It’s been one of those days… please tell me you know the ones…took the circus crew to the pediatrician’s for my 3 yr old’s check up. One would have thought by the amount of shrieking that took place in the hall that we were attempting to tie her down and give her 30 shots, when really we just wanted her to take her sandals off and stand on the scale. From that humbling spectacle we were off to the grocery store. I am sure your wondering why today of all days I decided to take the whole crew with me for a major stock up. And the truth is, b/c I was desperate. We’ve depleted the supplies… even those ones in the back of the cupboard that stay there month after month… and we have no free evenings in sight for me to divide and conquer, so forward we marched, baby strapped to me in the moby wrap, 3 yr old crying in the top seat of the cart and the other two jumping beans bouncing around the aisles talking a mile a minute at the top of their lungs. Oh what fun!
Finally we emerged with a full cart to unload, load, unload, and put away… and as I did this, taking a break to nurse the baby, and then make lunch for the other 3, I was feeling my patience wearing thin. I was tired. My back hurt. My ears were ringing. I still have food to put away, laundry to put away, toys to pick up, phone calls to make, dinner to prep… you know the list… I sent an SOS (really just a whiny e-mail) to my husband while sticking a can of coke in the freezer to cool off for later.
The baby started to cry in his swing and my son suggested that maybe he needed his diaper changed. Good thought since it had been quite awhile since I’d done that. I went to pick him up and as I bent down he stopped crying.
My son said, “Why are you always the magic trick?”
I told him I used to be his magic trick too. As I walked down the hall to the nursery pondering the impact a mother can have on her kids and on how small a window of time we have to make that impact.
It was then that my son called out from the table, “Ya know mom, when your holding a small person, really your holding a big person, because you have no idea the plans God has for that life.”
Wowzers! Talk about a zinger! And yet so very true. I have no idea the plans God has for their lives. But they are big. And what a humbling privilege it is to be their momma.
As they each rest in separate rooms for their quiet time and I soak in the quiet while sipping on my coke and nibbling on lunch, I am so thankful for the perspective God gave me today out of the mouth of my 6 yr old.
My recently turned three year old has been cracking me up lately with some of the things she says (when she’s not throwing a temper tantrum or disobeying that is…it’s not easy being 3…or the mother of one who is)
Last week when I put her down for her nap she told me she didn’t want to sleep. I told her that was fine, but she needed to lay down on her bed. To which she replied, “Mom, that never works… every time I do I always end up falling asleep!” (she was right, b/c sure enough she ended up falling asleep then too)
A few days later we were at my in-laws for a family dinner. She returned to the table after going potty and I asked if she washed her hands. “Yes,” she replied. Knowing my daughter, I pressed further and asked if she was sure.
“Yes, Mommy, I am sure… I washed them before I went potty!” (and back upstairs she went to wash them again)
What funny things have come out of your children’s mouth’s lately?
And if your looking for more funny anecdotes, check out Mary’s carnival, Tiny Talk Tuesday.
Last week at church they gave an advertisement for our upcoming Vacation Bible School. I was a few minutes late so I missed the announcement. When I sat down my son said, “I do not want to go to VBS this year!”
I couldn’t figure out why. My son said, “It’s not going to be anything like last year… it’s an adventure camp.”
Figuring he must have been intimidated by the adjectives they used to describe it, I told him it is going to be really fun.
“No Mom,” he said, “you don’t know, they said this is not your Mom’s VBS.”
At this point I had to chuckle. Having not heard the announcement, I could only surmise what they said and just had to laugh at how their clever wording and advertising completely turned off my very literal 6 yr old.
I am now working very hard to overcome the pulpit announcement and convince my son that it will be a lot like last year and even though it’s not your Mom’s VBS, and therefore I seem to have no expertise with which to draw on to make this claim, it really will be fun.
We’ve got 6 weeks till Vacation Bible School…wish me luck!
Last week my son was reading a list of words in one of his readers. One of the words was “keg.” He asked what a keg was. I was trying to figure out the best way to describe it and so I said it was like a a big container with a spout that you could get a drink from.
“Oh,” he said with a look of recognition. “I know what your talking about, like what we get lemonade from at church.” That’s what I get for trying to be vague instead of just going out and saying it was for beer.
Whoever put the word keg in a kindergartner reader is the one I will hold responsible when my child shows up at church asking for a keg.
For more innocent childhood blunders, visit Tiny Talk Tuesday.
As we were walking out the door this morning, I heard my daughter exclaim, “Oh it’s raining, better grab my umbrella!”
I wondered what she was talking about since we don’t have any umbrellas in our house. (Who needs one more thing to juggle? We just get wet, it’s the circus way)! Then I saw her walking to the car with her Little People umbrella over her head. She then carried this umbrella over her head into and out of the grocery store. Wasn’t very effective for blocking the rain, but certainly gave this Momma a chuckle on a wet and dreary day!
Linking this post to both wordless and word full Wednesday carnivals.
I was cleaning the bathroom yesterday (I know, miracles never cease, huh?) when my 2 and 1/2 year old daughter came in to use the potty. “Go ahead,” I told her. (Have I mentioned that I LOVE the fact that all 3 kids can use their potty on their own, ah sweet bliss—for 11 more weeks!) Well I turned from scrubbing the tub to see her standing beside the potty.
“I want to go this way!” she says (body standing facing the potty)
“You can’t” I told her and lifted her onto the seat.
“No” she screams, “I don’t want to go this way, I want to go like this,” she pouts and get down from the potty again turning to face the potty… like her older brother does.
Now she’s been going potty like a big girl for months and this has never come up. She also has a big sister and a Mommy at home, so it’s not like she’s never seen anyone sit on the potty before and all she is used to is watching boys stand and aim.
But as 2 yr olds often do, she dug her heels in and for whatever odd reason was declaring this her battle ground for the moment.
“Honey, you can’t go potty like that.” I tell her. “Your a girl and girls don’t pee that way. We can’t. We don’t have a ***** (not going to type the word b/c I don’t want to end up on those google search engines) Mommy and big sister sit on the potty and that’s what you have to do too.” Again I stick her up on the seat.
Again she jumps down with a big pouty lip and cries of frustration.
“Fine, then I am not going potty!” And out of the bathroom she storms.
As is often the case with the battles of a 2 yr old, the storm passed. I finished scrubbing the tub and got dinner on the table. She returned to the potty later and since I didn’t see any pee on the floor, I can only assume she chose to sit rather than stand. (thank goodness)
All I could do was laugh. Ah, the battles we fight…the discussions we have, the words that come out of our mouths… we could have never foreseen them before becoming moms… now, nothing surprises me.
