Tag: kids

children, gratitude, happiness, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Eye of the Tiger

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It finally happened.  Mad Dog now has an office less than five minutes from our house.

Since Mad Dog seems to struggle with work/life balance, this should help him considerably.  I hope he uses his saved commute time for good and not… more work.

Either way, it’s nice to know that he is nearby even if we can’t see him.

T.Puzzle and Full Speed were thrilled as we dropped Mad Dog at his new office.

“When are you taking me to work, Daddy?” asked T.Puzzle.  Apparently working with Dad is pretty amazing.  There’s work, there’s time to play with matchbox cars and don’t forget the best part which is a hot breakfast.

We said our goodbyes and as we drove away I explained that in the evening we would be able to pick up Mad Dog from work and go to dinner as a family.

“It’s a good thing we are going to get him, Mom,” Full Speed said.  “He’s not going to be able to see.”

“Why is that, Full Speed?”

“It will be dark and dangerous.  There might be tigers hiding in the trees that could get him, too.”

I had no idea the neighborhood we lived in is teeming with such danger.

I have called Mad Dog many things (most of them good), but tiger bait, well, that’s definitely a new one.

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children, eyesight, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Hold My Hand

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This week’s beautiful weather has afforded me the use of a bike to pick up Full Speed from kindergarten.  Mad Dog’s bike has a nifty trailer attachment that turns any regular bike into a tandem.  Full Speed loves it and so do I.  Whenever I greet him outside the school the first thing he says to me is, “Bike, today?”   His face lights up when the answer is yes.

As I grabbed his hand he shared some about his day as we headed to our bike.  He loops his hand through mine out of habit.  He doesn’t need to because we only cross through a crowd of people to reach our bike.  I don’t tell him not to.  I know my days of holding his hand are numbered.  I do my best to memorize the weight of his hand in mine and note that it feels fantastic.  Oh, how I will miss this.

“Mom, I had a vision and hearing test at school today.  I think I did really good for the hearing and I did just okay for the vision.  There’s a paper in my backpack that tells you all about it.”

I can’t help it.  My stomach lurches a little at the thought of reading his vision test results.  Just because I think his vision functioning is more than sufficient for school, doesn’t mean that the school nurse will agree.

When we get home I open his bag with trepidation and read the results.

20/50 for both eyes.  There’s a note attached that he needs an eye exam pronto.

Now my job will be to delicately explain to the school nurse that Full Speed’s had regular eye exams since the tender age of 20 months old and 20/50 vision is downright spectacular for him.

When I speak with the school nurse later I tell her only a slice of Full Speed’s vision history.   Over time I’ve learned that once you have a label, especially one with a medical diagnosis attached, it is hard for people to classify you as anything other than that.

So far I think I’ve been able to strike a balance for Full Speed.  I send him into new situations without disclosing any of his vision issues, and let everything unfold in its own time.  Right now, all he is to the world is an inquisitive and bright kindergartener.

And I’m the lucky lady who gets to hold his hand.

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gratitude, happiness, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting, self-discovery

Choices

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In life you can’t choose your family.   You are born into a family and all its complicated dynamics whether you are ready for it or not.  If you decide at some point to have children of your own, the only thing you control is who you choose to help you parent this family.   Sometimes, circumstances make this choice seem impossible as well.

So what can you do?

You could spend your days wishing you were someone else.

Or, you could look at your life, accept it for what it is and be thankful for the ways, even the smallest ways, that you can make a choice.

Today, I am choosing to look at all the ways that my life and family are good.  I can say I am truly thankful to have two, wild rambunctious boys that keep my life crazy but ultimately undeniably interesting.  I am thankful to have a true partner in Mad Dog.  To know he’s got my back will carry me through anything.

I realized if all I do is look at my life as a disaster, then that is exactly what I will find.

If I choose to look at how amazing it is in this very moment, that might be exactly what I find, too.

What choice would you make?

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

Work Issues

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Sometimes my husband works a lot (those of you who know him, try not to choke!).

He is (and always has been) putting in long hours to provide for me, my boys and our future.  Even though the amount of time he spends working can be frustrating, I can’t fault him for this.

It has been a challenge at times taking on the lion’s share of parenting with my boys.  You’ve read my blog.  You know why.

Being frustrated about it gets me no where.

Well, except for the occasional bouquet of spectacular flowers:

All in a day’s work.

children, happiness, humor, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Clean Slate

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If you are new to this blog, meet Full Speed and T.Puzzle. The most calm and quiet brothers you will ever know who always, always behave. For everyone else, please disregard my previous posts. It's time to wipe the slate clean.

We made it.  To IHOP that is.  The boys were well behaved, the food good and we met some friends there as well.

Full Speed and T.Puzzle were excellent.

Let me repeat that.

Full Speed and T.Puzzle were excellent.

We went to Full Speed’s book fair after IHOP and you will never guess.  They were excellent there, too.  I mean really, really good.  It was swarming with people and chaos.  They never wandered far from my side and patiently ( yes, that’s right, I said patiently) waited in the very long line to purchase our books.

You could have knocked me over with a feather.

We came home, got in our pjs and curled up to read our new books.

I couldn’t have written a better ending to our night so I won’t.

The. End.