Oh No! I Have One of "THOSE Kids"!

It used to be (when I was a new mom) that I looked around and saw moms with kids older than mine and thought, "Oh MY kid will NEVER do..." and then I'd fill in the blank on whatever "x" was.

So in the height of my new-mom-arrogance, when I saw older toddlers say, "Ewwww! I don't like that!" in regards to food, I thought, 'Eh...that poor mom. I'm not gonna be like *her*. I'm going to give my kid a variety of foods and he'll learn to like everything!' And this happened. Brendan got used to eating green beans early (his first non-cereal solid), loved green peas, chowed shredded wheat biscuits with gusto, and generally ate whatever we put in front of him with vigour. He even ate frozen (yes, frozen!) green peas, straight from the freezer--as a snack! He used to say, "Mmmm....broc!" (That's "Broccoli is my favourite, Mama!" for those of you who need a translation.)

That is, until he turned 3 years and 2 months old. "What's so magical about this age?" you might ask. I have no earthly idea. All of my new-mother-bravado is gone--I'm just like the rest of the moms out there. I now have one of "THOSE kids" who say, "Ewwww...I don't like that!" about *everything*, even things that are perennial favourites. Seriously--macaroni & cheese, THE BOXED KIND, gets this response! Broccoli, the favourite vegetable in the world, gets it. Even a pb&j on a different-looking wheat bread gets it. I cannot figure this out. My healthy-eater is now PICKY! My child who used to scarf down Shredded Wheat now looks at them with suspicion--as if I'm trying to POISON HIM! When did this happen? When did my child become one of "THOSE kids"? What about my ability to mother? What will become of me? What if they don't put my name in the book of "World's Greatest Mothers" under the category "Her Kids Ate Everything"?

Now with all kidding aside, absolutely nothing has changed in our home. We still have vegetables with dinner every night, I do not give in to Brendan's food-whims, and he either eats 7 bites of what's in front of him or he doesn't get his reward for not having accidents during the day (a handful of m&ms). The same things that have gone on since he was able to eat table food. So it's not like we've changed tracks and I only recently started to shove veggies down my child's throat. And typically when he says, "Ewww...." I'll tell him to take one bite. When he does this, he generally says, "YUM! I like this!" And occasionally we get a, "Oh YUMMY! It's my favourite!" But only after taking that requisite bite.

So I've concluded that this must be a phase. A phase that all mothers are cursed with as their toddlers develop a great sense of taste and recoil at the poison we put down every day and looks different than a package of fruit snacks. For if my child could survive on "animal fruit snax" from Sam's Club, I'm convinced he would. In the meantime, I'll try to stuff my snobbery and realize that every stage has a new challenge and that the optimism/arrogance that comes with new children will probably hit me again with Amanda. And then again with Arwen. And probably again with Sean...and Lucie...and Ian.

It's a good thing these posts are archived so I can go back and read them when I need them next time! ;)

Cow Silliness

I just read about a site that intrigues me and I'm curious to know what others think. It's http://www.bovineunite.com/main.htm and smacks of viral marketing. Usually, I think this stuff is pretty clever, and while this is clever, there's also a bit of a sinister side to it. While investigating the site (and thinking, "Hmmm...Chik-Fil-A?"), I found some pro-vegan aspects to it, which is very un-restaurant-like. It's a little too lighthearted for PETA, although the dark-humour aspect is mirrored on PETA's site. The researchers at snopes.com don't know what to think, but they have noted some links to ad agencies that are known for viral marketing.

Anyhow, I'm curious to see what others think about it--supposedly, the "truth" will be spilled on Cinco de Mayo (May 5) at 8:45pm (EDT--it is being run from the east coast).

Ridiculously Happy!

It's amazing to me how small things in my life make me so absurdly happy. Seriously--the phrase "simple things...." really fits here. I don't need a million dollars to be happy (although that wouldn't *hurt* my disposition--really!), I just need small things to work in the favour of my family.

Case in point: Mark & I are about to begin a video series with a group of parents from our church. I'm excessively excited about this series, partly because it's done by Andy Stanley and Reggie Joiner (two amazing men who minister to families in various ways), and partly because it's going to talk about continuing to build relationships with our kids so that when the tough times come, we have a relationship to fall back on (a "right" to speak in to their lives, as it were) and we can leverage our influence for their benefit and the benefit of our family. Sounds great, right?

