parenting success #356

Tonight, we got our first sobbing, "That's not fair!!"

It took all my emotional strength not to giggle back, "Well life's not fair, kid." Sometimes being the parent is hilariously cliche.

because I'm the mom

I wear shoes when I drive these days because if the car breaks down, I will be carrying the kids home because I'm the mom.

I squash the desire to dance around with glee when my baby only wants to be held by me (and that alternates with near tears of relief when she agrees to be held by some kind soul who offers when the thrill of doing everything one-handed wears off) because I'm the mom.

I am the one who sends the child to his room wailing because he does not want to eat something he loved last week for dinner because I'm the mom.

I have to clean up the mess when one or both children are sick because I'm the mom.

I am the one who gets to snuggle with them late at night and sing "just one more song" because I'm the mom.

I stay up at night worried about the mean kid who pushed my child on the slide and the time my child was the mean kid who didn't want to share and whether my child did the right thing in not sticking up for himself and if I'd really rather he'd gotten into a fight because I'm the mom.

In my son's eyes (for now, at least), I am the most beautiful woman in world, "as beautiful as a butterfly" because I'm the mom.

When a child won't sleep for anything, I will spend my evenings driving around the neighborhood until he finally gives in and falls asleep because I'm the mom. 

I give up the last bite of whatever I've been savoring when a child reaches out a chubby hand for a piece because I'm the mom.

I also get to know where the secret cookies are and eat them when the kids and in bed because I'm the mom.

And when the mom thing gets overwhelming and I'm at my wit's end or in tears or up all night fretting and obsessing and worried I'm ruining them both, I call my mom. And she picks up the phone and always sounds happy to talk to me (even if I woke her up, which she will never admit). And I pretend I can't hear that she's busy and she pretends that she isn't busy or tired or stressed about her own very important things all so she can make me feel better because she's the mom.

Christmas wishes come true

Jonah waited patiently on Christmas for it to snow. Since he's never had a white Christmas, I'm not really sure where he got the idea he'd wake up to snow. Either way, his Christmas wish finally came true. This may be the only snow we get this year, so we did our best to live it up (by tasting the snow, of course).

 

Here is the view out our front door at the snow's peak:

 

 And the same time out back:

Poor Josh has no window in his office. The snow started after he went to school and was all melted before he came home. We were thinking of him, though.

 

 We were trying to wait for Josh to make a snowman with us, but as soon as the sun came out the snow melted really fast. So we ran out and made the best snowman we could. We're really proud of him. Yes, he's covered in sticks, but he does have three distinct body sections. Not too bad for a couple desert rats.

 

 Caroline wasn't so sure about the snow, so most of the playing took place while she napped.

happy MLK day!

Stephanie had the great idea to meet at the Montgomery zoo. Josh had to work, but Kaitlyn and I went off to play for the day.

Me and Stephanie at the zoo. Crazy that Taylor is almost as old as we were when we met.

Caroline loving the swing

Jonah loving Caroline

After a morning at the zoo (in case you were wondering: it was tiny, but the animals seemed well-cared for), we stopped at just a few of Montgomery's historic sites. We missed everything to do with Rosa Parks, which was unfortunate.

Checking out a neat map of Alabama

The Dexter Street Baptist Church

Although they were done giving tours for the day, the people at Martin Luther King Jr.'s home offered to let us walk through the house briefly for $3/adult. We jumped at the chance and got the cutest tour from the most adorable children. Their mother and grandmother apparently give the tours usually, but these boys were intent on giving us a good tour. They did their best to remember all of the lines (and it was cute to see what the 6 or 7 year-old found important: the potato ricer, the old Coke bottle, the bread box, and the armoire) and I really felt awed at the MLK's dedication to peace and justice. As we were leaving, two more groups of unofficial tours were starting. We really appreciated their willingness to stay late and share some of their passion with us. I'm glad we got the kids, though. It was even more special watching them tell the story with such pride and attention to detail.

