motherhood

mothering fail

Melissa 2 Comments
  • The other morning Ellie woke me up at 5:45. I told her to go back to bed. Not super gently.
  • Then Colin woke up at 6. And we immediately went to the potty, since mornings are usually the only time he manages to go potty lately. He somehow peed sideways (!?!?!?!?) and managed to get himself, the floor, the wall and the carpet in the hallway (?!?!??!??!!!!) wet.
  • I got him cleaned up, sent him up to our bed and cleaned up the mess.
  • Finally at 7:00 we all went downstairs for breakfast. Where Colin dropped his yogurt in his lap (That’s organic! Do you know how much that cost!?!?) Then someone knocked over their orange juice.
  • Did I mention we’re overrun with ants? So the orange juice should really help this issue.
  • And that this was the only morning all week that we had to be out the door by 8:30?

I did not handle this well. Let’s just leave it at that.

I have tons of excuses. I’m tired. My husband had been traveling all week. My allergies are making me feel awful….

But those are not excuses. Now that I’m looking back at it, I wasn’t even angry at them. I was angry because I was inconvenienced and my morning wasn’t going as planned.

I apologized.
Hugs were given and accepted.
We started over.
Once again.

 

 

we interrupt this blogging for a minor meltdown

Melissa 5 Comments

My house is driving me crazy. CRAZY I TELL YOU. There is stuff everywhere. And none of it is in the right place. Remember the case of the missing alarm clock? That is my life lately. I cannot find anything (and neither can my family, but that's actually normal).

I'm selling in a bi-annual consignment sale this weekend and it always launches me into a major house purge – cleaning out kids rooms, dragging baby stuff out of the attic (Anyone need a crib? Or baby swing?), reorganizing closets, not to mention cleaning up from the water leak that had us pulling up the carpet in our family room once again last week.

I'm exhausted. But exhilarated. A good turn-the-house-upside-down clean out is just what the doctor ordered. I'm feeling better already.

So far, I have reorganized the crawl space, cleaned out the mud room and utility room, cleaned out the family room and Colin's room. A trip to IKEA is scheduled since we need another bookcase and various storage thingys. (Somehow having the Nook has not slowed down our book purchases. We have issues.) What's left? Ellie and Gracie's room and my closet.

Hold me.

 

sometimes i’m glad i overhear things….

Melissa 4 Comments

I heard the sounds – Colin and Gracie were jumping on his bed again.
We’ve been discouraging this practice, seeing as Colin tends to not be able to contain his bounces and ends up hitting walls, other people, the ground, etc.

I walked over to his room to tell them to stop and heard them talking:

Gracie: “Colin, who made you?”
Colin: “GOD!”
Gracie: “What else did God make?”
Colin: “ALL THINGS!”
Gracie: “Why did God make all things?”
Colin: “Because He GOD and make ALL things!”
Gracie: “No, Colin, God made all things for his glory! Can you say that?”
Colin: “For his LORY! YAY!”
Gracie: “Okay. Now how do we glorify God?”

She was teaching him his catecism questions. I just couldn’t interrupt.

Oh, the sweetness.

 

to my sweet sweet girl

Melissa 8 Comments

Today you are eight. You're so very very big. I see every day I'm reminded that you're getting older, leaving bits of childhood behind.

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Don't grow up too soon, baby girl. Not too soon.

Keep climbing trees, keep believing your stuffed animals have feelings, keep hiding your blankey under your pillow, keep chasing fireflies, keep dancing in front of the mirror and never ever stop believing you're a princess.

Happy Birthday, my sweet Ellie.

the lesson of failure

Melissa 4 Comments

Ellie studied for weeks for her big math facts test. Every night she practiced and practiced, getting better and better. She was ready. She was so excited. She couldn’t wait to show her teacher how much better she had gotten at her math facts.

We sent her off to school brimming with confidence and a smile on her face.

She got off the bus and, the second she made eye contact with me, she burst into tears.

Through her tears, she told me she had gotten her worst math facts score ever.

And I was left with a little girl, sobbing, and asking why. Why – when she had worked so, so hard – had she still gotten such a terrible score?

