motherhood – Page 48 – Writes for all Mommies

children, gratitude, loss of parent, motherhood, parenting

Fill the Bucket

10/11/2012 WFAM

7116_137861256780_629966780_3109029_4622371_n — My Mom and me. I owe her all the beauty, humor and light in my life. The rest doesn’t matter because she showed me what love means. Even if you make a mistake or don’t succeed, if you have love in your life, you have everything you need.

Moms don’t really get the credit they deserve. There isn’t actually any quantifiable way to say we are successfully raising our kids. How much are we, as Moms, responsible for the successes and the failures of our kids? At what point do we stop shaping our children’s outcomes and allow them to take personal responsibility for themselves and their own actions? Even into adulthood, are Moms responsible when a grown child isn’t reaching their full potential?

I don’t have the answers. I do know that motherhood can be extremely rewarding but mostly on an intrinsic level. Sure, we have Mother’s Day but in general, our hard work and dedication is rarely recognized on an external level. This really isn’t such a bad thing. I believe life is about being your personal best and if the world sees it, great, and if it doesn’t, that’s okay, too. All that really matters is how you, and you alone feel about the way you are living your life. It also helps if on occasion, your kid says or does something that warms your heart.

Full Speed explained to me that he learned about ‘filling other people’s buckets’ at school. Essentially, by acknowledging others, you ‘fill their bucket’ with kindness and appreciation. He took these words to heart. He told me as he walked over to meet me, that he shared with the crossing guard that he was a ‘really good crossing guard’. Full Speed also plans to tell the lunch ladies on Monday that they are doing ‘a really great job.’

I may not get trophies or a big paycheck honoring the work I do as a mother, but after I listened to Full Speed I thought, “Wow, maybe I had a little something to do with the making of this remarkable kid.”

My bucket is full.

children, family, humor, kids, motherhood, parenting

A Dinosaur Tail

06/11/2012 WFAM

I walked Full Speed into school today to help him drop off some canned goods for the school’s annual food drive. He asked if it was okay to stop by one of his teacher’s rooms to choose his prize for a great report card he recently received.

Why not?

Naturally, he chose the biggest, brightest, most obnoxious looking stuffed dinosaur I have ever seen. The kicker is, he was too embarrassed to carry it (and it was too massive to fit in his backpack). I couldn’t make him choose something else because the night before Mad Dog and I declared that if he was the one earning the good grades, he could choose whatever he wanted (this is before we knew giant dinosaurs were a prize option). Since my back was up against the wall, I decided to set a good example and own it. If I showed him that I didn’t care that the entire school was staring at me, then I could show him that what others think about you, isn’t so important.

I was so proud of myself. Look at me walking through the halls with my dino pal proudly on display. Of course I was in sweats and had not an ounce of make-up on, and let’s be honest, my hair was barely combed into place. I didn’t care. When the sixth graders gave me a shout out of, “Nice, dinosaur!”, I said, “Thanks!” and kept on walking with my head held high. Of course, the younger students treated me like a rock star. This only bolstered my resolve.

I managed to walk my shy, self-conscious self all the way to the front of the school and was home free. That is until a teacher stopped me and pointed out that with each step I took, the dinosaur’s tail swished back and forth behind me as if I was waving a flag of attention to myself. It was bad enough that I shook my ‘tail’ the entire length of the school (believe me, this school is big and the hallways are looong), but to have an adult call me out, it was hard to maintain my composure.

Is it bad if I hope Full Speed’s next report card only gets him into the pencil and small eraser section of the prize closet? All it took was one dinosaur to make me a fan of underachievment.

motherhood

The Teeny, Tiny Pumpkin (HAPPY HALLOWEEN!)

