The Will

There, in the middle of Walmart, it was happening.  Again.  He had chosen to disobey, and when made to sit in the cart as a result of his actions, the fit began.  The screaming, the shaking, the red face.

He's always had a very strong will, but this is a new thing.  My husband and I spoke in hushed tones as we drove away from the store, frustrated and scared and unsure what to do.  After we reached our house, it started up again in full force, until he was dry-heaving from screaming so hard.

My precious boy who can snuggle up to me at the drop of a hat and lay close while I sing "How Great Thou Art" into his ear.  The one who tells jokes and laughs and finds such excitement in life.  My boy who, at 3, already wants to save the world... as long as he can take a light saber and cape with him.  HE is not this one - this boy who throws an angry fit until he's literally sick from screaming for over an hour, allowing nothing to calm him.

Feeling sorry for myself, I found myself sobbing by the end of the week.  Why is he doing this?  What are we supposed to do?  I am so desperately afraid, to the very core of my soul, that we are completely messing up this child!!

The next morning I awoke to this scripture in my email inbox:

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;

 I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. 

Isaiah 42:16

My spirit soared within me as I read it, read it again, and then hurried into the bathroom to share it with my husband, getting ready for work.  He has shown me this before, my God.  Yet He knows how human I am, and how I often am lost in this "spiritual amnesia" (as Ann Voskamp so beautifully coined it).

I drank it in; let it fill every crevice of every dark place within my bones.

YES - this is a place we have not known - and we are absolutely blind.  He will lead us.  YES - this is darkness to us.  He will turn it into light right before our awestruck and humbled eyes.  YES - this is most certainly a rough place.  Yet even as I write, He is making it smooth.  He promised it would be so.  And I believe Him with all of my anguished and joy-filled heart.

Perseveration

It's a big speechie word. It means being stuck on one idea and you can't stop talking and thinking about it. After this weekend and Will's "traumatic" elevator experience, I've now lived the full and complete perseverative experience through my son. Let's just say I am currently looking up ideas on how to grow my hair back quickly.

In his defense, I have to admit one thing. When we went running like mad rabbits from the Holiday Inn, I was envisioning 30 men dressed in black, swinging down from ropes off the top of the roof with a helicopter hovering overhead, ready to take us to our "new home." But I have no idea where Will gets his crazy notions.

Turning 3 In a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Learning how to make a 3 with your fingers is tough work:

The evil Ben "Darth Vader" Tyson was no match for the Jedi-Padawans:

Light saber cake pops and Death Star cake pops (insert chuckling):

To say I love him is just not nearly enough.

What a fantastic adventure the last 3 years has been with our Will!!

He's Finally Playing Dress Up In Something Other Than Princess Clothes

"Avast ye scurvy dogs!" is a frequent phrase heard around these parts lately.

He's the cutest little pirate I've ever seen, if I do say so myself.

Our Happily Ever After

The fairytale is slightly twisted around these parts.

You see, our story begins with TWO princesses, not one.


Enter the evil Mommy monster (the villain in our story is extremely unconventional as it is well known that Mommy is never really the monster), who locked those princesses away in a tower.


Whatever are two preschool princesses to do except await the arrival of their slightly under-dressed prince Will? This prince, while he loved his somewhat feminine hat, adored his "star sword" all the more. The poor prince was baffled, however, that he was not allowed to break the princesses free by battering them with the star sword. A prince just can't catch a break around here.


Luckily, the prince discovered his powers of magic (i.e. ripping off his whistle and hat in protest), leading to one Mommy-monster morphing into the prince's infamous side-kick, and together they rescued the princesses from the tower jail cell.


And they all lived happily ever after.

His Heart Is In Okinawa

The hair was his Daddy's idea. The outfit was mine.


Holding Uncle Jeremy's picture for five minutes and gazing longingly at it? That was all his own doing.

Too Good to be True

I desire to feed my family the good stuff - the really good-for-you-and-yet-strangely-yummy stuff. Alas, it happens less than I'd like. Mostly because I'm too lazy... too cheap... too lazy and cheap to buy a thousand ingredients that I will only use one time.



Therefore I was thrilled to find this recipe for whole wheat blueberry pancakes. My children love pancakes, and since I make our own wheat bread, I already had every ingredient I needed at the house! The hubster was excited that these taste astoundingly better than the box of whole-wheat pancake mix I've been buying. We're sold! (Please don't even try to tell me that syrup negates the healthiness. I'd gladly dip them in ice cream, cotton candy and jelly beans to get some whole wheat in these kiddos!)

