A long, long time ago

"One day a long, long time ago...this house was clean."

Boden 3

I wonder when that day was? Actually we do manage to clean up at least somewhat everyday but my 7:30am each day it's back to this:)

Brother and Sister

It's so much fun... (Iris)
Yeah, bein' a brother and sister. (Boden)

Up Til Midnite with Bode

I've been really trying to stay in the moment with Boden. He is super smart, full of energy, curious and doesn't always need a lot of sleep. A challenging combination for me at times;) But he is so much fun and I really like being able to give him my undivided attention, which I admit doesn't happen that often. So the other night when he took a 3 hour nap late in the afternoon I not surprised that he wasn't tired and I decided to take this as a perfect opportunity to spend some fun time together. We had such a great time!! I cleaned up the downstairs while Bode watched some tv and then helped a little. We played, had a snack, read books and snuggled. It was so nice to just spend time together and I really don't know how many times he told me he loved me. That's just the sweetest sound. Sigh.

I'm stopping this car right now!

Boden was screaming, not crying, just yelling as loud as he possibly could on the way home in the car today. It wasn't joyful, happy screams - which I can handle. He was screaming so that I would know that he wanted to get home (which is where we were headed.) Well, it completely drove me nuts and I had to get off the highway and actually stop the car because I wasn't cool enough to just tune it out and drive at the same time. I felt like I was in one of those horrible family comedies that make you laugh but at the same time you wish you didn't get the jokes. I got out of the car to talk to him and he stopped screaming, though I was still hanging onto that frustration. But I turned it around!! I got some compassion, he was super tired and we had just had 3 fun-filled hours at the childrens' museum. I knew he would be asleep in just a few minutes and I just had to wait it out. I want to respond to things like that with love and calm patience, that is my goal and I know until I can do it consistently these kind of occurances will keep popping up in my experience.
So today I am thinking how thankful I am for my vocal son!!

Groceries on my head

My son Boden, 2.5, was helping me put away groceries the other day (a really great distraction from hitting his sister with plastic dinosaurs) and he reminded me how important it is to have fun. I know I sometimes get bogged down in the basics that need to get done - feed everyone, change diapers, brush teeth, comb hair and oh yeah, nurse, nurse and then nurse some more. But as Bode tried to balance the granola bar box on his head before he put it away I realized I should do that more often, or at least try it because I really don't recall the last time I tried balancing groceries on my head before putting them away. And it could be really great.