at both types of worship. I have different needs on different Sundays. I feel like worshipping differently depending on the kind of week I've had. Sometimes I want to cut loose and sing and sway and sometimes I want to open that hymnal and sing the old songs I love so well.
I think that God meets us where we are every day not just on Sundays. But on Sunday mornings, I think He's in both services. I think He hears both services. I think He wants us to worship in all kinds of ways. I am so blessed to be a part of a church that recognizes and affirms the diversity of Holy Spirit in its members and visitors.
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