humor, kids, mommyhood

Funny Full Speed

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I had agreed a couple days prior to meet some friends and their kids at the movie theater in the evening to see “The Spy Next Door”. Mad Dog was planning on watching a football game and had done so much while I’ve been sick, I wanted to take the boys out to give him a break from us (let’s just say that I have been less than pleasant to be around as of late).

The movie was just okay but Full Speed’s reactions to the fight sequences were the stuff of which legends are made. My girlfriends and I were cracking up at him as he leapt about, shouting, karate-chopping and kicking with whole-hearted enthusiasm. His energy was contagious and since T.Puzzle only gave me minor attitude at the theater, I ended up enjoying the experience immensely. Thank you, Full Speed.

When it was over I linked hands with both boys and headed to the truck. To get my boys loaded, I always start with T.Puzzle’s side, and then while he is climbing in, I get Full Speed seated and buckled.

Since it was pitch black outside except for the intermittent, humming parking lot lights, little T.Puzzle asked if we could go see Christmas lights. Try explaining that the holiday season is over to an unpredictable, moody three year old who has their heart set on ‘Christmas lights!’. It didn’t go well. He was so mad he refused to climb in his car-seat when I opened his door.

“Well, I guess T.Puzzle is just going to get run over, then,” says Full Speed nonchalantly.

That made me laugh all the way home.

kids, loss of parent, mommyhood

Sunny Skies

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As you readers are well aware, I have been facing my share of challenges with little T.Puzzle and his emotional outbursts. Thankfully, I went through similar challenges with his older brother (we all survived!), and if you can believe, T.Puzzle is actually less of a handful to manage. Of course, beginning a New Year feeling extremely sick (I was back at the doctor again today) and realizing this is a year that will have no new memories of my Mom, I haven’t been dealing very positively with T.Puzzle. If I felt super-heatlhy and was grief-free, I would be frustrated and sigh a few times, but I would know that it is only a phase. I would maybe exhibit more patience and emit a more positive vibe. That would possibly help more than any amount of discipline I impose on him.

To try to change the energy between us, I spent extra one-on-one time with him yesterday. Full Speed was gone for the day/night with his Grandpa on a camping trip so I seized the moment. I picked up little T.Puzzle from school early, took him on a long bike ride, stopped at a nature spot to look for frogs (there were none, it was too cold). Then, after I fed him dinner, we went and sat on the lanai and snuggled under a blanket. We sang songs, talked about all the things we could see and made each other laugh. At one point I leaned down and wordlessly kissed his forehead. He looked up and said, “I love you, too, Mommy.” It felt good.

I know I have to make more of an effort to meet T.Puzzle halfway. He is going through the same transitions of growth as his brother before him. For whatever reason this is very hard for him. It’s hard for all of us.

And it all comes down to this. There’s a reason your kids look so incredibly angelic and peaceful when they sleep. It helps you remember on your worst days, that beneath the storm; sunny skies are always within our reach.

children, mommyhood, tantrums

The Messy End

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Full Speed and I were in the middle of a serious debate at breakfast. “If your mind tells your body what to do (he learned this in Tae Kwon Do as the definition of self-control), then what tells your mind what to do?”

“Well, your mind knows what’s in your heart and that’s how it knows what to do,” says me.

I could tell the heart concept was not falling in his realm of understanding. I could sense a complicated course of reasoning about to happen.

Full Speed looks at me a little blankly and says, “Maybe my ears tell my mind what to do.”

“Yes, that’s it exactly, Full Speed. Your ears tell your mind which tells your body what to do,” I ramble out hoping this ends the debate. Thankfully, he is happy with this explanation and we move on with our day.

Mad Dog takes Full Speed to school while T.Puzzle and I are left behind. The window on my truck busted yesterday and I now have to wait for the service center to call me and send over a shuttle to pick me up.

I decide to take advantage of my time at home and delve into the first chore on my to-do list. I have a basket full of dirty laundry hooked under one arm and a gaggle of hangers in the other. T.Puzzle is on my heels as I head to the stairs to make my way down to the laundry room.

“Hold my hand!” he demands.

“I can’t right now, Mommy’s hands are full,” I reply.

Well, he is having none of that. He melts down into a level seven tantrum that lasts over twenty minutes (I timed it). I decide the best thing to do is to ignore it. At about eighteen minutes in I contemplate talking to him and giving him some choices between stopping crying and watching a show of his choice, or sending him to his room if the crying continues. I decide that talking to him may only increase the tantrum’s intensity and opt to continue to ignore him.

I’m glad I waited it out even if my nerves were frayed to the edge of snapping. He stops. There’s no particular reason why. He placidly comes down the stairs and looks up at me with sad, sad eyes.

“I pooped,” he says.

“Of course you did,” I say.

How is it that even if you can get your tantrum-prone child to finally calm down, that you still find yourself up to your elbows in poop?

children, mommyhood, self-discovery

Who We Really Are

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Have you ever pondered why the only prerequisite to parenthood is that you are human?  So many of us eventually have children whether by choice, miracle or accident. How do you know if you are any good at it? How much of how your children turn out falls on your shoulders? I wrestle with these thoughts all the time.  Is my boys’ behavior, both good and bad, a direct result of me? Or, are they just who they are and they happened to fall into my family much like a lottery winner stumbles upon their fortune?

Parenting is not black or white. It doesn’t tidy-up into neat compartments of do this or don’t do that. Each child is unique as are the parents, the environment, genetics,…. the variables are infinite.

I know I am succeeding in many areas of parenting and falling short in others. As I have learned from my own parents and now am starting to truly believe, parenting mistakes aren’t the end of the world. Maybe, just maybe, despite all the mistakes that I might be making as a parent, T.Puzzle and Full Speed may turn out alright after all. Maybe it’s the mistakes that will show them who they really are. I already know they are fantastic, but it’s up to them to discover that for themselves.

health, kids, mommyhood

Another Day, Another Vitamin

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I may not do a lot of things consistently when it comes to the boys nutrition, but I am religious about giving them a daily multi-vitamin. Since I have been frequenting my local Walgreens due to my family’s varying degrees of illness, I remembered to pick up a fresh supply of children’s vitamins. There wasn’t much of a selection so I grabbed the largest one I could find that happened to be Flintstones Gummy vitamins. I had grown up consuming the hard, candy-like chewable variety of Flintstones and I had a fleeting wave of nostalgia overcome me. The next day I didn’t think twice as I passed around the Flintstones. I grabbed a couple and popped them in my mouth. I was quite surprised to realize they were like rubber cement. I could barely gnash and gnarl my way through them. I look up and see little T.Puzzle has one in his mouth and is fighting his way through it. His face is red, his fists are clenched and he is grunting like a crazy ape.

“These are hard to chew,” I manage to sputter out.

“No they’re not,” states Full Speed.  “All you have to do is swallow them whole.”

My heart drops to my shoes. My mind immediately races to the thought that these vitamins are a serious choking hazard. I thought the whole idea of a multi-vitamin was to preserve and protect my children’s health not endanger it.

Needless to say when I was at Target today I stocked up on loads and loads of SOFT, chewy vitamins. No worries dear readers, T.Puzzle and Full Speed will live to see another day.