Kid Musings #1

My children are fascinated by this sign on the wall outside the library elevator.

Not being able to read themselves, they always ask me to read the sign for them.  Their next question: "If there's a fire on the stairs, why do you want to use the stairs instead of the elevator?"
Good question.

I hate chore charts

I hate chore charts.  I don't necessarily hate doing chores, but for some reason I don't like little charts that track whether or not chores have been done.  I have chore charts for my kids.  It's a little grid I print off the computer that has about 5 chores and a square to put a sticker on for each day of the week. It doesn't work.  My kids will beg me: "Print our chore charts out!" and I'll try again.  Mondays usually are full of stickers of the chart.  Tuesday has about half that.  It starts to disappear after Wednesday.  We'll do this for a week or two before I just get tired of nagging my children to do their chores, and they don't really care whether they get a sticker or not.  So the charts will disappear for a week or two at a time.  It doesn't affect whether or not they're supposed to do their chores, but I stop tracking it.  I guess it's laziness on my part, but if they don't care, I don't care either.  I guess I need to find a better system for making sure they do their chores.  Any suggestions?

Throwup

Conversation at my house this morning:
4yo "You know that yellow stuff that you get in your mouth? That's kind of yucky?"
Me "You mean throwup?"
4yo "Yeah.  I had that on my bed last night."
Me "You threwup last night?"
4yo "Yeah. It's on my blanket. And my bed."
Me "You need to come get me when you throw up."
4yo "OK."
2 minutes later...
4yo to 6yo and 2yo "Hey, you guys, do you want to come see?"
6yo "Yeah!"
2yo "Wait for me!"

I should be grateful they don't throw up very often, so it's a novelty.  If they're that excited about it, though, I'm thinking I might have them clean it up.  That might make it lose some of the novelty.  Certainly works for me.

Working overtime

I've decided that being a working mom, I'm always working overtime.  You know those feelings you have when you're working overtime. Those feelings of "I'm just too tired to be working right now, but I know I have to get it done." Or the feelings of "Everyone else is asleep or doing something fun. Why am I still working?" I remember working full-time (plus) during tax season, going home for dinner, and then coming back to work to settle in for the night.  I'd come back feeling resigned to work, but also having a complete focus on working as efficiently as possible so that I didn't have to stay too late before coming back the next morning.

That's kind of the way it is every time I work now. I may only work a few hours a week, but when the kids go to bed and I start working, I have to get in that mode and work as efficiently as possible regardless of how exhausted I may be. This holds true during my little hour of quiet time during the day when I try to return phone calls and emails and start on projects that aren't too big. Not fun.

Luckily, some of my children are getting old enough to somewhat understand what is going on.  My 6 year old came into the kitchen where my computer is, after quiet time, put her arm around me, and said "I know you have to work a lot Mom, because it's tax season". If only I'd had understanding like that when I was working full-time and overtime!

The Joy of Aunthood

I love being an aunt! Don't get me wrong. I really love being a mom, too.  But, I've been an aunt a lot longer than I've been a mom.  I love that before I got married, when I was "the single one" in the family, I got to travel all over the country and spend time with my nieces & nephews (and their parents).  I love being called Aunt Christie almost as much as I love being called Mom.  I always heard that to be successful, a child needs the influence of an adult in their life outside of their parents.  I figure that's what aunts and uncles are for.  I take almost as much pride in the accomplishments of my nieces and nephews as I do my own children.  Hooray for being an aunt!

Re-Creating Christmases Past

Christmas isn't really about the presents.  It's about re-creating Christmases past. Helping your children have that feeling of fun and excitement that lasts for a month. Creating traditions and memories. Here are some of ours that just make Christmas magical.

Making cinnamon rolls.  Thank you Mom for teaching us all how to make these and helping these yummy treats become one of our (and our neighbors and extended family members') traditions!

Gingerbread houses.  They may be a little smaller than we grew up making, but it's such a great tradition to load up on sugar and make these treats. Candy on the house, candy in my mouth, candy on the house...We love inviting friends over to make these with us.

Acting out the nativity scene while reading Luke 2. Dad was an angel, and the naked baby was a sheep.  I wanted him to be baby Jesus, but was told by our 6 yr old director and costumer that he would just get into everything.

Is there any better way to describe the exhaustion of Christmas night after a month of excitement?

What a great time of year for making memories!



To my single friends: The selfishness of motherhood

There is a misconception sometimes in my mind and other mothers that when you become a mother, you become instantly selfless.  It is definitely true that having a baby gets rid of some of your selfishness.  You can't worry about only yourself.  There's another little one relying on you and you frequently have to put your baby's needs before yourself.  But. There's still this reserve of selfishness.  I think we frequently save it to unwittingly display on our single or childless friends.

I was thinking about this as I've had the opportunity in the last month or so to spend some time with several of my single and/or childless friends.  The truth is that not all single people are selfish and not all mothers are selfless.  I find that when I'm chatting with some of these friends, they spend a lot more time asking me about my children and life than I spend asking them about their families and lives.  It's tempting to just go on and on about your own children. It can become a very unbalanced conversation/relationship.  Thank you to my single friends with whom I can hang out and not have it be all about my life or children.  You teach me much about the importance of  a 2 sided relationship and true selflessness!