Category: children

children, motherhood, parenting

Winning to Me

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Full Speed had a respectable seventh place finish out of thirty-seven at his school’s bee.  The difference between him participating as a fifth grader and now is unbelievable.  He used to be the smallest, now he is among the tallest.  His voice, the depth of which I found unsettling, held steady as he spouted off each letter.

I no longer saw a boy on that stage.  In his place stood a confident young man.

Leading up to the competition, T.Puzzle and I continued a lively debate.  He believes a person is awesome only if they are winning.  I still hold that awesomeness is static.  Sometimes that expresses as external achievement, but mostly it is comprised of intangibles.  I do not fault T.Puzzle for his perspective.  Our culture exalts individual, external success.  Winning makes sense to him.  I get that.

Maybe Full Speed did not technically win the spelling bee, but from my view he demonstrated what it means to succeed.  He had the nerve to get up on that stage and compete with all eyes of the auditorium zeroed in on him.

I couldn’t do that.

I probably wouldn’t even be able to spell my name right in that situation.

When it was all said and done, he bounced back quickly.  He did not entertain the notion that misspelling a word defines him a person.

That feels like winning to me.

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children, motherhood

How Do You Spell Unforgettable?

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This afternoon Full Speed will participate in his school-wide spelling bee.  He beat out over 140 students to earn this spot.  I asked him if he remembered the speech I gave him before his spelling bee when he was in fifth grade.

“Nope.”

I turned my attention towards T.Puzzle.  “I gave you the same speech before your fifth grade spelling bee.  Do you remember?”

“Nope.”

“Wow,” I said.  “I really am making such a lasting impact on both of you, aren’t I?”

“Well, we both did win,” Full Speed said.

“Good point.  Maybe I know what I am talking about after all.”

Here is that unforgettable(?) speech:

“I want you to remember that you are awesome.  The amount of awesome you have inside you is static.  That means it doesn’t change.  There is nothing you can or can’t do to change this fact.  At the beginning of the spelling bee you will be awesome.  At the end of the spelling bee you will be awesome.  And during the middle, you will still be equally awesome.  Winning or losing can’t change your awesome-ness.  If you wonder how I know this it’s because when you were a baby and I held you in my arms for the very first time I loved you instantly.  I kind of already loved you before I even knew you.  Why?  It wasn’t because I thought to myself, ‘someday this kid is going to be great at spelling.’  No, it was because you were awesome.  You were then, you are now and you always will be.”

You can read the entire, memorable(?) post here:

The Story of a girl and Her First Little Buckeye

Stay tuned to learn Full Speed’s spelling fate.

children, humor, motherhood

‘G’ is for Good

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It has come to my attention that all Hallmark movies have the same plot.  While this isn’t completely shocking for me, it’s mildly annoying nonetheless.  Not that the plots are eerily similar … no …  this is what I love about them, it’s that I have a rather vocal family member who spouts off Hallmark spoiler alerts like it’s nobody’s business.  It has gotten to the point that Full Speed can almost predict to the minute when the star-crossed lovers seemed doomed to be forever apart.

However, I do not need to hear it.

Hear that?

I DO NOT NEED TO HEAR IT.

I watch enough football, well, a loosely based version of what constitutes as ‘watching football’, and enough high-action dramas (seriously, how many explosions can one main character survive?) that as a reward, Hallmark movies are essentially my birthright.

You can take them or leave them but I’m telling you, if a Hallmark movie is rated ‘G’, it means it’s GOOD.

Deal with it.

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From last Xmas.  Oh, you better believe we are buying matching pjs again for the holiday season with Hallmark movies running on a non-stop loop.  Deal with it.
children, motherhood

Well-Behaved?

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T.Puzzle swiped my phone from my grip.  He clicked it open and scrolled through to his current grades.  My attention remained on the road.

Traffic is no joke here.

“I got an ‘E’ in behavior.  What does that mean?”

Full Speed and I shook our heads.

“Oh, man, T.Puzzle.  If you think Dad was frustrated with me last night about geometry, wait until he hears this,” Full Speed said.

I chimed in.  “Yep.  ‘E’ is about the worst mark you can get for behavior.”

Honestly, neither of us had any idea what we were talking about.  I had an inkling ‘E’ was a good thing.  I figured no contact from his teachers meant he was staying on track.  Still, being a new school with a different classification system, we couldn’t resist messing with T.Puzzle a little bit.

“Really?” T.Puzzle said.

His eyes scanned the screen for more information.  “It says ‘E’ stands for exemplary.  What does that mean?”

“Exemplary?  Wow.  This is really bad T.Puzzle.  First it goes ‘O’ for outstanding, ‘S’ for satisfactory, ‘U’ for unsatisfactory and then waaaaay below that comes exemplary.  Dad is going to lose his mind,” Full Speed said.

T.Puzzle kind of believed him and he kind of didn’t.  However, he looked mighty relieved when I told him exemplary meant awesome.

10-encouraging-motivational-quotes-inspiration-entrepreneur-awesome-repinn

children, dogs, family, motherhood

Always, Always

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fullsizeoutput_ddLittle Guy had a tough adjustment to our move.  We have a special formula we (mainly me) follow each day to keep him comfortable and happy.  In addition to his five sets of eye-drops of three medications, we shower him with affection and praise each night before bedtime.  It does not guarantee he will sleep through the night, but it has been proven effective.  There is nothing that warms my heart more than watching Mad Dog make over Little Guy.  It is the sweetest.

Little Guy gets a lot of leeway during the day.  He is allowed to be cranky.  He is allowed to be snippy.  He is allowed to beg and whine for food at the table.

He can do anything he wants.

Most of the time he chooses to nap.  This makes it easy for everyone.

I am surprised at how unquestioning my devotion is to him.  I do not judge him for his cranky missteps.

He has followed me around enough through the five years we’ve had him to earn this loyalty.

He shows me what love can teach us.

Be true, be loyal and you will always, always be loved.

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Reminding mom to pack her favorite accessory.

 

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Me.