H brings me magazines all the time. Newspapers too! He collects them on his trips. It is great fun to get these every time he comes home. This trip he brought me a copy of Men's Health Sept. 2007. (BTW this is a great publication and the recipes they have every month are Yummy and Easy!)
I especially like the article "21 big lessons from little kids."
So I decided to come up with 21 Lessons I have learned since becoming the mother of 2 little kids:
1. The hours between 7 am and 7 pm - roughly the time they are awake can be as pleasant as you make them. You can dread every hour, fear every tantrum or you can embrace the day, make the most of it and that includes yogurt on the ceiling and the screaming fit in Target. Actually I have found the more relaxed I am the more relaxed they are.
2. Honesty so is the best policy. Little ones will tell you when you look funny. They will also tell you that you are the most beautiful woman in the world - and coming from them I know it is true - they are not just giving me a line.
3. Honesty is the best policy when dealing with them. If they ask how long you are going to be - tell them the truth. If they want to know why they have to eat veggies - tell them the truth. If they want to know why they have to go to bed, tell them the truth. Kids are so down with the truth to the extent they can understand. Like a dog can smell fear, kids can smell a lie.
4. It is perfectly acceptable to just do it! Stop thinking it over, stop hemming and hawing and just do it, the worst that can happen is you fall on your ass - best case - you have alot of fun.
5. If you are the one with the crayons - then the sky can be green and the grass blue - so there!
6. It is ok for someone to spit partially chewed food into my hand. It is not so bad really. Soap and water or a baby wipe will make my hand good as new. Honestly!
7. Bodily functions can be the ultimate comic relief.
8. Reading the same book over and over - really can be fun - especially once you have the story memorized - takes the pressure off - you could read it in your sleep or after being up all night.... The same applies to questions. Ask the same question enough and you might get the answer you are looking for.........
9. Sleep - well sleep is optional.
10. A 5 course gourmet well planned and executed meal has nothing on Mac & Cheese, yogurt, bananas and gummi bears - sorry Martha!
11. A kiss and a cuddle really can cure a world of hurts.
12. Waiting is silly, if everything ran on time everyone would be much happier. There is an reasonable amount of time one can wait and then you just bag it or throw a tantrum....
13. Outfits should make you happy - matching or seasonal appropriateness - well that is so last year.
14. Living the hell out of life is the point.
15. Eating with your fingers really does make the food taste better.
16. Listening is optional. Singing loudly so one does not have to listen - required skill.
17. At the end of the day, they do go to sleep, some nights quietly and other nights it is a struggle - but sleep they do.
18. The most peaceful sound in the world is the sound that one hears once they have gone to sleep - Silence.
19. One of the scariest sounds in the world is that same silence heard during the day followed by a shrill - "Moooooommmmmmmieeeeeeeeeeeee." Oh shit - what now?
20. Nothing compares to a big smile - on L or E's face.
21. While my life is drastically different and I am so not where I thought I would be - I would not trade any of it for all the money in world.
1 comment:
ah. sleep has always been optional for me. i've lost my teen ability to sleep deeply. good news is that i wake all the time and therefore remember the dreams.
as for bodily functions, for me it was teaching 4th graders for 5 years. let's face it. you're going to do it, so it may as well be funny.
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