Category: motherhood

children, eyesight, gratitude, humor, life in pictures, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

A Lesson in Swimming

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We finished soccer just in the nick of time to start swim lessons.  Apparently there is no rest for the weary in our household.

I wasn’t sure how these lessons would go.  Full Speed is old enough and adapts well so I figured he would be okay.  I was more worried about T.Puzzle especially once the instructor confirmed the boys would not be allowed to wear their glasses in the pool.  This did not sit well with me.  I know it is necessary and I’m all about deferring to the instructor.  She has been doing this for years and I have to help her establish that what she says is the law.

Everything went smoothly with Full Speed except that he was a freezing, chattering mess by the end.  T.Puzzle was a different story.  He melted down early and often.  It was hard to sit and watch.  I had to resist the urge to jump fully clothed into the pool and rescue him.  Eventually, the instructor got him calm and he slowly began to overcome his fear.  By the end of the lesson he was determined to do whatever she asked of him and do it better than his brother had.  Sibling rivalry in this instance was a beautiful thing.

Full Speed looks on as T.Puzzle practices how to get safely out of the pool.

By watching T.Puzzle work through his fear I realized something.  If T.Puzzle can conquer a pool without glasses, he is going to be ready for anything life throws at him.

Except maybe his overprotective Mom hurtling herself towards him if he ever goes anywhere near the deep end of the pool.

Being brave is tiring
children, humor, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Forget and Forget

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A Disney trip when the boys were younger. At least there were open spaces and lots of kid-geared activities making this 'vacation' quite fun.

I was on the phone with a friend and before our conversation turned to more serious matters we discussed an interesting facet of motherhood.  We are both amazed how quickly people who no longer have small children forget how hard it is to travel with them.  They have all sorts grandiose ideas about international trips that include the extended family or they talk of cruises that last for fourteen days (fourteen days!!).  What this would mean for parents with very young and/or very rambunctious children is entirely different than for a family or couple with older/calmer or completely grown children. 

The thought of being trapped on a boat for fourteen days, and I don’t care how big it is, with my boys is enough for me to shout, “Woman overboard!”  Imagining my friend traveling across oceans with her little clan of young kids makes my skin crawl with anxiety for her.  Essentially this ‘vacation’ would simply mean she would be responsible for all her regular motherhood duties with the added bonus that her kids would be jetlagged and out their minds without their routine or familiar surroundings.  Nothing international is worth this kind of stress.  Nothing.  Not even a George Clooney sighting in Italy would take the sting away.

So, the question is, how do people forget how hard it is?  And please, if you know, share how to do so with me immediately.

gratitude, kids, kindergarten, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting, self-discovery

It’s Time

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Full Speed on kindergarten screening day. Where did the time go?

We all have the ability to stop what we are doing and allow ourselves to be awakened to the present moment.  For me, it happens in the most random situations.  I was helping Full Speed’s home room Mom decorate his teacher’s door for teacher appreciation week.  Then it hit me.  Full Speed is almost done with kindergarten.  I let this thought settle over me.  It made me feel a pit of resistance in my stomach.  This year has gone by too fast.  He is getting older.  Every day he needs me a little bit less.  Every day I want to hold on to him tighter.  Instead, I have to let him go more freely.

I snapped out if it.  I returned to the task at hand.  The door was appropriately decorated and it was time to go.  Still some sadness over watching my boy grow up clung to me.

Full Speed had not felt well over the weekend.  He was tucked into bed early that evening to help combat whatever virus he was fighting.  After he was resting, Mad Dog and I heard an indistinguishable yelp from his room.  Mad Dog ran to investigate.  There was blood and Full Speed was visibly shaken.  Mom was called in for back-up.  The initial thought was Full Speed’s virus was now becoming more serious causing him to spew blood. 

Nope.  It was only a loose tooth that needed to come out.

I was so relieved.  And then I wasn’t.

The loss of a first tooth means baby teeth are making way for the grown up ones. 

I don’t like it.  I don’t like it at all.

Thankfully the tooth fairy is better adjusted to the growth of children than I am and left Full Speed a generous gift of money. 

Too bad she can’t give us back the gift of time while she’s at it.

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bad day, children, humor, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Booted

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Mad Dog on the field in happier, less questioning times...
A football (or soccer ball) icon.
Image via Wikipedia

In Mad Dog’s soccer history, which believe me is full of fascinating tidbits, while he was aggressively thundering through his high school career, he never ever got kicked out of a game.  Yellow card, yes.  Booted?  Not once.

Well, times change.  Mad Dog got himself booted from the last game of T.Puzzle and Full Speed’s season.  It didn’t matter that he was the coach.  He. Got. Booted.

It was the strangest thing to watch.  Parents and spectators alike were beyond befuddled.  One minute the game is going along smoothly, the next the referee marches off the field and Mad Dog takes to the bench.  Eventually, he had to remove himself completely from the field.  Apparently the ref couldn’t even stand to look at him.

This particular referee and Mad Dog had developed a contentious relationship over the course of the season.  She didn’t like to consistently follow the rules and Mad Dog consistently questioned this logic.

I live in a house of questions.  If one boy isn’t asking me something most surely another one is.  These questions can be polite, that isn’t the issue.  Sometimes it’s the quantity of the questions that wears on one’s sanity.

I’m not saying Mad Dog wasn’t right to want rule consistency for his team.  Asking about it a lot did little to help his case.  So what happened?

He got booted.

I have to admit, he handled it like a gentleman.  I’m sure most in his situation would have gone off the deep end when asked to leave the field.  He did what he was told and remained calm.

On the flipside parents were outraged.  Some began to chant, “Win it for Coach!’  Which to the shock of all in attendance, our team actually did (we were like 1-5 at this point and while we have heart, we lack in pretty much anything else required of good soccer). 

We may have played mostly unskilled and unremarkable soccer throughout the season, but friends, this is a season that will go down in history.

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children, humor, kindergarten, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Good Manners vs. Bad Behavior

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I was volunteering in Full Speed’s class, which when given a chance to interact with the kids, I thoroughly enjoy.  It’s a lot more entertaining than if I get sent off to make copies or cut paper.  I love to watch Full Speed in the classroom setting.  He’s impatient, antsy, full of answers even to questions that aren’t being asked and rather comical.  A lot of the kids like to share with me that Full Speed is ‘silly’ or ‘funny’.  I interpret this to mean ‘ the teacher has her hands full keeping him in line’.  So when his teacher pulls me aside to discuss a morning incident concerning Full Speed, I am not surprised.

Apparently there was a scuffle of sorts with a fellow classmate in which Full Speed hit the other child with his lunch box.  When the teacher asked him point-blank why he did it he said, ‘I don’t know, ma’am’.  When pressed further about his intentions he kept politely replying, ‘I don’t know, ma’am’.

The bad news is that Full Speed can be a little hotheaded; the good news is his manners will be impeccable when questioned in a court of law.

I’m so relieved.