Let's Pray!!

Let's remember our Christian brothers and sisters in prayer!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091224/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_christmas_of_fear

Help carry each other's burdens. In this way you will follow Christ's teachings. Galatians 6:2

Xmas or Christmas?

Christmas is tomorrow. It's been such a crazy month and it seems like it came so fast this year. I have faithfully listened to Christmas music EVERY SINGLE DAY since the monday before Thanksgiving (That's as early as it was on the radio) and I am so excited that I discovered Pandora online radio where I can continue to play Christmas music as long as I feel like it. :)

On the Christmas station this year they had a radio-thon for the Salvation Army's adopt a family. It was interesting hearing the DJ's try to "sell" the idea. They kept playing clips of people telling their stories and then they would follow up with "no child should go without Christmas." Now don't get me wrong, I'm not against giving and helping another family.... it just made me think about how we view Christmas as children. If we are not careful it can be just another way to beat down self esteem. As a child, Santa would always bring my neighbor Power Wheels vehicles, kitchen sets, and expensive clothes. I always wondered why Santa didn't like me as much. Why did I only get a coat, or a gift with a clearance price tag on it? (It makes me laugh now to think about the time my mother told me that Santa must have drank too much egg nog because he went down the wrong chimney with our Power Wheels.) What does it mean to "go without Christmas"?

Lots of toys, a little bit of toys, no toys...the only way to "go without Christmas" is to not have Christ in your life. There are so many unfathomable gifts he brings us that way overshadow the tickle me elmo or Playstation 9. Because of Him I have hope. Because of him I have had peace in times of trial. He gives me Joy. He gives me burdens for other people...reminding me that I am part of a body, intended to encourage and help. Come to think of it- he gives me absolutely EVERYTHING I need. Their are no clearance price tags on those suckers.

My little magician

I have to admit, I'm a little freaked out right now. After dropping Caleb off at preschool this morning, I decided to take Thane to the zoo for some "mommy time". It was all going well, and Thane was enjoying moving at is own pace instead of Caleb's. This gave him time to just stop and enjoy the animals. All of this one on one attention evidently empowered him...I mean, he really doesn't get much. When we were in the gorilla house something amazing happened. He started to levitate. The gorilla watched in amazement. I was shocked and was barely able to contain myself long enough to grab the phone camera. I think the picture speaks for itself. As his mother, I can only hope he uses this power for good.

RIP Molly the Malibu

Molly Malibu 1997-2009

Molly the Malibu of Omaha Nebraska died on August 6, 2009 in another case of auto on auto crime. She was only 12 years old. Molly was made a part of my family after sitting on a car lot for months. The salesman couldn't get rid of her because she was purple. I saw something special in her though.

She got around 30 mpg and had four new tires. Her tank was completely full of gas and she had recently been cleaned out. She had purple nail polish on her hood to cover rust spots and a bumper that flapped freely in the wind. Molly is survived by millions of siblings, none of whom bothered to show for the funeral except one that was being serviced next to her.

Molly's life was taken by a Black Escalade with a license plate. The letters and numbers on that license plate are unknown...but would have greatly aided in it's identification.

Memorials may be made by way of remembering all of the good times that were had in Molly.

RIP Molly the Malibu. I will never forget you.

The three year old mind

So, I have decided lately that I am really going to miss Caleb as a three year old. I'm looking forward to having Thane at that point though. The things he comes up with are hilarious. Of course I have examples :)...

"Mama, when I was about your age, then I really LOVED chocolate"

(After explaining to Caleb that milk comes from cows.) "HA! (he goes on as he's laughing) Does the cow put it in a bottle and then walk off with it to the grocery store?"

Ben: "Caleb, mommy wants you to be smarter than me."

Caleb: "No! I don't want to be as smart as you! I want to be as smart as myself!"

Me: "Caleb, we really need to cut your hair"

Caleb: "Why"

Me: "Because it's getting long."

Caleb: "That's because I'm growing up. I think I'm going to be a girl."

Me: "Oh really?"

Caleb: "Yeah, I'm going to be a mommy when I grow up. That's why my hair is

getting long."

I've been pretty sleep deprived lately with Thane waking up every few hours and then up for the day by 7. There are times when I want to bang my head against the wall....and there are times when I actually HAVE banged my head against the wall. (Don't do it, it doesn't help anything. In fact, the situation stays the same except you add a headache.)

