Tag: growth

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

Changes

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I understand there are laws that govern classroom size.

I understand that moving kids three weeks after school starts to a new teacher and classroom is ultimately in the best interest of the school.

But, really, did it have to be my kid?

Does this look like a kid who is happy to be moving to a new room?

I believe that eventually many wonderful things will happen with this transition.  Full Speed will learn valuable skills about handling change, he will meet new friends and he will love his new class as much as his old.  Maybe even more if we are lucky.

However, when life is teaching us lessons, it would be helpful if there was a nanny on stand-by to intervene at the inevitable angry outbursts of a five-year-old when change is upon us.

Any volunteers?

children, eyesight, gratitude, happiness, mommyhood

The Climb of Progress

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There is a positive side to having active boys with vision issues. It makes them more cautious especially at great heights and forces them to slow down a notch. Anything that slows down my always-in-motion boys at looming heights is a plus.

The downside is that when they were smaller both loathed to swing, they cried and screamed when introduced to a new climbing apparatus and they generally caused a scene if they felt unsafe. Through the years I have learned to adapt and so have they. I’ve learned when to push, when to back off and when to throw my hands up in defeat while taking a long draw of drink from my handy travel flask. Of course with time and age, the boys learned by doing that they are safe at the tops of a slides and Full Speed is now fearless (lucky me???).

Little T.Puzzle, well, he’s still a work in progress.

So, as I approached our outing to the play area at Chik-fil-a, I had very low expectations. T.Puzzle started out very cautiously and when he went down the slide he screamed and wailed. I was just about to wrap it up when he did something unexpected. He kept going. The more he went, the more confidence he built and by the end he was circling the climbing apparatus in a happy loop.

This kid is growing by leaps and bounds. I might just be able to retire my travel flask sooner than I thought. Most likely I will always hold onto it for sentimental reasons (at least that is what I will tell Mad Dog).

Way to go, Little T.Puzzle!