Well, the one cloud in this picture was finding a sitter for our 3 year old. While that in and of itself doesn't seem like a monumental task, as a first-time mom to a child that took us 7 years to conceive and I struggled to stay pregnant with, I'm pretty danged particular about who watches my kid! It's not that I think I'm the only one who can do it well (not at all!), and it's not that my husband and I don't need a break every once and again (we do!). It's just that, well...I need to *trust* whoever watches my child *implicitly*. I don't want some teenager who thinks my house is "party central" once my child is in bed and my fridge is fair game for all of her friends. I have no problem sharing food, but the respect I showed as a teenaged babysitter seems to be lacking in some of the sitters I hear about today, and I just don't want that happening in my house while I'm gone. So picky? Yeah--but for the right reasons.

Back to the issue at hand. So a friend of ours was over the other night and she mentioned (while she was playing Matchbox cars with our son!) that she was looking for odd jobs to pick up some extra cash. WHOO HOO! You should've seen my eyes! :D Seriously--an *adult* who is *responsible* and *loves my kid* wants to earn some extra money? A match made in heaven--literally! :D

So now we've got this awesome class we're starting (and I'll be writing about that, too), a babysitter locked in, and one very happy Mama. See? It's not the *big things* in life that please me, it's the little ones. ;)

So Very Accurate! ;) 

Generations Leadership Team
(hint: I'm the redhead at the back!)

Laundry & the 3 Year Old

Today brings a monstrous task to my to-do list....washing the comforter.

So I'm preparing to wash the comforter on our bed and spot-treating it with a pre-treater this morning. Washing our comforter is no small feat--a queen-sized comforter in a washing machine (not a front-loader!) that just barely holds it all. Anyhow, our 3 year-old is watching me spray different spots on the comforter....well heck, here's the transcript:

Me: Now sweetie, don't sit on the comforter, it's wet.
Son: Yeah, Mama...you're spayin' it wif water!
Me: No, "Shout!" sweetheart.
Son: YOU'RE SPAYIN' IT WIF WATER, MAMA!!

At that point, I just dissolved in to gales of laughter and had tears streaming down my face. Instead of explaining what was so funny, I just looked at the bottle of Shout and kept on laughing.

Kids are so much fun!! :) Who knew they could bring laughter to laundering a comforter?? ;)

The Loss of a Pope

As a non-Catholic, I didn't think that I would be much affected when John Paul II passed away. I couldn't have been more wrong.

It now seems to be "vogue" for a few moments to be Catholic, at least in the media. Maybe similar to how everyone was "American" after the 9/11 attacks, everyone is in some way "Catholic" after the Pope's death. This certainly has made me think about my Catholic brothers & sisters more.

I don't remember much about JPII's appointment as Pope in 1978--I was only 8 and living in Japan at the time, relatively oblivious to the outside world as a whole. But after we came back to the States, we lived in a highly Catholic area (we were one of two Protestant families in our neighborhood). Although my friends were Catholic, I really didn't understand much about the doctrine or dogma of the Roman Church. I could, however, sympathize with Catholics when the Pope was shot--I was old enough to understand what that was about.

Later, as I understood more of Catholic doctrine directly, I assumed a bit of a snobbish "I'm not Catholic" stance that I'm ashamed of today. What I didn't understand at the time was that individual faith is just that--individual. While one might worship in a larger church with whose doctrine I disagree, the person's faith is just as individual as mine--and potentially just as vibrant. And while today many look down at the American Catholic church over the pedophilia-scandal that has plagued both individuals and the Roman Church as a whole, I don't think it reflects either individual Catholic believers or the Pope himself. I think it's a microcosm of the evil of sin in our world and what happens when sin is ignored and brushed under the rug. Everyone suffers--the innocents who were hurt, those who have nothing to do with the sin (but share a common faith), and the ones who tried to whitewash what was clearly sin and a crime.

I think everything in JPII's life (at least, that was visible to us through the media) suggested that his faith in Jesus was personal, real, and vibrant. He tried to bring Jesus to many young people and was an ambassador for Christ and for peace everywhere he went. I don't hold to Catholic doctrine any more now than I did 15 years ago in the height of my snobbishness, but I can see Truth where it lies a little more clearly now, and now it doesn't matter nearly as much across which doctrinal lines that Truth walks.

I found myself praying for my Catholic brethren this weekend as they mourned the loss of their leader, and find myself praying that God would appoint His choice for Pope in the weeks ahead. I feel confident that Karol Wojtyla is walking in the presence of Jesus now and would want his successor to love God as much as he did.