WHOLE WHEAT BLUEBERRY PANCAKES
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk, plus more if necessary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon artificial sweetener (I used Splenda)
1/2 cup blueberries (I used frozen blueberries, only slightly thawed, and I used more than 1/2 cup)

Sift together flour and baking powder; set aside. Beat together the egg, milk, salt and artificial sweetener in a bowl. Stir in flour until just moistened, add blueberries, and stir to incorporate. Spray griddle with non-stick cooking spray (helps to keep the blueberries from sticking, even on a non-stick surface). Pour onto griddle and cook until bubbly, then flip and finish cooking.

**When you finish eating, make sure to experiment with how your stomach looks as it sticks to the table in the puddles of syrup left behind. All the cool kids are doing it.

The Deciding Factor

I'm one of those chronic "I-can't-make-a-decision-if-my-life-depends-on-it" kind of people. My children are obviously suffering the consequences.

Old At Heart

This is not the first time my son has conjured images in my mind of his future geriatric years. Remember this?





Oh my goodness he knows how to crack me up. And, I love how he looks amazingly like his Daddy as a kid in the bottom picture. Who, incidentally, also can make me split a seam laughing.

Pardon Me for a Moment...

... while I become one of those mothers who shamelessly pushes pictures of her children into your hands while you're holding five papers bags of groceries in one arm and a toddler, diaper bag, and cell phone in the other.

Potty Training 102

While so far not quite like my first experience potty training, teaching a boy how to "do his business" is... shall we say... different. Some friends requested a blog post with tips. This is the best I've got.

#1: Underpants are a must from the beginning. Side note: they are NOT panties. Please do not make the mistake of calling them such in front of your husband.

#2: Use any means necessary to make the potty fun. I could almost guarantee the inventor of the smart phone had no idea just how brilliant he was.


#3. Gravity does not work on all things. Mommy has to help out a bit. Side note: do not for a moment relax your "readiness stance". This will backfire. I'm just sayin'.

#4. Potty training can be stressful for a little one. Make sure he has good playmates or fun games to help him relax in the interim.


#5: Potty training is stressful for Mommy. Make sure to have a relief trainer ready to take over in the evenings. Side note: make sure your relief trainer is prepared for the commitment the job entails. Then, when the child is standing in a puddle of urine, said trainer won't look around and ask what was spilled.

#6: Do your best to keep the child happy during training days. Elbows to the face, sucker punches, and headlocks are off limits for the potty training child. All wrestling matches and sibling rivalries can resume after the child has completed his course.


#7: See #6. In keeping with the happy child rule, Easter bonnets, gaudy necklaces and princess dresses are within the boundaries of allowable apparel.


If you follow the above rules, you are sure to have your child potty trained within 3 hours of beginning the training session. This plan holds no guarantees. I assert that I am not a certified potty trainer and would never in my life wish that on my worst enemy. Just keepin' Mommyhood real.

The Middle Child

I know, sweet boy. I am one, too.

Train A Child In the Way He Should Go

Praying Proverbs 22:6 for my dear ones, and training away.

(The words are: "Read your Bible, pray every day, and you'll grow, grow, grow")

Entertainment for 3

Those Leap Frog people are geniuses.

There's Nothing Like Familiarity

This boy just received numerous presents from Santa, 2 parents, 4 grandparents, aunts & uncles, great aunts, and cousins. Yet this is where I found him this morning.



He always did love that thing; some things never change. In his defense, at least he still had on his hearing aids.

December in Pictures

I have a very real fear for the life of my blog. It has been two weeks since my last post and I'm resorting to throwing on a bunch of pictures because I can't find the time for regular posting. Nevertheless, here is our month in pictures. So far.

Sweet boy turns four months on Wednesday:


Why I didn't listen to my gut instinct and wrap up a bunch of bottles for Christmas is beyond me:


He loves waffles. He loves digging the butter out of the little holes even more.


Having children gives a whole new definition to the term "slave labor."

Crazy daddy:


I am willing to do anything for a good picture of my children. Yes, even let the three-year-old choke the baby. Unfortunately it was not fruitful this time:

A new playmate for Soph - my cousin's daughter, Tuesday, comes to our house every day now!

Boomer Sooner! Big 12 Champs, baby!! (Please just humor me and pretend the old guy's shirt says Oklahoma Sooners. At least it's the right color).

Cute cousins. It is inevitable that they have to match at least once a year:

The baby and the Russian Czar. I'm thinking of writing a new book with that title.

That's all I got. Bet you're glad you stayed. I hope I'm back soon.

Happy Fall