Tag Archives: kids

Mother’s Day Lesson

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Mother’s Day. Idyllic. Breakfast prepared by the hubby and kids. Homemade cards and notes.

Lunch with my family. Beautiful weather for a soccer game. Daughter’s team wins! Come home, neighbor friends outside, kids excited to see them. Screaming. Giggling.

Just when you think everything is picture-perfect… you get a reminder of what it’s all about.

“MMMMMOM, she called me a LOSER!”

What?!?! This was unprovoked (I later verified). I was stunned, especially since we considered this little person a friend. I wasn’t sure if she knew what she had said, had done. The older kids were confused not knowing what happened.

“She called me a loser! Hmmmph!!! That was mean!” Arms crossed. My little man stomping away towards the back door with teary, glassy eyes… going inside the house. He’s four years old with a sensitive soul. He knows enough that it was negative. My heart was breaking for him, we’ve never had to deal with that sort of talk.

Not seeing any grown-ups around, and wanting to say something, I softly said to this child, “I think you said something not so nice. Something unfriendly. I think you hurt Ollie’s feelings. Maybe you might want to say sorry.” And after a few seconds, she walked away saying absolutely nothing. This person broke my son’s trust and confidence. How do I know? For about fifteen minutes, there was lots of snuggling and he kept repeating what she said. I had to do some rebuilding. The discussion ended up like this,

“Your friend said something that hurt your feelings, and I’m sorry…”

“Yes.”

“You’re super sad about that. I know.”

“Yes.”

“Well, is that true? Are you loser?”

*sniffle* “No.”

“Just because that one person said that… it doesn’t make you a loser. You know you aren’t one and we don’t think you are. We love you very much, and you have lots of pals at school and friends…”

*wiping nose* “Right.”

“So, are you a loser?”

“Nope.”

“What’s your name?”

*smirk* “Oliver. Oliver Tiu.”

“And you’re a good boy… funny… good brother… smart…”

“Yes.”

“And you’re cool!”

“YEAH!”

“Next time someone says something hurtful, you tell them, that it’s not true. And, you walk away. You don’t have to listen to (those mean words).”

“Yeah, it’s not true! I’m not a loser!”

Right, kiddo, you’re not. Far from it.

—

As your mom, I wish I could always make things right for you, but I think my biggest hope is to raise you to be good people, and to make sure you know what you need to know to make good decisions; to arm you with skills to get you through the rough patches… to know that life is great, but hard work, too. Amidst all the laundry and house chores, nagging about toys all over the floor, know that I’m trying to be the best mom I can be, always hoping that you’re learning something and loving your childhood. I love you guys, more than you know.

Abby and Mom at Baptism 2002

Ollie and Mom 2007

 



What Nine Looks Like

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This weekend recovering from birthday week, I’ve concluded that this might have been the easiest birthday party ever planned for my daughter. Just a few friends, dinner in a restaurant, scavenger hunt at a local department store and a sleepover. No theme, no games per se, I just made sure they had food and clean sheets. They entertained themselves for the most part playing video games and laughing at each others jokes and stories. Did I miss the elaborate planning? Sort of. Did I miss the trip to the party store with her, looking through all the licensed party wares and goodie bag trinkets? Sort of. This could mark the end of an era with my daughter.

This is just the beginning of another phase, of driving girls to the mall, taking goofy “runway model” pictures by storefront windows, girls running into my house, barely saying hello and running up the stairs into my daughter’s bedroom and shutting the door. The beginning of lots of hush-hush and shush-ing when I knock on the door to check on them, and lots of giggling too. Dare I say, the beginning of the tween years? In the end, my husband and I really loved seeing her have so much fun with her friends.

Happy birthday, my little roundhead.

Speaking at a Young Authors Workshop

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Are we all tired of winter already? We’ve had a few weeks of completely BLAH weather here with little or no sunshine, but today… look at that bright light shining in the corner of the picture! Sunlight: it brings me to a happy place. This was taken at a Young Authors workshop for fifth grade students where I was invited to impart wisdom about beginner blogging. (I know, don’t laugh. I just started this gig, right? The hosts knew that, as did my friend who connected us.)

Two sessions at 45 minutes each… it went well, honest to goodness truth. And, I have to give credit to the students; they asked really interesting and some insightful questions. Can you write a blog with more than one person? How do people find out about your blog? Why are some websites free and others aren’t? Some of the students even brainstormed website and blog names for themselves which I’d love to share, but hey, I wouldn’t want anyone to steal them. So, a big, big thank you to the coordinators, administrators, teachers and students for having me. I learned some things too.

Where else have I been and what have I been doing?

Some crafting…

Homemade Granola

and some cooking… stay tuned!

**Update: I’m happy to report this is my 200th post!**

A Really Good Weekend

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I spent lots of time preparing for last week and weekend… not only was it Halloween, but our little man turned 4.

And, as usual, the Halloween crafts didn’t get done, but I did get goody bags finished the night before the school party.

I always intended on posting a tutorial for a last-minute batcave made from store-bought wall decorations, dollar store garbage bags and duct tape… but unfortunately it was far too last-minute. I was busy writing a food article for Halloween.

On Halloween, Abby played her last soccer game (the team’s record 6-1-1)…

… then we headed out for some trick-or-treating with friends.

Like I said, a really good weekend. I hope all of you out there had one too.

Did I Hear My Kids Singing?

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Alright, my kids really don’t perform in front of people. With the older one, it’s definitely not her style, she doesn’t enjoy it (she’s quite talented when it comes to drawing, though). I still have a chance for a fine arts performer with the little one… maybe. But the other day, my husband and I were sitting at the dining room table and all of a sudden we heard Ollie’s little voice singing to the tune of Smash Mouth’s “All Star”:

Somebody once told me the world’s a macaroni/so i took a bite out of a tree
It tasted kinda funny so I spitted out a bunny/and the bunny started pooping on me

Apparently, it was his older sister’s creation and she lovingly taught it to him. Precious. I can only imagine what I have to look forward to as their music tastes develop.

Unrelated updates

  • Some of my recent article postings at Craft Critique can be found here and at this search results page.
  • I’ve finally restarted my t-shirt quilt and am happy to report it’s shaping up nicely. Pictures soon!
  • The garden has survived the crazy 90+ degree weather we’ve been having. We’ve even had a few tomatoes.  Unfortunately, I haven’t put as much time into the garden as I would like because of the heat, rain and vicious mosquitoes. (Sounds like we live in the tropics or something.)
  • Lastly, the compost barrel is working out nicely, but I’m afraid to look inside it. I just open the hatch, dump my scraps, latch it back up and run.
  • School starts next week for my daughter!
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