Category: gratitude

children, gratitude, happiness, mommyhood, potty training

A Diaperless Life

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These are going to be some of my good memories of the summer of 2010:

When Full Speed woke up this morning he put his hand over his chest and said, “Mom, I can feel my heart beeping!” He was so cute he made my heart skip a ‘beep’.

Little T.Puzzle has pooped on the potty three days in a row. He may actually be fully potty-trained some day. What will a diaperless existence be like? Even though I’ve never been, I’m guessing it will be like nirvana.

These things may seem insignificant. In my world they are everything. I’m glad you are sharing the ride. Thanks for reading.

children, gratitude, happiness, mommyhood, tantrums

Summertime

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The several transitions of this week are going, dare I say it…, good. I am seeing the first true glimpses of emotional growth in little T.Puzzle and this has made all the difference. The same development pattern happened with Full Speed, too. Both my boys started with the tantrums at around 18 mos. and carried them well through their third year (I’m pretty sure this isn’t common; I just hit the ‘jack-pot’ with two extra feisty kids).  Full Speed’s  tantrums had some carry over into the fourth year so I know I’m not completely out of the woods with little T.Puzzle.  However,  I’m beginning to see the light of hope peak through the trees. After surviving almost four solid years of tantrums and extreme power struggles, you don’t know how good this feels. And, believe me, I know forest fires of feistiness can pop up any moment, I’m just trying to savor what little victories I can.

Moving to a new class this week is a big deal for little T.Puzzle and he has done really well. Of course the first day started with a lot of ‘nos!’ and crying but he rallied. When I picked him up his new teacher told me that he listened well, cleaned up after himself and she couldn’t ask for more from a new student. Little T.Puzzle is so proud to be in the new ‘big boy’ class that by the second drop-off he politely hugged me and went on his way. I had to double-check to make sure that I hadn’t accidentally grabbed another kid on the way in. I couldn’t believe this was MY little T.Puzzle. See I told you, there is that light again.

The changes of summer have been many and I am thankful my family is weathering them with calm determination. This is so much more preferable than our usual crazy, sobbing-tantrum mode of operation.

I may just survive the boys’ summer after all.

children, gratitude, happiness, mommyhood

Graduation Day

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I’ve always known that Full Speed eats up being the center of attention. I’ve always known he likes to make people laugh. What I didn’t know is that you put this kid in front of a large audience and he goes crazy.

For his pre-k graduation ceremony his class had to perform a peanut butter and jelly dance. Full Speed stole the show. The more animated he danced, the more the crowd roared with laughter. The adoration of the crowd only inspired him to dance with more zeal.

After the ceremony I had parents and grandparents come up to me and Mad Dog and actually comment on his show-stopping performance. He even had a Dad in the parking lot ask him to show off his dance moves again.

A star is born.

gratitude, happiness, mommyhood, potty training

And the Winner Is…

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We attended the Vision Is Priceless annual meeting. My friend and director of VIP  encouraged me strongly to attend as well as bring the boys. I was leery bringing the boys to such a formal, child-free event but her persistence and the organization itself is hard to resist.

I admired the gathering of people as they chatted, drank cocktails and munched on appetizers. I basically just held my breath for two hours waiting for the boys to spontaneously wrestle. To complicate matters, little T.Puzzle is still potty-training without much success. So Mad Dog and I had to monitor his activity closely and try to convince him not to poop in his underwear and nice dress shorts.

I did my best to attempt to engage in conversation with all the interesting and kind adults, but my attention was decidedly split. One half immersed in the meeting, one half closely tracking the antics of my boys. It made me feel completely schizophrenic.

When it was time for the evening’s presentation, the boys were called up to the front and their ophthalmologist spoke about their condition as well as their amazing progress. They were the hit of the party. As an added bonus, I was given a volunteer recognition award for promoting public awareness of Vision is Priceless. A pleasant and unexpected surprise.

Thankfully, I not only owe thanks to Vision is Priceless for the award but I also owe a thanks to the invention of handheld gaming devices. Without them, this post would have had much more chaos and disaster. With the gaming devices, this post was a winner.

Just like me.

children, gratitude, happiness, mommyhood

Sunburn and Good Times

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I volunteered to help out at Full Speed’s end of the year party. This required helping to supervise roughly sixty kids in 90+ heat for two hours. There was a waterslide and food.

It was a free-for-all.

By the time it was over all I wanted was a quiet room and a nap.

That night at dinner Full Speed informs me that the party was the best day he’s ever had at school.

How lucky am I that I got to be a part of that?

Sunburn, exhaustion and all.