Tag: mommyhood

children, gratitude, humor, kids, life in pictures, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Grocery Stories

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I’d like to take full parenting credit that my boys were excellent for me during checkout.  Instead, I owe it all to the technological era of our time.  They knew if they acted like crazy monkeys they would not get video game time when we got home.  Therefore, they were downright angelic.  Oh sure, there was a point when Full Speed somehow got attacked by the grocery cart and nearly had his ear ripped from his body.  And of course T.Puzzle couldn’t get over that there were no sprinkle cookies left.  He approached a meltdown and with his head hung low rather ungraciously accepted a plain sugar cookie.  The only thing that saved him was he remembered his manners and said ‘thank you, ma’am’ to the very accommodating woman handing out the cookies.  After a few more seconds of nonsense he got over himself, ate the cookie and promptly declared, “That was delicious, I would like to have a second one, please!”

All in all, not a bad day at the store.

I don’t particularly like to resort to all out bribery to get my kids to behave.  I also don’t particularly like to have my children’s pictures on the grocery’s red-alert watch list.

To bribe or not to bribe?

Today, I chose bribery.

You’re welcome, America!

children, humor, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Injuries ‘R’ Us

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the boys participating in a rare, non injurious activity

The odds are against us.  I’m noticing that the more hours the boys spend together the threat of injury increases exponentially.  Whether it means a popped lense from a glasses frame (two this week and counting) to an unfortunate biting incident with intensified retaliatation, I’m starting to become concerned.  Every yelp, scrape or karate chop is beginning to illicit real fear in the depth of my soul.  I am pacing around like a crazy woman in mad, little circles with my ears trained for any sign of calamity.  Yesterday, I used almost an entire box of band-aids and that was only for one kid.  I used half a box on the other.  If only they made band-aids that could suture together the frayed remnants of my fragile state of mind.

Keep us in your thoughts and wish us the best.  Or better yet, send us some band-aids.

children, humor, kids, life in pictures, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Fight Club

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If I could describe my perfect holiday weekend it would include things like quietly reading or blogging.  Maybe I would go to a non-violent film about love and redemption.  I would get a pedicure, go shopping or have a nice glass of wine with a fancy dinner.

Never in my wildest imagination would these plans include a knock-down, drag-out pillow war.

It is clear to me that my boys and I are very different.  Not bad different but maybe slightly crazy different.

Either way, I’m running for cover.

children, humor, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting, self-discovery, tantrums

Bring It

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T.Puzzle and his glorious smile

Denial is a wonderful coping mechanism.  I’m learning it lasts for as long as a delicate psyche needs and then collapses when you’ve reached a head space that allows for the truth.

When T.Puzzle was born and he screamed louder than any newborn has a right to, I clearly remember thinking, “Hey, wait a minute.  You’re suppose to be my easy kid.”  I had made a silent agreement with T.Puzzle while he was in utero that he was going to be a milder version of Full Speed.

In some ways this was true.  He actually stayed put long enough for me to on occasion hold and snuggle him.  He broke into easy smiles with his incredible dimples a-blazin’ and he actually played calmly with baby toys for extended periods.

Other signs that T.Puzzle would be ‘easier’, or more likely helped feed my denial, were his slightly more sensitive nature and his skill at reading and reacting to other people’s emotions.  Early on we labeled him ‘our little social worker’.

Great.  This was good.  I rolled along and headed into his ‘terrible twos’ feeling like I was finally going to have an upper hand.

I was completely wrong.  He tantrummed with the same passionate zest as his brother before him.  The only things that kept me going through this were the glimpses of his social worker nature and my dear, sweet friend denial.  No matter how ugly the tantrums became he would always quickly win me back with his, “I love you, Mommys” and loving hugs.

Then came this summer and that’s when denial packed up its bags and left me for good.  T.Puzzle has continued his tantrumming phase well into his fourth year exactly the same as Full Speed.  Unfortunately for this latest phase of summer tantrums the gloves are off.  He is proving that he can run with the big boys and has shown such a ferocity of independence that it is at once frightening and awe-inspiring.

All I can say is bring it T.Puzzle.  This ain’t my first rodeo, kid.

children, humor, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Chair Diving

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What’s a Mom to do to entertain her youngest while her older child attends a soccer camp?

Books?

Puzzles?

Art projects?

Been there, done that.

T.Puzzle has since moved on to chair diving.

On the bright side, no furniture, glasses or limbs were broken during the filming of this video: