Let me start out by saying that this kid is gonna eat us out of the house. It gets kinda old actually. After every meal he says, "I'm still hungry." This morning for breakfast he had a homemade roll, a plate of strawberries, a go-gurt, a bowl of cereal, AND a banana! HOLY COW! We're not gonna be able to afford to feed him if he keeps this up! I've started telling him BEFORE each meal.....you'd better fill your belly because you're not getting anything else to eat after you're done.
As he grows older, he is becoming more and more helpful. We've developed a system of earning "screen time" which he can spend on the computer, playing the wii, or a game on my phone. He gets very excited to earn screen time and is eager to help in whatever way he can. I've had to inform him that he is not going to earn screen time for doing things he's supposed to do every day. Like getting dressed. Or picking up toys in the living room. Or doing homework. But he can earn screen time doing things like helping me unload the dishwasher, making his bed (yes I know this should also be an expected daily chore....but he's on the top bunk.....and it's just so much work), or vaccuuming.
Ok. Now this just got a little more complicated. A few weeks ago in Family Home Evening we'd talked about President Monson's story about his lost 5 dollar bill when he was a boy. Caleb LOVED this story and I knew that I was going to have to do everything I could to help him find that ring. If we could find it (in a playground full of rocks) it would build his faith so much. But we had a little snag. Garrett was sleeping. And it was too cold to take him outside. I told him to stop crying and I promised him we'd find a time to go look for his ring later today.
I went on with my Friday chores and scrubbed the bathrooms and rotated the laundry. All the while I kept thinking I needed to find a way to go out with him to find that rediculous little ring. Finally it came to me. Sister Allen lives about 5 houses down in our neighborhood. She has 2 teenage daughters. I decided to call and see if one of her girls could come over and hang out at the house with Angie and sleeping Garrett while Caleb and I went out to look for that ring. She sent both her daughters over and Caleb and I walked to the park. I informed him that we may not find it. I told him we should say another prayer once we got there. As we walked up to the park, Caleb picked out a spot next to 2 little trees and knelt down. I was about to kneel with him when 2 neighborhood kids walked into the park. He wasn't emberassed or ashamed. He was ready to go. But I pulled him up and said "Hang on, there's someone coming." I'm ashamed of myself now. I should've just knelt there with him and said a quick prayer. Oh well. The story ends good anyway. I asked him where he remembered having the ring. He told me and we started looking. One of the kids (a little girl) asked what we were doing, and I told her we were looking for his gold ring. She looked down, bent over and picked it up. "Is this it?"
Caleb was elated. We walked home and he was just so happy. We were gone for about 5 minutes is all. I paid the girls in cookies, and sent them back home. I then told Caleb that when Heavenly Father answers our prayers, we need to say another prayer and thank Him. Caleb knelt right there where we were standing on the hardwood floor and said a quick prayer of thanks.
What a lesson of faith this was to me. I hope it was for him too. He is only six, and in so many cases I think he has more faith than me. And he's not ashamed, and doesn't care what other people think. He just lives what he's taught. He's such an example to me.
Angie keeps me so busy. She tags along on my Friday trips to the grocery store, and for the most part, behaves quite well. She LOVES bagging the groceries at WinCo, and is actually getting pretty good at it. Today we had a little incident as I dropped her off at Nursery. Since she has a January birthday she was not able to join most of her friends in Sunbeams this year. So, she is a 3 year old in nursery for practically an entire year. Today as I dropped her off, she started to throw a fit. The nursery teachers tried to assure me that she'd be ok, and that I should just leave and she'll calm down. Well. That might've worked a year ago. But she's THREE. As I started to walk away she threw herself on the floor. Her teacher bent down to talk to her and she started kicking her feet and screaming. Oh no. This was not happening. I picked her up and took her out of the classroom. We went to a room with just the two of us and I told her to STOP crying. I explained to her that she is the biggest kid in Nursery and that it is NOT ok to throw tantrums and kick her teacher. I told her that there ARE babies in her class but SHE is not one of them. She stopped crying and started agreeing with me. I told her we were going back in there. I was going to give her a toy. And then a hug and a kiss. And then I was gonna leave. She wiped her tears and said Ok. I think it actually helped that I talked to her like a big kid and that she knew I expected her to act like one. She went into class, gave me a hug and let me go. Then I spoke to her teacher. I informed her that for the little kids, it's good to drop and run. But Angie is 3 and I will not tolerate behavior like that, and she knows it. I told her that she is too big for tantrums and she needs to suck it up when I drop her off.
Angie also loves to dress up. Every day she's handing me a dress or a swimsuit (or in many cases both) for her to put on. She loves being a princess.
Lastly I wanna give an update on Parker. He's been a sweetheart lately. He's been so kind and helpful lately, it just makes me so happy. Not that he wasn't before. I've just noticed it more lately I guess. A couple weeks ago he went to play basketball and came home with an ice-pack on his foot. He was limping. Actually limping is an understatement. He couldn't walk on his foot hardly at all. It was swollen and he honestly thought it was broken. I panicked for a couple seconds, and wondered if we should go to the emergency room. He said he would wait until morning. He slept on the couch with his foot above his head. The next morning he went in and got an x-ray. Then he went back to work. I was so surprised. I thought he should take the day off (I was convinced it was broken). But he decided since he has a desk job, that he could work just fine.
Not much changes for me. I work 4 days a week, and spend my days doing the things that all moms do. Way more cooking than I want, lots of laundry, and care for energetic, needy, but always so cute little children. Life is good.
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