motherhood – Page 37 – Writes for all Mommies

children, dogs, family, gratitude, happiness, humor, kids, motherhood, parenting

Walks are for the Dogs

03/11/2013 WFAM

It seems that as long as T.Puzzle continues to do well, the return of the dogs is permanent. Full Speed has stated that since having them home, he is the happiest he’s ever been in his whole life. T.Puzzle is excited because he is no longer the shortest living being in our household. For me, I am in my element when I am walking the dogs. There is something about their quiet company with nothing but blue sky overhead that fills my heart with joy. I have even made it a standing ritual that on most days during the week, the boys and I will walk to school with the dogs. I use the term ‘walk’ loosely. I need to invent a word that falls somewhere in between walking and standing still. I’m not sure why exactly that it takes us 45 minutes to walk a 20 minute distance. Of course once we begin our walk, I am subjected to loads of feedback concerning the weather conditions. One boy will tell me that he’s certain a blizzard is coming because it is so cold while the other thinks the wind may freeze his face off. Keep in mind, we live in a very warm climate and it’s only November where most days the temperatures still climb near 80 degrees. I have attempted some preventative measures to help minimize the climate related feedback. I brought out a pull-over hoodie for Full Speed to wear on a particularly chilly morning. He took one look at it and said he wasn’t going to wear it. Apparently, he got ‘trapped’ in it last year and he wasn’t willing to ‘go in that direction’ again. All I can say is, thank god for zippers and get your shoes on boy…it’s dog walkin’ time.

children, family, gratitude, humor, kids, motherhood, parenting

Eye Am Lucky

23/10/2013 WFAM

Sometimes as parents we blaze the trail without even realizing it. I now am in a position to offer my hard-earned kernels of wisdom to Moms facing tantrums or the newborn stage. I always offer my advice only if asked with the caveat that never, ever ask me about potty training. That is unless you want your kids to be miserable and really old before being toliet-trained, then I’m your girl.

When I started this blog, I didn’t know that I would reach the tiny percentage of other Moms facing the challenges of raising children diagnosed with ectopia lentis. My family has come so far since the early days of uncertainty surrounding my boys vision, that sometimes I lose track of the fact that we are ectopia lentis survivors and thrivers. For those of you who are new to this blog, ectopia lentis is a rare, genetic condition which both my boys have, that compromises the lens of the eye and can severely impair vision. The road to great vision has been long for my boys and with patience and the help of an outstanding ophthalmologist, we came through the other side of this disorder relatively unscathed. By virtue of my boys leading ‘normal’ lives, we are helping other Moms know that ectopia lentis is only a small part of who their child is.

I would not change a minute of our experience if it in any way would alter who my kids are. All those tears I shed, all the nights of worry about their future and each and every eye surgery has been absolutely worth it. If ectopia lentis means I get to have these two guys as my kids, then honestly, I am the luckiest Mom around.

children, family, humor, kids, motherhood, parenting

Word Play

15/10/2013 WFAM

Over the years I’ve grown accustomed to ‘reframing’ some of the difficult traits my boys possess. They’re not stubborn, they’re tenacious. Those aren’t tantrums, those are displays of competitive fire and passion. It’s pretty obvious I can’t change who they are, so I might as well use creative vocabulary words to downplay their more challenging aspects.

This is all well and good but I’m at a point now that I’m ready for them to play something competitive without it seeming like a life or death situation. It’s inevitable that anytime they play a sport with family or friends, one of my boys will storm off, argue or just plain give up. I don’t get it. When I was younger, I remember being able to play games with friends without completely losing my mind if I lost. If I played a team sport, I often felt bad for the other team if we beat them. My children are the complete opposite. They both have a win-at-all-costs attitude.

Sometimes, managing their fierce attitudes about competition is enough to drive me nuts. What I meant to say is enough to solidify my boundaries of sanity in a consciousness-expanding, patience-growing, sort of way.

children, humor, kids, motherhood, parenting

Changing of the Guard

07/10/2013 WFAM

The shift has been subtle. Slowly, over the past couple of years, T.Puzzle and Full Speed have started to watch more and more football with Mad Dog. It works out well for me because now Mad Dog has his built-in crew ready to watch his Buckeyes on game day.

This past weekend, I actually voluntarily decided to watch the Buckeyes play Northwestern. I am partial to the ‘Land of Lincoln’ since it is where I grew up and was curious to see how the brainiacs of Mad Dog’s alma mater stacked up against his beloved Buckeyes. While I was watching, I noticed something remarkable. Of course the game was exciting, but what I found more entertaining were the spontaneous conversations I had with my boys. The highlights were when T.Puzzle sat next to me and actually gently petted one of our dogs and chatted with me quietly. I also enjoyed showing Full Speed the original and extremely more awesome version of the McDonald’s commercial which pits elite athletes in a showdown for food. The 1993 Michael Jordan/Larry Bird commercial far outshines the current commercial with quarterbacks Joe Flacco and Colin Kaepernick. Full Speed and I were in stitches as Jordan and Bird one-upped each other in a ridiculous ‘nothing but net’ sort of way.

It seems that I am faced with a serious football choice. I have decided for the remainder of the season to watch the Buckeyes with my guys. It’s inevitable that the changing of the guard has happened. It’s obvious my boys are starting to prefer their ‘guy time’ over sitting-quietly-and-reading-with-Mom-time. What’s a girl to do? Get her Buckeye jersey on and cheer like her life depends on it. Well, at least her quality time with her boys does.

ry=400-8 — The three of us in much younger days dressed in our Buckeye gear

Ohio State Football: Carlos Hyde Makes the Buckeyes Elite (bleacherreport.com)

children, dogs, family, gratitude, humor, kids, motherhood, parenting

2nd Place

26/09/201305/10/2013 WFAM

By all accounts, everything is going great with my dog. We also welcomed her long-time shih tzu companion so we are now a family of six. Honestly, the most challenging aspect has been living up to the high level of admiration that both these dogs bestow on me.

T.Puzzle seems to be doing good healthwise so I am cautiously hopeful we can keep the dogs permanently. I constantly remind T.Puzzle that if at any point, he doesn’t fare well, that it will be okay for the dogs to relocate again. He responds by saying, “I don’t mind if I sneeze, Mom. I really like having the dogs around.” .

Since I make over my dogs in a ridiculous fashion every, single day, I said to T.Puzzle, “Do you know who I love more than my dogs?”

“Who?” he asked.

“You, of course!”

“Mom, do you know what I love the most in the world?”

“What?”

“Soccer. I love it more than you. I love it so much I could play it every day!”

“Really? You love soccer more than me?”

“Yep, but Spaghettios comes in third.”

Ouch! It could have been worse though. If I hadn’t beaten out the canned noodles, I may have lost hope entirely.

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