31/10/2012 WFAM

I made the mistake of asking Mad Dog to get me a pumpkin for Full Speed’s class project. Since I would be participating in this day of pumpkins, I was hoping for a delicate, dainty little number that could be sliced and diced in under five minutes. Instead, he came home with a lovely albeit rather large specimen (he claims the seller insisted it was medium size). As I carried this behemoth orange mass down the long, school hallways, my back ached and my arms longed for a cart. Through it all, I kept a surprisingly positive attitude. With Full Speed in my group, we had fun making all sorts of predictions about the size, weight and number of seeds. Then, it was time to find out these measurements and compare them to our predictions. Weighing in at eighteen pounds with a thirty-eight inch circumference, it was one of the biggest pumpkins in all of second grade.

When it came time to cut this beast open, I had a sneaking suspicion that things were about to turn messy. After cutting a neat circle at its top and gently twisting it off, my heart sank. Inside the congealed mess of goo there appeared to be hundreds, if not thousands of pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin insides gross me out in general but this went even beyond that. I was up to my elbows in slimy, smelly pumpkin guts removing the seeds one by one. I tried to get the kids and Full Speed to help me, but mostly they looked on in horror as their faces turned ghastly white. Five hundred and eighty seeds later, give or take a hundred as my counting left much to be desired, we were done. Full Speed’s prediction for seeds was six. Almost, Full Speed. Almost.

The moral of the story is, never ask your husband to buy you stuff for school projects. What you will end up with will most likely cancel out any of the time-saving and/or stress it may have saved you. I have 580 pumpkin seeds to prove it.

children, family, humor, motherhood, parenting

Mad about Soccer

28/10/2012 WFAM

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Mad Dog in coaching mode

There is something maddening about playing cul-de-sac soccer with Mad Dog. He brings out the competitive fire in everyone, even former social workers like me. Sure, I have no problem letting T.Puzzle score a goal on me here and there, but I would sooner give up wine and chocolate than let Mad Dog score a goal. I can’t stand it.

I’m not the only one he affects this way. We had friends over yesterday for our usual Saturday cul-de-sac soccer rumble, and they felt the same way about him. He’s out for blood. You rest or take your eyes off him for a moment and he attacks. Soon, you lose track of yourself entirely. You start kicking the ball as hard as you can, sacrificing your body in ways you no longer thought your middle-aged body can handle (and in reality, really can’t) and fire off shots that sometimes hit your own off-spring in injurious ways (sorry, T.Puzzle, hope your face is better).

I dare you. Play one game against him and logic will leave you.

You also will have the time of your life (please don’t tell him I said that).

children, family, health, humor, kids, motherhood, parenting

Birthday Emergency

22/10/201222/10/2012 WFAM

Full Speed turned 8 last week. I’d like to say it was uneventful. I’d also like to say that my boys are calm. It’s just isn’t possible.

It started off fantastic. We celebrated Full Speed in a myriad of ways. We had dinner with family, cupcakes at school, presents galore and planned to head to the beach for the weekend. My personal highlight was when Full Speed’s birthday wish was, “I hope T.Puzzle’s birthday can be just as awesome as mine.”

Once we were at the beach, before we made it even out the door to the ocean, we had to make a quick detour to urgent care. T.Puzzle had a swollen ear that need to be looked at. Two hours and an antibiotic later, we were cleared for action. I have to admit, playing soccer ocean side is pretty awesome even if your skill level is questionable at best (like mine!). Both boys played with their usual intensity. You wouldn’t have thought anything was amiss. That is until we hit midnight and Mad Dog and T.Puzzle set out for a late night ER adventure (T.Puzzle developed uncontrollable chills, spiked a fever and seemed a mess). Turns out he had bronchitis to boot. The next morning he recounted crazy tales of having to pee in a cup (he thought this was ridiculously funny) and there was not one single person at CVS besides the pharmacist (imagine that! 3am isn’t a happening time for crowds).

T.Puzzle snoozes while receiving a breathing treatment in the ER.

All in all, Full Speed declared birthday number 8 as being one of the best on record (he only was sort of concerned about his brother’s health status) and T.Puzzle has made a full and quick recovery. Mad Dog and I took a little longer to recover. Thankfully, the Buckeyes pulled out a miraculous win on Saturday before we left. Otherwise, that would have been the longest ride home of my life. Go Bucks!