Bad Equation

One juice box

PLUS

One quiet boy in the backseat

EQUALS

One big wet mess in the backseat of my car.

Random Musings

• A well-deserved weekend alone isn't always what you wanted by the end of the weekend. It starts getting a little lonely when you're used to noise all around you and for four days there is none.
• There is nothing better than painting a room. It feels great to get rid of someone else's smudges and blemishes, and put a new clean coat of paint over anything that once was theirs.
• It's a million times easier to paint a room without a two-year old running around and putting his little fingers into everything because he wants to "help."
• My house feels better now that I've got a room painted and curtains hanging!
• I miss talking to my friends because I'm too tired to pick up the phone.
• I miss my mom and sister because they live in the same house now and don't need to talk to me as much as they did when my sister lived here.
• I sound like a pity party all of a sudden.
• I'm tired.
• I have to be at school before 7am tomorrow. I've got to go to bed.

Sweetest Thing...

As of Tuesday, I am another year older and a few pounds heavier. My husband and son took me to dinner and we just had to have some ice cream afterward. And even though it was so good that I couldn't finish it all, that's not the sweet thing I'm talking about.

Tuesday morning, Micheal woke up to get ready to go to his first day of "school" at the new daycare, and he was all smiles. He talked about going to school to see his friend, and how he was excited to take his backpack with him and everything! It was great! Daddy dropped him off and picked him up, and when I got home from school, I opened the door and heard my beautiful child yelling, "Mommy's home!!" That has got to be the coolest feeling. Right next to the sound of my two and a half year old son singing Happy Birthday Mommy over and over again, without any prompting from Mommy or Daddy! :) He's so sweet!

Hope you've had a sweet thing happen, too, because October is a month full of candy related incidences, which means it HAS to be a month full of sweets!

Friends of All Ages

I have grown old enough now to know that friends come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and from all walks of life. There are the friends that see you every day and still don't mind talking to you. There are the friends that you see once or twice a week, and you tell them everything that happened in the days since you last met. There are the friends that you see maybe once a month, if that often, and you make sure that you hit the highlights of your month so that you can still feel like you're a part of their lives and vice versa. Then there are the friends that you may not talk to more than three or four times a year, but in those get togethers, the day to day junk isn't important, and the real conversation begins. These are the ones where the pleasantries get over with very early, and you get down to the business of really getting into the other person's head, and doing what friends do best, listening and helping them sort their thoughts, or whatever else they may need you for.
Today, I had such a visit. I got to have lunch today with a friend that I don't get to see very often, but when we do get together, it fills my heart with such a warmth that I know that it doesn't matter how long it is between visits, because as soon as I see her again, the warmth will return.
Then, on my way home, I ran into a former student at the gas station. This student is the one that I have always said that I would like my child to grow up to be most like. He is the most polite young man, and I am really excited to see what he does as he gets older, because whatever it is, he's going to be great at it. He's the kind of former student that I don't just see and wave as I walk by, he's the kind where I like to sit and talk and listen to how he's doing and what his accomplishments have been so far, and everytime I do, I know that I played a small part in his initial success in college, and that makes me feel so much better about the kind of teacher that I was for him and the group he was in.
So, was today a feel good kind of day? You betcha!
Hope you had a good one, too!

Spanish Lessons

My son started his first lessons in Spanish today. Not in a class, but at the home of three of my former students' mother's. She has seven children, one I never had, three more just graduated in the past two years, and the other three are in the 1st through 4th grades. She definitely has the capability to take care of one little two year old. At first I was worried about leaving him there, though, because she speaks no English, and he speaks no Spanish.
So, we got to her house this morning, and he didn't want to get out of the car, but I told him she would have all sorts of toys, and he immediately saw the bicycles and basketball goals outside, so he decided it would be okay. When we got up to her door, she was waiting for us, and he immediately told her that he needed to play with her toys! He didn't have shoes on, and she didn't want his feet to get cold, so she found his shoes in the bag and he knew to sit down and she put them on. Then, they stood up, and he said, "Come on! Let's go find your toys!" I asked for a kiss, and he hurridly gave me one, and I told him to have a good day, and he echoed me and then said, "Bye, Mommy!" No tears, no lingering, no yanking on my legs, no throwing a fit! It was WONDERFUL!
In the short two minutes that I was in the house, I was at first worried about their communication, but then I watched them, and they figured each other out pretty quickly! When I picked him up this afternoon, she said that they had a fun day, and Micheal was in a good mood, still! We talked about putting away toys, and I told him that he could play with them tomorrow if he wanted to come back, and he said that he did! What a difference a happy boy in the morning makes!
Micheal will have three days of Spanish lessons, and then he'll be home with me for the weekend. Then, next week, we start him at a daycare in town, which means I'll have to drive more every morning and afternoon, which I'm not excited about, but that's okay. It will also be my excuse to be in town and go work out after school when I go to pick him up. The best thing about the daycare is that his best friend Hannah will be there, too, in the same room, so that should make his transition a little easier!

My husband and I have been pretty stressed out about this for a week, and we kept telling each other and hearing from our friends and parents that God would take care of us if we put our trust in Him. Not that we didn't believe it before, but I just want to reaffirm the fact that the things that you think really don't need a lot of prayer can always be better with a little prayer.

I hope you take all or your concerns and dilemmas to Him in prayer, because no matter how small or big you think it is, God will take care of you, too! :)

Night and Day

It's amazing how my child's attitude is the difference between night and day now that I have taken him out of the situation at the babysitter's house that he didn't like. Do I have another babysitter lined up yet for this week? Nope. Am I worried? NO! Because I am enjoying the fact that my child doesn't go to bed in a bad mood and then wake up mad at me anymore.

So, long story short, my child didn't like the babysitter's house. I think he was ignored and didn't have anyone to play with, so it wasn't any fun. I also think that he got made the example for the younger boys, and being the one in trouble all the time just isn't any fun at all. So, we decided to take him out of that environment, and so far, I've had nothing but good feelings about it for three days. What lesson did I learn? Listen to my instinct, because apparently, I was right.