Love Is the Most Important Thing

We have a routine in our family where the children share their school day high and low points once we reunite. I love listening to them share things about the time we spent apart. Sometimes Robbie and I share ours over the dinner meal, and the children enjoy listening. To prove that Henry listens to all that goes on in our house and vehicle, I have a story. We recently put Henry into Children's Church. This gives us time to go to mass while he interacts with other children his age, hears a bible story, and plays. We really, really like Children's Church. We're all about it! Now, the flip side this peace brings is that I must lead Children's Church as a parent volunteer several times a year. Sunday was my first day, and the other mom and I barely survived. We had 13 one and two-year-olds, and several cried....all at once, then stopped, then took turns for over an hour. It was AWESOME!!!!!! That's another story. My story today is about my first reunion with Henry after he was in that room recently. I said, "Did you have a wonderful morning?" He said, "I tell you my high point?!" Be still my heart. He wanted to be like his big sisters and share news about his day. However, he responded, "I not like Children's Church. I cry for my mommy." I told him that was his low point. He then said he got to play with cars, and we talked about how fun that must have been.

Two weekends ago I went on a Girl Scout overnight with Olivia. We slept in cabins, and there were 16 girls and about 9 moms. It was really fun. I loved watching my daughter interact with her peers, and I felt so proud of her for the way she conducted herself. Olivia is a good little girl. After dinner she ran up to me and whispered some outrageous news. "Mommy, the girls are lined up behind our cabin, and they are looking at a man take a shower....NAKED. They're using binoculars." I trotted right over there and found about 9 girls lined up for a turn at spying. We discussed the reason the activity was wrong...his privacy was being invaded, and the binoculars were put into safe keeping. They are seven and eight!!!!

Over the weekend Robbie watched a lot of football. At one point he called out, "Come on!! Are you kidding me?" Henry copied him and said, "Come on!! Are you kidding me, football guys?" We exchanged sweet smiles. Luckily, appropriate language abounds in our home.

Finally, this morning at 4 am Miss Vivian woke up hungry. She got off schedule with her nursing and solid food meal last night, and I knew that would happen. I rocked her and nursed her, and Henry stood up in his bed. He whimpered ever so softly, but he didn't say anything. He stood and stood and waited. After almost 20 minutes I finished feeding baby and carried her to Henry for a kiss. He kissed her silently, and I put her into her bed. I went back to Henry's crib, and he whispered, "I need to go to the potty." I took him to my dim bathroom, and I complimented him on how sweet he had been to baby Vivian by staying quiet and waiting patiently. I said, "You're such a nice little boy, thank you, Henry." He said so incredibly softly and sweetly, "You're welcome, Mommy." He pottied, and then he went right back to his bed, snuggled into position with Elmo and teddy, and went back to sleep. That was one of those amazing child-parent moments when you have the perfect interaction. What a treasure.

The girls and I are reading Abel's Island. It is a story of a mouse who gets swept away during a hurricane, and it has great vocabulary and beautiful descriptions. We're enjoying it. I love how we snuggle together in my bed as we read at night. However, last night the word defecate was used by the proper mouse, and this sent the girls into giggles. On our way to school I reinforced the fact that their teachers would not be impressed with their use of intelligent potty talk, since it was still potty talk. They giggled some more. I love taking the opportunity to stop while reading and say, "Do you know what that means?" However, never before has my answer been, "That is a fancy word for poop or bowel movement." That D word is not in Fancy Nancy's ABC book.

Finally, today I had the pleasure of hearing a great speaker, Debi Stack, at Mothers of Preschoolers. She seemed to have written her talk for me alone, and I really enjoyed it. Here are a few points to ponder...

- Every day is brand new with no mistakes in it.

- Love is the most important thing.

- This time in my life as a mother of young children is one in which I will have the highest expectations for myself, yet likely experience my lowest productivity.

-Don't rake up ways the children fell short. Avoid the tendency to overcorrect, and focus on positive affirmation of what they do right.

- If I want these things for my children...patience, respectfulness, compassion, faith, humor, joy, confidence, good health, generosity, happiness....then I need to have them. One can't give what one doesn't have.

Vivian just woke up. Her cries come first. More blog later...