children, gratitude, happiness, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

You & Me

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This is why it is good to be a Mommy of a five year old boy.  They have yet to develop a searing need to be completely independent of you.  They miraculously even think you’re pretty cool, too.  And for a woman whose age scale has begun its inevitable tip toward the middle, any accolade of cool is much appreciated.

I took my sort of cool self to Full Speed’s class to volunteer.  It was a perfect way to meet his new teacher, she’s very nice by the way, and see what’s what.  It was an early dismissal day and there was pizza.  I helped with the food, the clean-up and with whatever odds and ends she threw at me.  Full Speed’s classmates were extremely adorable and I had a great time meeting them.

When I asked Full Speed what his favorite part of the morning was he said, “When you came in to visit me.”

And that’s when my ego grew three times its normal size.

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children, gratitude, happiness, humor, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting, tantrums, terrible threes

Wha?

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T.Puzzle had an interesting statement.

“I not cry at drop-off today, Mommy.”

Wha?

Did my often unpredictible, at times overly emotional, fully commited to the terrible threes child tell me he wasn’t going to throw a tantrum?

I’ve heard of out of body experiences.  This was mine.

My loyal readers will understand the magnitude of what T.Puzzle was saying to me.

My motherhood journey to this moment has been anything but easy.

And now, here we are.

Tearless drop-offs for T.Puzzle.

What’s next?

Armageddon?

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children, happiness, kids, life in pictures, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Little Bits of Freedom

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Over the weekend Mad Dog and I took the boys to a big, shady park.  The weather is finally starting to be less oppressively humid and outings to parks will be back on our regular agenda.  For Full Speed and T.Puzzle this is a beautiful thing.

It has been a few months since they have been at a park.  They have grown and matured even if I can’t see it fully in our day to day life.  They actually were able to run the park without me having to follow them.  Full Speed had already achieved this status a while ago, but this was the first time we were able to let them both run free.  T.Puzzle was able to physically master all the twists and turns of the convoluted park equipment.  His every movement was no longer precarious and panic-inducing.  He also has a better handle on his emotions so the chance of him physically lashing out at a fellow playground patron has also decreased substantially.  Of course Mad Dog and I didn’t take our eyes off of either of them.  We found a bench under a gorgeous live oak tree and sat back, watched the boys play and had an actual conversation.  

I didn’t know this was possible in a park setting.  I have spent the past years chasing, climbing and begging my boys to behave.  Playdates at the park have consisted of me running around like a crazy person and occasionally lobbing a thought at the Mom who met us there.  We never engaged in a full-length conversation.  The safety of my boys and my constant supervision of them to stop attacks on other kids prevented this.

So, to sit back and watch them have fun and actually feel relaxed was extraordinary.  I guess this is an example of the little bits of freedom parents gradually gain back as their children grow and mature.

Awesome.

children, humor, kids, kindergarten, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Kindergarten: Take Two

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Full Speed is embracing his change of class.  I hope it continues to go smoothly for him.

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I’m trying to let this transition unfold naturally even though my Mommy instinct is screaming for me to micromanage the heck out of it.  As soon as I caught wind of his move I wanted to personally escort him to his new class, meet his new teacher (interviewing her at great length of course), set up a detailed and daily email dialogue with her and the principal of the school and actually attend kindergarten with Full Speed at least for the first week (or two)in his new classroom.

Instead, I am taking deep breaths, pretending I am a rational human being and letting the staff of the school handle this change as they see fit.

All I can do is ask Full Speed where his new classroom is (okay, so I asked him like twenty times!) and since he repeatedly gave the same answer and seems to know where he is going, drop the kid off like every other kindergarten morning before us, wave goodbye and say, “Have a great day, Full Speed!”

Now, if only I could somehow manage to jury rig a video surveillance apparatus to his backpack…

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

Bumped

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We were all set to host our friends for dinner.  Since we are the couple with the young kids, it’s most practical for them to come to our house.  That way they can still see the boys and after we put Full Speed and T.Puzzle to bed, we have the chance to have an actual uninterrupted conversation.

At least this was the plan.

Apparently, plans were made to be broken as well as the heads of overactive children.

Ten minutes before our guests arrive Full Speed does a swan dive off the couch onto our hardwoood floor.  Through his screams of pain Mad Dog was able to triage his damaged noggin.  And wouldn’t you know it, Full Speed managed to land on precisely the same spot that had been the reason for a July trip to the emergency room.

Injury #1

Fortunately this time the goose-egg reached about an eighth of the size of the previous injury.  No emergency room visit was required for Full Speed.

Injury #2

However Mom required many, many glasses of wine with her dinner.