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

Grocery Stories

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I’d like to take full parenting credit that my boys were excellent for me during checkout.  Instead, I owe it all to the technological era of our time.  They knew if they acted like crazy monkeys they would not get video game time when we got home.  Therefore, they were downright angelic.  Oh sure, there was a point when Full Speed somehow got attacked by the grocery cart and nearly had his ear ripped from his body.  And of course T.Puzzle couldn’t get over that there were no sprinkle cookies left.  He approached a meltdown and with his head hung low rather ungraciously accepted a plain sugar cookie.  The only thing that saved him was he remembered his manners and said ‘thank you, ma’am’ to the very accommodating woman handing out the cookies.  After a few more seconds of nonsense he got over himself, ate the cookie and promptly declared, “That was delicious, I would like to have a second one, please!”

All in all, not a bad day at the store.

I don’t particularly like to resort to all out bribery to get my kids to behave.  I also don’t particularly like to have my children’s pictures on the grocery’s red-alert watch list.

To bribe or not to bribe?

Today, I chose bribery.

You’re welcome, America!

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

Watch and Learn

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I had taken the boys to the pool and sat back and watched as they energetically tackled the slide and sprinklers.  At the top of the slide are two attached water cannons.  When the slide gets crowded these cannons become quite popular.  A boy a good head taller approached T.Puzzle and attempted to yank the cannon from T.Puzzle’s grip.  I had to coach myself to stay put and let it unfold.  As much as I wanted to leap to his rescue I decided to see how T.Puzzle would handle it.  Turns out years of assertiveness training from his older brother paid off.  T.Puzzle stood his ground and as the older boy continued to try to intimidate him with words and a few swings of his arms, T.Puzzle didn’t budge.

I learned a valuable lesson.  The minute you stop trying to control something, especially the behavior or circumstances of your children, these are the moments when they begin to show you who they really are.  If you are really lucky they may show you something unexpected.  They may show you that bullies are only as powerful as you allow them to be and sometimes a four year old can handle a confrontation without hesitation.  That’s when you realize maybe you need to start taking notes from your kids instead of always insisting on being the one who is teaching.

bad day, humor, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

???????????????????

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At what age can I safely take my very active boys to a store and not have that semi-sinking feeling in my gut?  Will I ever be able to run a quick errand with them or will they always, always end up in some sort of time-out by the end of t?  Will they ever let me pay in peace?  Is there a time when I can walk through a parking lot and not have extreme anxiety that one of my flibbertigibbet boys will get maimed or smooshed?

Is it me or is it quite normal to say these questions aloud when there is no one around to listen?

Was today a good day?

Will tomorrow be better?

Will I make it through?

Maybe…

Maybe not…

This is the million dollar question.

children, humor, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Injuries ‘R’ Us

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the boys participating in a rare, non injurious activity

The odds are against us.  I’m noticing that the more hours the boys spend together the threat of injury increases exponentially.  Whether it means a popped lense from a glasses frame (two this week and counting) to an unfortunate biting incident with intensified retaliatation, I’m starting to become concerned.  Every yelp, scrape or karate chop is beginning to illicit real fear in the depth of my soul.  I am pacing around like a crazy woman in mad, little circles with my ears trained for any sign of calamity.  Yesterday, I used almost an entire box of band-aids and that was only for one kid.  I used half a box on the other.  If only they made band-aids that could suture together the frayed remnants of my fragile state of mind.

Keep us in your thoughts and wish us the best.  Or better yet, send us some band-aids.

children, happiness, humor, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Home VS Away

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On one hand I am silently counting the days and minutes until I can send the boys back to school.  On the other hand, I’m not ready for them to go.

Every day is up and down.  One minute they are bouncing off the walls and pushing me to the brink while in the next minute they surprise me with an unexpected laugh or hug.

Full Speed is becoming quite skilled at cracking me up.  He realizes this and now makes a daily effort to do so.

T.Puzzle says random things like, “I don’t want any Mommy in the world but you” and “I love my whole family soooo much.”  He usually accompanies these statements with a downpour of kisses, too.

Maybe I can negotiate with their schools and if they are having a really great morning, I’ll keep them home.  In return on the nutso mornings I will have them promptly to school at eight a.m.

Problem solved!