'Mom, will you help me walk the dog'
'Sure Thomas, let's go'
We weren't even past our front yard when our kid-magnet attracted the 3 yr old across the street. 'Dog!'. James pets Henry and then follows Thomas and the dog to the park. The dad and I chat while slowly making our way there as well. A few minutes later I look up to check on the kids. Picture 9 yr old Jacob on hands and knees with the dog leash hooked to his belt loop with sister Sydney, Thomas, and James circled around 'walking' him... very endearing scene except for the obvious problem...
'Thomas! Where is the DOG!'
'Ummmm', scanning the park, 'right over there'. (No big deal, mom!) Probably a good 100 feet away, but happily sniffing bushes. The clump of kids quickly overtook Henry and landed in a heap on him. Not that he was going anywhere fast.
29 April 2014
27 April 2014
Saturday
Well, it's been awhile. I have so many things racing through my head, I don't even know where to start. Decisiveness has never been my strength. Whenever Brandon asks what I'd like to do for my birthday, for date night, etc my answer is usually, 'I just don't want to have to decide! Surprise me!'.
It's Sunday morning. Thomas is sleeping peacefully beside me (as my love is in Utah for the weekend for his mother's 75th birthday bash). Thinking of family. Of yesterday working in the garden. Milla and Sean trimming and mowing the lawn without but a minute of instruction from me. (When did they become so self sufficient?) Having a couple of kids stop by to see if Thomas could play and him responding, 'sure, but I have to help mom work on the fence and do my other chores first'. I asked if they wanted to come help and Trey replied, 'sure, it's better than wandering around!' So he, Adante, and Thomas each grabbed a hand rake and dug out 15 feet of rocks from the fence line before calling it a day (I am putting in finer metal mesh along the bottom 2 feet of my fence to *hopefully* keep out those pesky rabbits). Got to chat and hear about their families. (Since when did our house become the neighborhood hangout spot for 2nd to 4th grade boys?). Then hung out with Catherine for a couple of hours. First ballet and then to Target for another eye exam and new glasses. On the way home we were (arm?) dancing in the car to Brandon's Irish CD when Catherine says,'I'm happy'. I asked why and she said, 'People always ask that and I think, why wouldn't I be happy?'. Kind a 'happy until proven sad' attitude. I like that. Why not? Smiling is good. Not my general default face.
I've also been thinking about Coreen and some of her recent article posts on depression and anxiety. A friend of mine said she was complaining to her husband (a bishopric member) about a lady that would always volunteer to do something and then would inevitable not follow through. Her husband responded that in his experience interacting with people because of his church calling, when this was the problem, 9 times out of 10 he later found out that these were people dealing with depression. Kind of opened my eyes. I've not dealt with long term depression, but have had shorter bouts of it (mostly coupled with social anxiety) and I think it has taught me more than anything to not make quick judgments on peoples actions. Everyone has to go at their own pace. My kids each have their own inner struggles that are often perceived by others to be arrogance, irritation, disobedience, short-tempered-ness, rudeness, or being unaware. In reality though they are scared, frustrated, overwhelmed, unable to control some physical body responses to stress, and embarrassed. As my husband and I have found, both of us being social anxiety sufferers, it takes many many hours of practice and often painful experience to be able to function in today's world with such conditions. But we can and we have and so will our kids. What we need is a little more patience with each other as we learn. And probably more smiles and Irish music.
It's Sunday morning. Thomas is sleeping peacefully beside me (as my love is in Utah for the weekend for his mother's 75th birthday bash). Thinking of family. Of yesterday working in the garden. Milla and Sean trimming and mowing the lawn without but a minute of instruction from me. (When did they become so self sufficient?) Having a couple of kids stop by to see if Thomas could play and him responding, 'sure, but I have to help mom work on the fence and do my other chores first'. I asked if they wanted to come help and Trey replied, 'sure, it's better than wandering around!' So he, Adante, and Thomas each grabbed a hand rake and dug out 15 feet of rocks from the fence line before calling it a day (I am putting in finer metal mesh along the bottom 2 feet of my fence to *hopefully* keep out those pesky rabbits). Got to chat and hear about their families. (Since when did our house become the neighborhood hangout spot for 2nd to 4th grade boys?). Then hung out with Catherine for a couple of hours. First ballet and then to Target for another eye exam and new glasses. On the way home we were (arm?) dancing in the car to Brandon's Irish CD when Catherine says,'I'm happy'. I asked why and she said, 'People always ask that and I think, why wouldn't I be happy?'. Kind a 'happy until proven sad' attitude. I like that. Why not? Smiling is good. Not my general default face.
I've also been thinking about Coreen and some of her recent article posts on depression and anxiety. A friend of mine said she was complaining to her husband (a bishopric member) about a lady that would always volunteer to do something and then would inevitable not follow through. Her husband responded that in his experience interacting with people because of his church calling, when this was the problem, 9 times out of 10 he later found out that these were people dealing with depression. Kind of opened my eyes. I've not dealt with long term depression, but have had shorter bouts of it (mostly coupled with social anxiety) and I think it has taught me more than anything to not make quick judgments on peoples actions. Everyone has to go at their own pace. My kids each have their own inner struggles that are often perceived by others to be arrogance, irritation, disobedience, short-tempered-ness, rudeness, or being unaware. In reality though they are scared, frustrated, overwhelmed, unable to control some physical body responses to stress, and embarrassed. As my husband and I have found, both of us being social anxiety sufferers, it takes many many hours of practice and often painful experience to be able to function in today's world with such conditions. But we can and we have and so will our kids. What we need is a little more patience with each other as we learn. And probably more smiles and Irish music.
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