Outside MLK Jr's home

Do you ever have something that you hear so much about that you just get saturated? I feel that way with news stories long before they stop being interesting to the news stations. Some recipes are that way, too. Well the danger I've found is that I sometimes forget to pay attention to something really important simply because I am tired of hearing about it. I know it's not just me because I have made comments about things that are popular among young ladies my age (making homemade brownie mix or whatnot) and my mom will chuckle and reminisce when that was popular 30 years ago and then definitely not popular for a while after that. Anyway. The point is, though I can't say I was over-saturated with Martin Luther King, I guess I hadn't really stopped to appreciate his story recently. It was an absolute pleasure (and also very sad) to share it with Jonah today. Try explaining racism to a four-year-old and just see how little sense it makes.*

*And toll bridges. He was really put out that we paid at what looked like a drive-through and didn't get anything other than the privilege of driving on that road.

pork tenderloin

The workings of the four-year-old mind are a treasure. Soldier Jo (not to be confused with Jonah, even though they look and sound exactly the same) just finished telling me that the flavor of sausage depends on the kind of flowers the pig ate. That sounds very similar to the conversation we had yesterday about different flavors of honey.

how to make Caroline cry

She won't cry when she falls down, but she will cry if you walk by her with food without giving her some.

You'll find me in Sydney

Tonight is book club and this month's book was my pick. Each time I pick a book, it's an agonizing process. I read a ton, choose and then unchoose book after book, and eventually pick a book that I hope will be compelling and well-written and different without being offensive or too literary to engage busy ladies with a variety of reading tastes. After the book is chosen, I spend the whole month obsessing over if enough women got their hands on a copy and if they're enjoying it and if anyone will even come eat the refreshments I've spent weeks planning. As I spent the day today cooking for tonight, I was reflecting on each of my choices:

The first book I chose for February 2011 was Finnikin of the Rock, one of my all-time favorite books (and if pressed to choose a favorite, this is probably it). The book was not super well-received. I mean, people liked it, but lots had put it down because it was too confusing and there weren't many copies to go around. I remember thinking that it was a good thing I didn't choose another of Marchetta's books I'd strongly considered, Jellicoe Road, because it is also amazing and is even more confusing than Finnikin.

The second book I chose for May 2012 was The Book Thief. I learned my lesson from the time before and chose a book that was easy to get at the library and cheap to buy if anyone felt so inclined. This one was more liked all around, but it is a little unusual in its narration. Of course, I don't mind that at all, but I am sensitive to the fact that not everyone (okay, next to no one) gets a kick out of literary devices.

The third book I chose for this month was What Alice Forgot. I love this book. I really wanted to choose it last time, but I was determined to pick something that had lots of copies available. Our library has only one copy of What Alice Forgot, and I didn't want to buy copies for the whole book club. Well after The Book Thief, which went really well, I still wished I'd picked What Alice Forgot, so I just bit the bullet and bought a few copies. Surprisingly (not at all, actually), I've not had a hard time thinking of what to do with all those copies. I hope they liked it. I know I really loved reading it a few times (both start to finish and in chunks) in preparation for tonight's discussion. What's that? You've never read it? Well I happen to have a few extra copies lying around....

So what do a magical fantasy novel, an unusual account of the Holocaust, and a chick lit love story have in common? All three authors live in Australia. I am now convinced that my literary style is just Australian, and I should move there at once.

self portraits

Jonah borrowed the camera to take a few pictures, which I will put at the end of the post. Among them were a few self portraits.

This is what I would expect from a four-year-old:

This is pretty impressive, but still the sort of thing I would think to find:

This one? When I asked him if he took this picture, he told me "I just started the camera and then ran back and smiled, just like we do when the missionaries take pictures with us". Umm...my child knows how to use the self timer?

And for kicks, the rest of what Jonah thought was important this morning:

 

Disney, the good

What's that? We've been home from Florida for a week and I haven't put up any pictures? Sorry, grandparents. There are more pictures than will reasonably fit in a single blog post, so this might take another week. Here are some of the best pictures from the trip:


We're so excited! These pictures are on the ferry from the ticket booth to the park. After the first trip, we almost exclusively took the Monorail...because according to Jonah, those trains fly (so who wouldn't want to ride a flying train?).

One of Jonah's favorite rides was Pirates of the Caribbean. Honestly, I think it's because he got to play with the swords in the gift shop. Caroline enjoyed playing Captain Hook, even if she doesn't look like it. She really does smile and laugh, but apparently never on camera.

