motherhood – Page 45 – Writes for all Mommies

children, family, happiness, humor, kindergarten, motherhood, parenting

Nice to Meet You

20/01/2013 WFAM

One sure-fire way to feel like a rock star is to volunteer in a kindergarten classroom. When I help out in T.Puzzle’s class once a week, I can’t help but feel amazing. After not seeing the kids in over three weeks due to winter break, they were especially delighted to see me again. This is how one girl greeted me:

“I missed you! I love your shirt! I love your hair! I love your shoes! You smell so pretty!”

That was only in the first five minutes. By the time my two-hour block of time was winding down, I had several lunch invitations and many exclamations of how much I was missed and adored.

It got me to thinking. They think I’m awesome and the feeling is mutual. Why is that? I realized it’s only because we see each other for short windows of time. All we see and look for is the good stuff. If we had to spend loads of time together, the bloom of good cheer most certainly would fade.

Take my relationship with T.Puzzle for instance. It has evolved from a Mommy’s Boy situation to a Stay-Away-From-Mom as much as possible kind of relationship. This tends to put me in a defensive frame of mind when I am evaluating his six-year oldness. Needless to say, my patience with him is sometimes used up even before he has a chance to speak.

What if, just for a moment, I imagined if someone who doesn’t see him very often, like you, were spending time with him? What would you see? Would this help me remember his own unique brand of awesomeness?

If you were meeting T.Puzzle for the first time, you would see a fun-loving, inquisitive, opinionated, confident little man with an extremely high adorability quotient.

Captain America has nothing on this guy!

And guess what?

You’d be right.

children, family, humor, kids, marriage, motherhood, parenting

Moving Day

16/01/2013 WFAM

“Hurry up and get your shoes on. I have something I want to show you and the boys,” Mad Dog declared as he walked in the front door. The boys and I grabbed some shoes and zipped outside. I thought maybe the car was newly washed and shining, or there was a cute, tiny bird that he thought we would want to see.

Nope.

It was a snake.

My life flashed before my eyes, I saw stars and my spirit left my body, hovered over me and watched as I attempted to hold my crumbling emotional exterior together. The boys held their breath as they watched and waited to see how Mom was going to respond. Mind you, they both had beared witness to Dead Lizard-Gate 2012 and could sense things were about to go south.

The snake was slithered up against our garage door. All I could think was, ‘it’s going in my house, it’s going in my house…’. I couldn’t verbalize it because I had lost my ability to speak. In a flash the snake vanished out of sight. Not only did he vanish, but he vanished in the direction of my garage.

At this point, I lost hope. I got very quiet and very sad because I knew the only logical course of action was to pack up and move. Oh, how I am going to miss my house! T.Puzzle, who normally is compassionate towards other forms of life, started marching to the front door shouting,’Kill the snake! Kill the snake!” So much for raising a level-headed, life-cherishing leader for our future. Sorry, America!

What was most difficult for my adrenaline-addled brain to comprehend was why on earth would Mad Dog think I would want to see a snake. To be clear I am terrified of snakes, dead lizards, fire ants, heights, massive crowds, sudden noises like balloons popping or fireworks, and realistically scary movies (I’m talking to you Contagion). Please spare me the knowledge if one or more of these things manifest in our driveway ever again.

Mad Dog I love you. I’m sorry we have to move. We had a good run. I’d write more but I’m pretty sure there’s a snake right behind me. Even if there isn’t, I have a feeling there will always be the memory of that snake watching me and waiting for our moment to get reaquainted. Save yourselves!

children, family, humor, kids, motherhood, parenting

Losing It (Soccer, Teeth and Otherwise)

13/01/2013 WFAM

In the first game of our 3v3 season in U8 soccer, our roster of four (consisting of one eight-year old and three six-year olds in a division against seven and eight year olds), we held our own. While it ended in a tie, it was hard-fought and everyone gave their best effort. T.Puzzle even managed to score his first ever legitimate goal. In his selective remembering, it is his second goal. He is under the impression that last fall he scored. The truth is, and we haven’t had the heart to explain it, he had kicked it in the direction of the goal and while he had turned away to run his victory lap, a teammate actually nudge it in the last couple feet. So, we all celebrated as he got his ‘second’ goal. Naturally, before it even crossed into the net, he raced down the field with his arms victoriously extended in World Cup-like enthusiasm. His joy was contagious.

The second game our World Cup dreams were quickly dashed as an opponent, who it’s very possible drove himself to the field because he seemed adult-sized compared to our team, drilled goal after goal into our net. The younger kids kept on going while Full Speed broke down. When you are a passionate competitor like Full Speed, losing is like taking a bullet. In this case, it was like taking bullet after bullet. Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch….

In the end, I didn’t mind that we lost and badly. It turned into a great opportunity for the boys to learn about life. Sometimes things don’t go your way. It doesn’t matter what the outcome is as long as you handle yourself with dignity. Yes, Full Speed was crushed but he survived. Our focus in the future is to teach him that win or lose, life goes on. However, it’s a lot more fun when you are the one scoring all the goals…just ask T.Puzzle!

In addition to scoring his 'second' and 'third' goals, T.Puzzle lost his very first tooth. Quite a day for this World-Cup future phenom! — In addition to scoring his ‘second’ and ‘third’ goals, T.Puzzle lost his very first tooth. Quite a day for this World Cup future phenom!

children, family, humor, kids, motherhood, parenting

The Return of Quiet

09/01/2013 WFAM

My boys finally(!) returned to school from their winter break this morning. They were home for nineteen straight days but who’s counting? The noise level in my house has decreased by about 1000%. So this is what silence is. Oh, how I’ve missed you!

At breakfast this morning, I asked the boys what they were looking forward to about their return to school. I took recess off the table as an option because that’s what T.Puzzle always chooses. I wasn’t going to let him off easy.

Full Speed said, “Math!”

Then, it was T.Puzzle’s moment to share,

“Lunch.”

Why didn’t I see that one coming a mile away?

motherhood

Zoo Light Delight

05/01/2013 WFAM

Let’s face it. Being the lone female in the house no one likes to listen to me. It seems whenever I give a suggestion, it is automatically denied. Take bike rides for instance. I love them. I could do them for hours and hours. Suggest a bike ride to my crew and they collectively groan. Full Speed has been my most resistant rider. He had been so adamantly against bike riding, he fought tooth and nail when it came time to ride without training wheels. I didn’t understand it. I learned when I was five and loved it. I rode like the wind except being the youngest on my block, it was a very slow, always-came-in-last-place kind of wind.

Over time, I’ve chipped away at this resistance. Now, dare I say it? He loves to bike ride, too. That’s the thing about all my boys, they have taught me to stick to my guns and hang in there with just about anything. So, if I want something, I declare it and eventually it will be so. It may not be pretty, it may take six years, but it will be so. Hey, I got Mad Dog to propose, that alone is worth its weight in gold.

This holiday break I decided to push our family limits. I was determined we would attend our zoo’s light festival. I had mentioned it early and often each time coming up against the usual resistance. When we finally squeezed it in to our schedule, it was if doom was upon us. There were long faces, questions as to how long we would be there and a general sense of ‘this ain’t gonna be fun’.

Before we exited the car I made each of my guys (Mad Dog included) promise to only speak positively of what was to happen. If they couldn’t think of something nice, they would have to keep their thoughts to themselves.

As soon as we entered the gates the newness, the bright lights and the excitement overtook the boys. Full Speed declared, keeping it positive naturally, “I’ve never done this and I can already say I’m having the best time ever!”

Of course the lit up dinosaurs didn’t hurt…

Maybe Mom knows what she’s talking about after all.

Pass it on!