Band and Mother's Day and track, oh my!
Another Mother's Day has come and gone. To celebrate Mother's Day, I told each of my children that live in the same house why I'm glad that I have them as a child. I'll have to tell the other child, the one who doesn't live here, in a letter or a text message or something. I am glad to have each one of them.
Because of Katie, I learned how to be a mom. She was the paver of the way for me. Good thing she helped out the process by being a child who didn't seem to mind coming to me with problems rather than hiding them and pretending all was well. I know she hid some things from me, but for the most part, she asked lots of questions and reported the good and the bad. She still does.
Because of Jimmy, I have learned patience and consistency. I learned not to give in as much as perhaps I could have. I also learned that despite my wish that parenting would be easy, it wasn't going to be so and I would just have to suck it up and deal with it. I also learned that hard work pays off. Jimmy is a good kid. For a while, I thought we might have a mighty struggle on hand.
Because of Paul, I learned to take a step back and find the humor. A dozen crushed eggs on the linoleum isn't as big of a problem as it might seem at first. I learned to get the camera first (for evidence and laughs later on) and clean up afterwards. I also learned that parenting more than one child requires more than one parenting style.
Because of Hayley, I learned that angels do exist in children. She is such a sweet girl. She always has a smile and a hug for her mother. She has always played well with Matt. I also learned that each child has her/his own strengths and to foster that which they have rather than trying to force that child into being great at something else.
Because of Matt, I learned that it's ok to tell a child to be quiet. Really, if I let him talk as much as he wants to, he'd never shut up. And I learned to relax. It's ok not to hover. The child will still like his mother and will still do what she says most of the time if she's not in the same room.
I have to share what Hayley and Matt gave me for Mother's Day. Matt gave me a booklet containing his thoughts and observations about me and one of the pages was a fill-in-the-blank saying, "My mother likes to _____." He got it right, I do like to knit, but the best thing about this page is the drawing of knitting. He got that even righter. You can tell he has knitted before because the drawing is surprisingly accurate. I love it!
Hayley made a clay sculpture for me. I like this because it is so Hayley. She loves art, and she loves anime-style.
One other Mother's Day present was from Katie. She cleaned her bathroom for me. It doesn't matter that I won't see it; I'm just glad to know she cleaned it. She's being responsible for herself. Thanks Katie!
Are you still reading? Because I do have more. I've covered the Mother's Day portion of this post so now I have to talk about either band or track.
Band first. Hayley had a concert last night. It was the last one of the year.
Next year she won't have to go to band before school, she'll have it as a regular class. She's excited about taking summer band lessons.
Track. I don't have any pictures of Paul running in the meet last night because I had the camera at Hayley's band concert. If you would like to see pictures of Paul running, might I suggest you revisit my previous post? That has plenty. And I guarantee you that he looked pretty much the same last night as he did in the other pictures. Jim did track duty and was pleased to report that Paul finally achieved his track goal of running an under-5-minute mile. He ran it in 4:58! He gets the t-shirt! Yay Paul!
I was going to post more about socks and about mice, but I don't think I want to type anymore. I'll save those subjects for another day. Auf wiedersehen for now.
Because of Katie, I learned how to be a mom. She was the paver of the way for me. Good thing she helped out the process by being a child who didn't seem to mind coming to me with problems rather than hiding them and pretending all was well. I know she hid some things from me, but for the most part, she asked lots of questions and reported the good and the bad. She still does.
Because of Jimmy, I have learned patience and consistency. I learned not to give in as much as perhaps I could have. I also learned that despite my wish that parenting would be easy, it wasn't going to be so and I would just have to suck it up and deal with it. I also learned that hard work pays off. Jimmy is a good kid. For a while, I thought we might have a mighty struggle on hand.
Because of Paul, I learned to take a step back and find the humor. A dozen crushed eggs on the linoleum isn't as big of a problem as it might seem at first. I learned to get the camera first (for evidence and laughs later on) and clean up afterwards. I also learned that parenting more than one child requires more than one parenting style.
Because of Hayley, I learned that angels do exist in children. She is such a sweet girl. She always has a smile and a hug for her mother. She has always played well with Matt. I also learned that each child has her/his own strengths and to foster that which they have rather than trying to force that child into being great at something else.
Because of Matt, I learned that it's ok to tell a child to be quiet. Really, if I let him talk as much as he wants to, he'd never shut up. And I learned to relax. It's ok not to hover. The child will still like his mother and will still do what she says most of the time if she's not in the same room.
I have to share what Hayley and Matt gave me for Mother's Day. Matt gave me a booklet containing his thoughts and observations about me and one of the pages was a fill-in-the-blank saying, "My mother likes to _____." He got it right, I do like to knit, but the best thing about this page is the drawing of knitting. He got that even righter. You can tell he has knitted before because the drawing is surprisingly accurate. I love it!
Hayley made a clay sculpture for me. I like this because it is so Hayley. She loves art, and she loves anime-style.
One other Mother's Day present was from Katie. She cleaned her bathroom for me. It doesn't matter that I won't see it; I'm just glad to know she cleaned it. She's being responsible for herself. Thanks Katie!
Are you still reading? Because I do have more. I've covered the Mother's Day portion of this post so now I have to talk about either band or track.
Band first. Hayley had a concert last night. It was the last one of the year.
Next year she won't have to go to band before school, she'll have it as a regular class. She's excited about taking summer band lessons. Track. I don't have any pictures of Paul running in the meet last night because I had the camera at Hayley's band concert. If you would like to see pictures of Paul running, might I suggest you revisit my previous post? That has plenty. And I guarantee you that he looked pretty much the same last night as he did in the other pictures. Jim did track duty and was pleased to report that Paul finally achieved his track goal of running an under-5-minute mile. He ran it in 4:58! He gets the t-shirt! Yay Paul!
I was going to post more about socks and about mice, but I don't think I want to type anymore. I'll save those subjects for another day. Auf wiedersehen for now.
Comments
Hayley looks great playing her clarinet (that's what it is, isn't it?). And, WOW to Paul for fulfilling his goal. I think Mike will even be impressed with that.