Full Speed: I promise to be the bestest boy in all the land.
Considering his initial behavior at our New Year’s lunch out by the ocean, this goal may be slightly on the lofty side.
Mad Dog: To get fit and have more patience with my boys.
First of all, I think he looks fantastic as is and secondly, I’m thinking he wanted to add ‘and more patience with my wife’. Since he was speaking this goal directly to me, he was wise to leave that part out.
Me: To have more gratitude for what I already have.
Case in point...
That’s the great thing about motherhood, it gives you many reasons to be grateful. I’m serious, mostly…, and no, I haven’t fallen and hit my head (at least not badly).
These are some of the lessons I learned throughout 2010.
1. No matter how much you dream it or wish it, you are not in control of your life or your children. It seems the more I try to micromanage Full Speed’s and T.Puzzle’s behavior, the more likely I am to fail and be miserable in the process. Sometimes you have to let go and let them be who they are, even if that means they act wild sometimes, forget their manners and generally drive you and your spouse nuts.
2. On good days, motherhood is about the balance between caring for the needs of your kids and caring for your own needs. On bad days, motherhood is about survival. All you can do is survive until your children’s bedtime, chalk it up to a bad day and start the adventure anew the next day.
3. When the bad stuff happens, it’s your best opportunity to learn.
4. I am extremely lucky to have someone like Mad Dog as my children’s father. Kids love to emulate what they see, and fortunately for me, this means they see love, respect and generosity as a way of life.
Full Speed puts his hands in his pockets just like Mad Dog on our day at the zoo.
5. Frustration doesn’t get you very far. Acceptance, an action plan and forgiveness go a whole lot further in this world.
6. Having kids allows you to remember your own sense of fun. It’s also a great excuse to wear silly hats when you ring in the new year.
It’s Christmas morning and the presents are already unwrapped.
The cookies for Santa are gone, the new toys are already in play and the waffles made by Mad Dog already eaten.
Things start early on Christmas day when your kids are young.
We had some new traditions and kept some old.
on our way to Christmas Eve dinner at a Japanese Steakhouse.
the official reading of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' in our Superman pjs
two very excited brothers get ready to sleep in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would appear.
T.Puzzle announced that ‘Jinker Bells’ was his favorite holiday song.
Full Speed summed up his Christmas Eve experience at church as ‘good AND boring’. It was good because he made a lot of new friends and it was boring because he had to keep ‘standing up the WHOLE time!’
For the introspective lot such as myself, it is a time of reflection.
Some of it sad, like missing loved ones you’d like to have near and most of it glad because of the loved ones you do have with you on this special day.
Mad Dog shows off his new office art.
Life is like a Christmas tree.
Compared to others it may not be the tallest or the brightest. It may not have the most presents or look exactly the way you want it.
If you embrace it for exactly what it is and appreciate how special it is because it is the only one you have, then maybe, just maybe you will realize that you have the tree and the life you were meant to have.
We are in our fourth day of the 17 days Full Speed and T.Puzzle will be home for Christmas break.
I know, you all just said a silent prayer for me.
Thanks, I appreciate it.
My goal, other than the obvious one to remain as sober as possible during this time, is to test the waters to see if I would enjoy having both boys home full-time for the upcoming summer in 2011.
So far, all signs point to yes.
That wasn’t a typo, people. I really wrote that.
Oh sure, T.Puzzle’s bit his brother three times (not to mention his own dear mother), and Full Speed’s imagination is in constant, kinetic motion requiring that he ask a minimum, and I mean minimum, of at least 1,000 questions a day.
In spite of all that, at the end of the day, I am glad to be spending it with them.
Time is fleeting.
My boys are growing.
I must learn to seize the day.
Of course surviving this break would not be possible without two (I know, I thank the heavens every day that I have two) awesome babysitters that feel more like family with each passing day, and a willing parenting partner like Mad Dog, who will hopefully be present a little more on the home front in the coming weeks.
What can I say?
Either I’ve gone off the deep end,
OR
I’ve learned a thing or two along the way.
Or more likely, I’ve learned to accept a kid or two for exactly who they are and learned to go with the flow a little more.
OR
Mad Dog has just signed me up for a lifetime membership to the ‘Wine of the Month’ club.
Once he donned his sparring gear he felt unstoppable.
He attacked with everything he had. His opponent didn’t stand a chance.
Full Speed breaks out his flying spin kick.Go Full Speed!
One of the best parts about being six years old is that life and its lessons haven’t completely caught up to you yet. You still believe in the impossible.
Santa will visit your house.
Life will always good.
And, in Full Speed’s case, you can imagine that you are a six foot, 190 lb. man who can beat anyone or any obstacle with a spin kick and a heart like a lion.