To say that I wouldn't trade it for anything would probably be a lie because there are definitely some scenarios I would trade for. (Thane is actually crying in his bedroom fighting his nap as I type this.) However, these little boys that God has entrusted me with fill my life with so much joy compared to the frustration. Now, we'll see how this balance changes as they grow. :)

I'll show you bored!

So, it's amazing how easy it is to pinpoint where new behaviors come from when you stay at home with your child and they have limited interaction with the outside world. Lately Caleb learned from two, a bit older, children the term "I'm bored." I don't know why, but this particular term makes me so incredibly mad! Bored? Really?
Three different times today he used the phrase and each time I calmly explained to him that he wasn't bored. The final time he said it was in Thane's room, while actually playing with his toys. It was then that I lost my temper. "Caleb, if you say that one more time, I am going to take away all of your toys and show you what being bored really is!"

I smile now, but the more I think about it, the more I realize how much I do the same thing. How many times does God look down at me and want to say, "Are you kidding me? You keep groaning and I'll really give you something to complain about."
It is so easy to jump on the bandwagon of discontentment. And once there, it is even easier to drag others into the trap of negativity with us...as if company will improve things.
I don't want to be that person. I am supposed to be living a life that is "worthy of the calling" of Jesus Christ.
I have a ways to go.
He is helping me though...and that is exciting to me!

Caleb did end up having some toys taken away, but he learned quickly after that. Later in the afternoon I walked downstairs to check on him where he was playing with his trains. Right as I came into the room he said emphatically, "mommy, I'm playing with my trains and I'm not bored at all!"
Caleb is a smart boy. I hope I can learn as fast as him.

On a different, but related note, I've been reading the Message bible lately. I love how Eugene Peterson has paraphrased the bible into today's language. It's been a nice study guide and conversation starter for Ben and I. God is showing me some new truths and insights and I have to say that I am so thankful to have that relationship. I'm also seeing how much grace I need in certain areas of my life.
Every once and awhile I guess you just need to say things..I mean type things...like that out loud.

Supermom!

So I went on a date tonight. It wasn't with Ben...he was home asleep on the couch...it was with Caleb- and let me tell you- it was so much fun! It started because we ran out of diapers. I needed to run to the store and had just put Thane to bed. Ben was exhausted from a busy call night so I decided to take Caleb with me. As we are leaving the house in daddy's truck (since he can sit up front) he looked over at me and said, "mommy, I love you and I like going places with you." Boy that was the right thing to say. Since it was only 7:45 and still light out, I decided to take a detour to the park so we could just spend some time together. I'm so glad we did.
We ran up and down the ramps, climbed up climbing walls, dove down slides then ran back up them, played house, slayed dragons (as super mom and super Caleb), fought monsters, and saved the world...all in 40 minutes! When we were exhausted we sat on one of the bridges and he looked over at me with those beautiful eyes and said "so, how was your day, super mom?"
Ha, super mom. He didn't know that I burnt his egg and had to cut off all of the edges or that his teeth weren't brushed and his shirt was dirty. He evidently had forgotten about the scoldings, tears, and tantrums of the day- one of which had left a big gash on his chin as he threw himself onto the floor hitting the toilet along the way. He didn't know my irritation that the house wasn't clean and the dishes were dirty. He didn't realize that we were late for the playgroup picnic earlier in the day because I waited until the last second to make our dish to share or that I had disappeared downstairs for a nap as soon as was possible because I was just simply DONE! He didn't know any of that. All he cared about was me taking the time to play with him. How was my day? "Great", I said...and I completely meant it...because taking time to play with him had made it great! Nothing else mattered. All of the rushing, preparing, and frustration of the day was meaningless. It had all passed and we were both alive....and just loving being with each other.
At this point I was feeling pretty good about myself. I was so glad I had stopped at the park. But, of course, he brought me back to reality. As we were leaving I told Caleb that I would get him a treat at the store because I was "the best mom in the world!"
"I don't think that's true, mom" he replied. hahaha

