A Few of My Favorite Things

Pretty much everything is bringing me down right now. And Chica Marie just got suspended from school for punching a child. She’s in kindergarten! But, I don’t want to talk about all the things that are bugging me (like my really big house purge that is taking so much longer than I wanted and resulting in things piling up in every room except the one I’m cleaning out, which just so happens to be my room because I don’t ever put me or my stuff first – wow, what a run-on!), rather I would like to remember the things that make me glad.

 

Love Bug is the quintessential toddler at times; ridiculously adorable most of the time, contradictory most of the time, and occasionally a temper tantruming Tasmanian Devil. Mostly, he is impishly cute and I cannot get enough of his grins and what I call his “big boy” facial expressions. Also, I wish there was a way I could play him telling me “it ‘nowing, Mommy!” because it is quite possible the most adorable thing you’ll ever hear. Speaking of highly adorable, let me share this story from church this past Sunday. Somehow we managed to get there just a few minutes early. Chica Marie had already asked if she could sit with Miss Pat, my co-worker friend, and I said she could as long as she behaved. After we hung up our coats by the front door she delightedly skipped up to the front row where my friend usually sits. Love Bug, seeking to find the seat with the best view of the drum set and drummer, chose the very seat my friend sits in, by the inside aisle. As Chica Marie was hugging Miss Pat, Love Bug plopped himself down in her seat and asked me to start the music. The seats alongside my friend were already claimed, so I sat behind her and the children. Love Bug sat like an angel, purely enthralled in the praise band playing and singing. Chica Marie danced a bit then sat down with Love Bug draping her arm around him. If only I could have taken a picture! It was such a precious sight! After a few songs, Chic Marie leaned back to show me her hand where there was a miniscule cut on her knuckle. To soothe her inner hypochondriac, I gave her a squirt of hand lotion. It was a bigger squirt than I intended, so I took some with my finger to use on my own hands. I had barely slipped the hand lotion back into my purse when Love Bug was showing me a nonexistent scrape on his hand. I gave him his own squirt of hand lotion. Not to be outdone in sharing, he gave some of his lotion to me and then tried to give some to the lady behind his chair. She had her eyes closed in worship and so I gently caught his hands before he touched hers, but the gesture was so sweet, with his little grin as his chubby hands offered her some of his lotion.

 

Last night Love Bug wanted my full attention. I had just finished washing a mountain of dishes after making dinner (chicken noodle soup) and prepping dinner for Wednesday (potato soup). I had my phone and was catching up on emails and Facebook but Love Bug had other ideas. He told me once to “turn off phone” as he plopped on my lap. I didn’t listen so he said, in his sing-song voice, Mommyyyy, turn OFF phone.” I smiled at him but continued scrolling, so he deftly grabbed my phone, turned it off and laid it on the couch behind me, then grinned at me until I tickled him and he squealed with delight. It’s sort of sad that my toddler needed to remind me to turn off my phone and spend time with him, but I’m glad eventually listened and spent several gleeful minutes with my precious little boy.

 

For the first time ever Primero is going to make honor roll. He is getting all A’s and B’s right now, which is such a big deal for him. He is also keeping up with his homework and class assignments (well, he missed one for history but had a strong enough grade to still eek out a B) which is also a very big deal. It’s like a switch was flipped and now, all of a sudden, he’s taking school seriously and putting forth the effort I’ve always known he was capable of doing. I couldn’t be more proud of him!

 

Chica Marie is enjoying her karate class more this session than the previous one. For the first time this past weekend I had to leave during her class. I usually stay but this week I had to run Primero and his friend to get haircuts, leaving Chica Marie in the class alone for a few minutes. I worried she might start acting out. When I got back (with Love Bug, who I usually leave home with Primero) I found her jacket where we left it but couldn’t find her boots. I asked a mom sitting near us and she said my daughter had left. I started to panic until I saw her walking back in the gymnasium. She had gone to the bathroom and had put on her boots as I have told her to do since the bathroom is not nearby. She sauntered into the room so nonchalantly I almost had to laugh at myself. She rejoined class and was able to pick back up with no issues.  I was so glad she didn’t meltdown because I wasn’t there!

 

Other things that make me happy, in no particular order – when one of the cats cuddles all warm and fluffy in my lap, crockpot meals, the new wreath I made for our front door with peacock burlap, when there are no dirty dishes in the sink, 3 day weekends, my son knowing I will do what I can to help his friend in need, freshly made guacamole, when Prancer does her business in the grass and not the back porch. These are a few of my favorite things.