My heart was breaking for her. What could I say? 

I told her I was proud of how hard she had worked. I told her that she had done her best and tried really hard, but sometimes we all have bad tests. I held her, dried her tears and kissed her forehead. Then (since her brother was banging on the bedroom door at this point yelling “MOM! HEY MOM!”) I tucked her into my bed with her favorite book and a little snack for some quiet time on her own.

She’s fine. Its not a big deal. It is – after all- just a math test. And failing is a part of growing up. You can build up your kids confidence all you want – but they are going to fail sometimes. Not everyone is good at everything. Not everyone always wins. Not everyone always gets an “A.”

And I know this is just the beginning – this will happen numerous times as she grows up and it surely doesn’t get any easier. Watching her try so hard and fail was unbelievably difficult. I can only imagine when this begins to happen with things that do matter… unlike this little math test.

I guess my job as a mom is just to pick her up, dust her off and give her the courage to keep trying. Even when I don’t have the courage myself.

 

 

Article first published as The Lessons of Failure on Technorati.

and we have yet another example of my gracefulness

Melissa 6 Comments

So I am 99% sure that I broke my toe last night. I can barely walk today because  my toe is killing me, I can't bend it and I cannot wear most of my shoes.

It wasn't anything heroic or cool, like leaping to the rescue of one of my children orhaving a celebrity step on my foot while we were in Times Square on New Years Eve or something.

I walked into a piece of furniture. In a fully lit room. While wide awake.

Dumb. (And so me.)

Guess that means I won't be wearing any cute shoes for a week or two. Sob! And its wintery and cold, so I can't just wear flipflops and cute sandals. I'm still not sure what I'm going to wear when I have to drive Gracie to school later this morning.

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Notice that part of the nail on my big toe is missing. That was from when I walked into a wall earlier this month

Clearly I have issues.

 

ten things i love about two-year-olds

Melissa 2 Comments

This is a trying age. He's grumpy and moody and demanding. I so get frustrated with him so many times a day. Sometimes I can't wait for him to get out of this stage… but then he does something so super cute, I want him to stay cute forever!

1. He still has to cuddle and rock in the rocking chair every night before bed.

2. Whenever he counts, he ends at ten. "Won, Tooo, Teeee… TEN!"

3. If I leave him at all, he insists on spending the rest of the day at my side, like I'm going to disappear.

4. When I say, "Are you my big boy?" He says, "No. I yo' widdle boy." And when I say, "Are you my little man?" He says, "No, I yo' widdle boy. Daddy widdle man."

5. He still is riveted by Cars, even though he's seen it 3,758 times. He still gets worried when the cars crash, he still cheers when Lightening wins.

6. He calls Wall-E, "EEE-Wall!"And Thomas the Tank Engine "Tommeee" and Elmo "La-La"

7. He is not at all embarrassed to sing along with Taylor Swift.

8. After he wakes up from his nap, I pick him up, carry him to our bedroom and we snuggle in our bed and read a book. And he's so warm and smushy, I can't stop kissing his cheeks!

9. He gets so excited when he sees a puppy. Or a kitty. Or a squirrel. Or a bird. Anything, really!

10. He still fits to snuggle in my lap.

and my favorite:

11. When he randomly runs into the room, says "Na-na-boo-boo, you ca' ga me!" and runs away giggling hysterically.

 

can you relate to this?

Melissa 2 Comments

This is my life of late.

Colin – like most two-year-olds – does not seem to understand the concept of "wait a minute." So we have lots of moments like the video. And lots of conversations that sound like this:
"Hang on, Sweetie, I'm on the phone!"
"I'll be there in a minute!"
"I can't open the door, Colin, just wait. Because Mommy is going potty, that's why."
"I will be there in JUST A MINUTE, Colin!"
"Colin, I can't get you a snack right now because I'm taking a shower."
"I will be RIGHT THERE!"
"I can't reach your drink that you threw on the floor because I'm driving on the highway."
"JUST A MINUTE!!!!!!!!!!"

Anyone know how to explain the concept of waiting to a toddler? I'm not optimistic, since I don't wait very well either and I'm 32….