April showers bring May flowers

So, let's just be honest here. April was an absolutely sucky month around here. Hence the complete lack of blogs. Yet like bad gas, it passed.
So here we are, May has arrived...and it is infinitely less sucky.
First- Ben is done at the black hole, a.k.a. Children's hospital. It is common knowledge that residents just disappear there...and that was truly the case. Over the entire month Ben averaged over 80 hours a week. Then he came home and slept.
Second- Caleb has his tonsils out and is completely recovered. He had obstructive sleep apnea due to his GINORMOUS tonsils. Since the surgery he is actually sleeping at night and is way more pleasant in the morning! (Side note to any medical personnel who may be reading: when patients come to the office for a tonsils and adenoids surgery consult, don't say "are you here for a T and A consult?" It's just weird)
Third- It's actually consistently warm out. Now, since we are in Nebraska, May is basically a constant tornado watch- but at least we get to play outside in between sirens!
Fourth- I went to the dentist and I still have NO CAVITIES!! However, I did decide to start brushing at night and flossing...due to the gum disease and all. (Did you guys know that if you floss every day, your gums don't bleed after about a week? I had no idea- so with me bleeding all over the place I probably looked like an idiot when I lied and told the dentist that I did floss.)
Fifth- I actually had four legitimate reasons why May is great!

I'll end with a funny Caleb story:
Caleb was helping me make sandwiches for a picnic and we were talking about the differences between lunch meats. I said that bologna comes from pigs to which he replied “pigs make bologna?” I said, “No, bologna comes from pigs...from their belly”. To which he replied “oh, you mean where the coin slot is?”

How's your day?

At the end of the day, my husband comes home and asks "How was your day, honey?". "Let me see", I reply, then I think to my self. "He's had a long day- should I tell him about Caleb grinding an apple filled cereal bar into the sofa, or the major tantrum that left Asian noodles all over the kitchen floors, or the ladies that tried to talk to me about everything I was doing wrong".

"Well", I finally answer, "It was okay...uh....Caleb said the funniest thing as he was getting out of time out...."

The scenario made me wonder- how do I gauge a day? Is it by the number of times Caleb listens or doesn't listen? Is it by the number of times Caleb, Thane, or I cry? Is it by the the amount of toys or food scattered on the ground? I have come to decide that I can gauge a day based on the amount of SOS calls made to God. Usually it's one or two, but yesterday....yesterday I didn't hang up. It was a speakerphone kind of day.

Division and Spelling

Caleb read his first word today. He sounded it out C - A - T. We have been working on letter sounds for awhile, and he is really good at sounding out the first letter of any word and telling you what it is, but I had no idea he was ready to actually start sounding out entire words! He also did a simple division problem with Ben. We had made 6 muffins and Ben and Caleb were deciding how many each person could have. Ben asked "how many people are there that eat muffins?" "Three", Caleb replied. Then Ben asked him how many each person would get. Caleb looked at the muffins and counted "one two three, one two three" and then answered Ben's question with "two!". Yeah, pretty good for a three year old.

In other news, well, there really isn't any other news. I solely wrote this blog to talk about how smart my kid is...but hey....It's my blog.

Just stuff...

So, this has been a pretty tough few months around here. Ben is working inpatient services and he is just plain busy. He's also just plain exhausted. He works long hours and then has to take some calls at night. With most people who have busy schedules, they can at least look forward to the weekend but poor Ben doesn't even have that. The good news is that this will all be over in about a week! We can't wait!! Long hours for Ben means long hours for me as well. I have never felt more sympathy for single mothers! I don't know how they do it. It seems like every time I am about to reach my limit, though, Caleb will say or do something that reminds me why I couldn't be without my children! Case in point, today, when I was honestly at my witt's end, Caleb says out of the blue, "Mommy, I love you!" He then, of course, proceeded to tell me that I was grouchy. Ouch. At least he loves me in spite of that. :)

On a completely different note, Caleb is just growing up so much! Lately he has wanted to go to the bathroom all by himself. All I can say is thank goodness for hardwood floors! He is just barely tall enough to reach over the rim of the toilet. His newest thing, thanks to his dad I might add, is that he wants to "aim" it. It is fine that Ben has encouraged him to "aim", but he didn't really focus on the definition of the word. Caleb thinks it means to put his finger on his little tallywacker and spin it in circles. I don't know where he learned this, but there is only one other potty trained tallywacker in the house.... that's all I'm sayin'. (Now that I think about it, maybe this is from his "name-writing in the snow lessons." Either way, I'm not gonna deal with it. I'll just keep wiping up the floor until Ben helps him perfect this.)

