Category: parenting

children, humor, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Luck of the Draw

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I know I allow for sword play in my home.  Let me clarify NERF sword play.  Okay, the nerf doesn’t really do much to counteract injury and damage.  I am always trying to balance letting my boys ‘be boys’ and keeping my world safe and sane.

At breakfast I was not in the mood for sword shenanigans of any sort.  There was something about the way T.Puzzle precariously started swinging his sword about that my breakfast wasn’t sitting right in my stomach.  Maybe it was the cool breeze I felt as the sword sliced the air near my face.  Or maybe it was the way the fancy wine glasses hanging on display off our kitchen trembled with fear.

I do not know.

I do know that I was having none of it.

“Okay, that’s it, put the sword away,” I commanded.

“Aaaawwww, man,” a clearly disgruntled T.Puzzle retorted.

He dropped his sword in defeat and slouched down.

“I guess I’ll just have to play with a gun instead.”

Really, how lucky can one Mom get?

children, humor, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Chair Diving

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What’s a Mom to do to entertain her youngest while her older child attends a soccer camp?

Books?

Puzzles?

Art projects?

Been there, done that.

T.Puzzle has since moved on to chair diving.

On the bright side, no furniture, glasses or limbs were broken during the filming of this video:

[wpvideo XzMt97eC]

children, humor, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting, tantrums

Stubborn Dancer

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While Full Speed is doing his thing at a morning soccer camp this week, T.Puzzle and I checked out storytime at the library.

We have a spotty past with storytimes.  In theory they seem like a wonderful thing.  In practice they tend to take nightmarish turns. Essentially quiet sitting+crowded room=disaster.

I figured with T.Puzzle being older and since I was playing him man to man, I had a decent shot at some actual enjoyment of the experience.

As we filed in the soon-to-be overcrowded room, I still felt confident.  I believe the line between confident and crazy is paper thin.

Then, the backslide into silliness began.

T.Puzzle couldn’t keep up with all the steps of the African dance that accompanied the safari story.  He folded his arms, pouted and defiantly declined to participate.  He plopped to floor and I could see a tantrum starting to brew under his frowny face.

I refused to let him win.

I grabbed him close and positioned his ear so that I could speak directly in it.

“If you want to go to the park after this, you better adjust your attitude and participate the best you can.  If you continue with this stinky face I’m taking you home and putting you to bed.”

From that point on a finer African dancer I have yet to meet.

T.Puzzle does his thing at park last year.

children, gratitude, happiness, humor, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Generosity of Spirit

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When we receive important news, we often are able to describe in detail where we were and what we were doing when first learn of it.

It was 10:14 a.m.  I was seated at the computer checking emails.  I had on shorts and a printed purple tank top that I had worn to my morning workout.   It was sunny and the heat of the day was beginning its usual build-up.  I wore no make-up, my hair was scrunched back in a haphazard ponytail and my brow was furrowed with concentration as I scrolled through my inbox.  I heard my phone beep to alert me of an incoming text.

Grandma wanted to know if she could take both boys overnight.

Do mothers like cocktails?  Is summer hot in Florida? 

I was feeling so generous of spirit after this offer I was willing to give her the whole weekend with them. 

Who knows, I may even let her have them for all of July.

I’m that generous.

children, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Summer Changes

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For most of us in my neighborhood, today is the first official day of summer vacation.  As the usual group of moms gathered outside the main exercise room at the gym, the stories of motherly frustration began to flow.  There were kids who refused to get up, who didn’t want to eat breakfast and who kicked and screamed all the way to the gym kid zone. 

We are all in the same boat.  Summer will be a fun change of pace but there will be some bumps in the road.

My favorite comments were from a Mom who has a grown daughter.  She said that frustration is part of being a mother.  The moms you have to watch out for are the ones who say their kids are “perfect” and everything about motherhood is “easy” and “always wonderful”.   

It’s okay to lose patience with your children as long as you don’t pretend that you never have.