 

 It was January, but the weather was very warm (most of the days). Here the boys are testing out the hot tub, followed by Caroline discovering her love of slides. I'll have to get the other pictures off my phone to prove it, but she has mastered climbing up the slide and then sliding back down. That girl is unstoppable.

Another favorite was the teacups. The first time we rode it, Jonah rode with Josh and Grandpa. I was worried that he would get scared (since he doesn't really love fast rides), but he loved it. From what I saw (which wasn't much since they were spinning so fast), Jonah laughed the whole time. Here is is eagerly anticipating his second ride (this time with just me and Josh):

I even got some action shots. We were going really fast. In fact, I'm feeling a bit ill just looking at the pictures:

 

Look! I don't even look like I'm nauseated. That's good acting right there:

We met up with Scott and Jenny and kids at the Lego store. Tempe and Caroline were fascinated with the Lego sea monster:

Stay tuned for some picture outtakes which are even better (or funnier, at least)!

there's a reason 4 is my favorite age (so far)

This morning, while throwing a fit about not being able to stay home alone, Josh said something to Jonah that I couldn't hear. From what I did hear, I gather it was something like, "You're my child, so it's my job to make sure you're safe." Here's what transpired afterward:

Jonah: I'm not yours.
Josh: You're not?
Jonah: No. I'm not anybody's. I'm just my own.
Josh: Then you'd better learn how to drive and start buying your own groceries.
Jonah: No. I don't need groceries. I live in the forest.
Josh: Then you'd better learn to hunt.
Jonah: No. I don't hunt. I eat the trees.

Daddy makes lots of mistakes

To appreciate the humor of the following quote, here is some back story:

Jonah is quite hard on himself, and we are aware of the fact that we will always be harder on him since he's the first. That said, we're always working on getting him to have patience with himself when he messes up. One of the approaches has been to tell him that we always make mistakes too.

The only other back story you need to know is that there's a song at church that says "I know when I am baptized, my wrongs are washed away..." Ok, cut to the funny.

Driving back to the hotel tonight, we told Jonah what a wonderful day we all had, especially since he was a great listener and didn't throw any fits.

Jonah: I didn't make any mistakes today!!
us: That's great, honey.
Jonah: I'm not going to make any tomorrow either.
us: That would be wonderful.
Jonah: I think I'm not going to make any mistakes for like ten days.
us: Well, let's not get carried away.
Jonah: Mom, you didn't make any mistakes either.
me: Oh, thank you.
Jonah: It's because your wrongs were washed away.
me: Yes, when I was baptized.
Jonah: It's weird that some of Daddy's stuck somehow.

grocery shopping in Orlando: an observation

We have made two trips to the grocery store here in Orlando. When we finished loading our bags in the car, I noticed there were no cart return stalls.* In irritation, I walked the cart all the way back to the store. I was feeling very put out. On the return walk from returning my cart (which I just left outside the store), I did not see any other carts outside or in the parking lot. Not one. Maybe they just came and collected them all, I thought.

Cut to this morning when we made a return trip. (If we're Facebook friends, you may have read about how Jonah decided Cocoa Puffs should not be trusted because they're something new. So back to the store I trudged for some plain old Corn Chex. He's a nut sometimes.) Again, I did not see a single cart in the parking lot. When I walked the cart back to the front, I walked it into the store this time because again, there were no carts sitting outside the store.

Causation? Correlation? Coincidence? Now I'm curious: do all Floridians return their carts to the store? Are the Publix employees so vigilant that a cart never sits in the lot? Was it just a fluke that we didn't see any in the lot either time? Do the carts have their own little homing devices and just scurry home after they get left in the parking lot?


*I almost always take my cart to the stall. Josh collected carts for Costco for a while, and I just can't justify stashing a cart in the bushes since I know what a pain that will be for the cart person. Neither can I leave it sitting out in the middle of the parking lot (though according to Josh, that's not nearly as annoying as carts with their front wheels over the median curb). That said, I am often dealing with one or two crying/hungry/tired children, so I've started parking right next to the stall when I can. That way, I'm not tempted to skip returning my cart to save time.