On another nother note... I have the most amazing husband. He does the most thoughtful things and even when he is completely exhausted he will take time for Caleb, Thane, and I. Yeah, definitely the greatest guy ever!

Bad Mickey

I have told this story to my sister, and she got a kick out of it. I guess I was too close to the situation to see it as really funny until after the fact. So, since Heather enjoyed it and how I handled things, I guess I will share...

I had a friend over the other day and she brought her two year old son. He was really shy so we were trying to give him toys to get him to start playing. Caleb, however, didn't feel like our toy selections were acceptable. In fact, he didn't think ANY toy choice was good. Every time we would give the child a toy, Caleb would grab it from him and say that he "was about to play with that." Of course I didn't allow him to get away with this. In fact, every time he took something I would make him give it back, have him sit in time out to think, then apologize afterwards.
I believe we repeated this cycle about four times, and I was completely frustrated and embarrassed with his behavior.
After timeout number four, Caleb dissappeared into his room, then re-emerged with a stuffed Mickey doll. This happened to coincide with us handing the little boy Caleb's play staple gun. I saw the look in Caleb's eyes, and felt the frustration build. Before I could stop him, he had used Mickey's arms to grab the gun. I said the usual, "Caleb, give that back to him now", to which he replies, "I didn't do it, Mickey did it." Clever.
"Fine," I huffed back, "Mickey, you have until the count of three to give it back."
He didn't even flinch as I concluded my count. Now that was a first! Caleb is always quick to act once the counting starts. I felt my blood boil as I firmly stated "Caleb, go to time out, NOW!"
"But mom," he replies, "I didn't do it, Mickey did it."
Now, I am a firm believer in consistency, and as much as this whole time out thing was seemingly not working, I was determined to stick with it. If you know Caleb at all, however, you know that he has an extremely vivid imagination...and he might have even really believed that Mickey was at fault. I felt the other mom's eyes on me. What was I to do?

I'll tell you what I did. I let Caleb put Mickey in time out. I then told him that he needed to sit with Mickey and talk to him about his behavior and why it wasn't nice to take things from other children. Caleb completely agreed that Mickey needed a talkin' to.
He put Mickey on the couch, kneeled down by him and said "now Mickey, I know you are frustrated, but it is not nice to take things from other children. You have to share." He then whispered a few things to him. I'm not sure what, but probably some words of sympathy or encouragement. After two minutes I let Mickey out of time out. He didn't do it again.

So, there are many times as a mom that you just wonder how you are doing. There is no boss to offer yearly reviews, no days recorded for quality assurance, or even anyone over three to offer constructive criticism because no one is there all day to witnesses your interactions. While it's true that it's wonderful not to deal with the negative aspects of such things, sometimes you just need a pat on the back, or someone to tell you that you aren't a complete imbecile. So, thanks, Heather, for complimenting me on my parenting "skillz". Just like a good review from the boss, it is very encouraging....especially when you hit time out number 20 for the day.

Prayer

We had finished reading our bedtime stories, had our snack, and were laying down to go to bed when Caleb gasped. "Mom, we forgot to pray". Now, of course we would have prayed within the next minute if given the chance, but there was no need to correct him. "Okay Caleb", I replied, "would you like me to pray?" "No, mom," he answered, "I'll do it. Can I bow?" I didn't really know what he meant by this, but decided I would like to find out. "Of course you can Caleb." With that, he walked to the middle of his bedroom, closed his eyes, folded his hands, and bowed with his face to the ground. Tears immediately came to my eyes as I saw him unknowingly humble himself in such a manner before his creator. "Dear Lord," he started, "thank you for this day. Please help daddy as he takes care of patients at the hospital because he can't do it on his own. Please help me to be kind to my cousins and help me to share. In Jesus name I pray all of these things. Amen." Quite the complex prayer for such a little boy. Ben was at the hospital on call this particular evening, but I told him the next day about Caleb's prayer and prayer posture. I wondered if Ben had taught him to "bow". He hadn't, but when I looked in Caleb's children's bible I saw that he had learned it from a picture of King David bowing before God. As he finished his little talk with God, I felt so incredibly proud of him. He is learning some important behaviors at a young age: to be humble, to rely on God to guide us daily in what we do, and to desire to be constantly growing in order to show Christ's love to others.
What a precious thing to be able to see the truly blind and innocent faith of a child.