Prove it.

Abigail

About a week and a half ago,  I wrote a post about my daughter Abby letting everyone but me see her walk. I went on and on about how it had been five days since she took a step, and it wasn't fair that I am the one that spends all my time with her, so I should get to see all her milestones first... blah blah blah. It was basically an all around whiney post. Well, Abby decided that it would be hilarious to start taking steps in front of me only a few hours after I I claimed she might not ever allow me to see her walk. I was so ecstatic to see her walk, but I couldn't help but  think "You just wanted to prove me wrong."
That really got me to thinking. I hope my kids keep proving me wrong.

I am a pretty pessimistic person, by nature. I am a glass half-empty kind of gal. I don't mean to be, and I don't like that that's how I generally see things. It's something I'm trying to change, but it's a long row to hoe. Thankfully, I have an amazing husband who balances me out perfectly. Shane is a total optimist and dreamer. It's one of the things I love most about him. I worry, he dreams big, and we usually end up somewhere in the middle.

Gideon

Jude

It's the same with our parenting. I worry about our kids constantly. Shane sees all the great things our kids are doing, and only worries when there is actually something to worry about. I tend to forget that our kids are much more capable than I think. This results in me being wrong. A lot.  I don't know why I doubt their abilities. It really isn't a reflection on them. It's a reflection on my own lack of confidence in my parenting. I see a shy boy, because I didn't find him enough social interaction as a baby. I see a boy who can't keep interest for very long in anything, and it must be my fault. Basically, my entire day consists of me worrying that I have broken my kids in one way or another.

 When someone asks the boys a question that I don't think they can answer, my first thought is "Oh great, let's just see how little my kids know and how I am failing as their first and most important educator." Then the amazing happens. One or all of my little ones prove me wrong on a regular basis. Gideon sits through an entire sporting event. Jude initiates a game with kids at church. Abby walks right in front of me!

Sometimes I'm going to need my three brilliant, beautiful, hilariously wonderful kids to prove me wrong. So far, they have done so with gusto. I hope that never changes.

Chyan

5 days.

I am with my kids twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. It has been a point of pride for me. I like to be able to say I have seen every major and minor milestone each of my three children have accomplished. Well, that is, until last Sunday.

Shane, the kids, and I were all in the living room Sunday afternoon just relaxing and doing our own things. The boys were playing with toys, Shane was cuddling with Abby and watching t.v., and I was looking at all the great pictures I had recently captured of our kids. I am by no means a photographer, so any picture I can get that isn't blurry seems pretty great to me. It was a lovely, lazy afternoon.

It makes me want to cry, too!

After a little while, Shane put Abby on the floor to play. She then picked up a throw pillow and took two steps toward Shane. Her first steps!!! We knew she would be taking steps on her own soon, and Shane was worried she would start walking while he was at work. Imagine his excitement when she chose to take her first steps right in front of him! Really, it was in front of both of us.  What was I doing during this exciting moment, you ask? Well, stupid me was looking at the stupid pictures on my stupid phone. I was stupidly thinking that I should load those stupid pictures on to my stupid Facebook page. Looking back, none of those pictures were that good, anyway.

I was so happy Shane got to see her walk, but I was furious with myself for not paying attention. The rest of the afternoon, I tried to get Abby to walk for me. Nothing. Zilch. Zero. Nada.  That evening, Shane and I had a small group to go to, and the kids were at my parents' house. While I was at small group, I received a text that said "guess who just walked to her grandma?" Are you kidding me???? Is this some kind of cruel trick? Am I being punished? All I want is to see my daughter walk!

We got home, and still nothing. Monday came and went. Nothing. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday passed and there was no pitter patter of her
perfectly chubby little feet. Now it's Friday. A full five days since her first steps. If I don't see Abigail walk today, I am going to lose my mind! I know she is doing this on purpose. She likes to see me frazzled. Her twelve month old mind has concocted this scheme to drive me to the brink of insanity. Irrational? I don't think so.

Maybe I should bait her with something.

Chyan

Why is it so hard to keep eggs in my house?

Have you ever been obsessed with something? Have either loved or hated something so much that it's all you can think about? It seems like you can't eat sleep or breath without every thought being consumed by this thing? When I was engaged,I became obsessed with being married. I wasn't as consumed with the  wedding, but the marriage itself.

Gideon has this obsession with eggs. He loves them. He loves the way they look. He loves the way they feel. He loves the way they taste. He loves that so many animals are hatched out of eggs (I'm pretty sure this is the number one reason Jude won't eat eggs). He also loves carrying eggs, and cracking eggs over my carpet. Because of this, eggs and carpet cleaner are always in short supply in this house. I am starting to think he just loves driving me insane.

crafthub.com

We cannot have a carton of eggs in the house with out Gideon losing all sense of self control. He will see me put a dozen eggs in the refrigerator, and it's like that's the only thing that his little mind can focus on. He knows that he is not allowed to get into the fridge by himself, and he is really not supposed to touch the eggs, but the tiny amount of self control a three year old has is completely gone when those white ovals are around. It becomes an intense game of cat and mouse. I have become very quick at getting to the refrigerator before the door is completely open, but sometimes Giddy works in super stealth mode, and is able to sneak an egg or two out of the kitchen and into the living room.

Once the egg(s) has been kidnapped from the cardboard habitat, there are three different things that could happen.

1. Gideon will be so excited about his conquest that he will just have to start clapping, and the eggs will be broken all over the carpet.
2. Gideon will decide that we wants to make a nest for his eggs, not be gentle enough, and the eggs will be broken all over the carpet. 
3. Gideon will be caught by me, panic, drop the eggs, and the eggs will be broken all over the carpet.

It's like a choose your own adventure book that always ends with me cleaning eggs off my son and out of the carpet fibers.  Even Jude thinks it's getting out of hand. I was doing laundry one day, and I could hear the boys talking in the kitchen. "Gideon, don't touch the eggs" Jude warns in an urgent tone (Jude being the voice of reason is just as alarming as whatever Gideon is doing). "What's going on out there?" I ask. "Um... Don't give Giddy time out, Mommy! Giddy, no eggs! Let's get outta here!"

I hurried into the kitchen just in time to see the boys hiding around the corner, and the refrigerator open. I asked Jude if Gideon was trying to play in the eggs. Jude looks at Gideon, and then throws his arms around me and says, "I love you, Mommy! You're my mommy in the whole world!"
Bros before moms, I suppose.