the life which is unexamined is not worth living.
eyes of a child
What’s In A Name
Aug 5th
A little and A lot!
Dear Son decided he wanted to begin calling Gwenn and myself ‘momma’ and ‘mommy.’ For those who don’t know, Dear Son is my adopted nephew who has now officially been living with us for almost a year and who’s adoption went through legally in April of 2008.
When Dear Son made this proclamation he was so happy and you could tell his heart was melting with joy. You see, everyday he sees and hears the children at school talk about “mom’s, mommies, momma’s” and inside we could tell he was feeling left out, misplaced, confused. The discussion begain about ‘mommies,’ what they are, who they are, their role in a family. Last night, Dear Son decided he wanted to start calling us officially his ‘mommies.’
To all you mommies out there… take that name with joy and pride, there was a little boy who has been waiting for 3.5 years to truly understand what a momma and mommy is and I will wear the name with honor and do my best to love him, teach him and care for him always!
Happiness Defined
Jul 14th
Fish Kisses
Learning to Swim
Raft Slides
Belly Laughs
“The Cheese”
Chocolate Ice Cream
Grandma and Grandpa
Summer Days at the age of 3…
Does it get much better?
A Lesson in Discipline
Jul 11th
I found this quote in an article i was reading on parenting.com
The real goal of discipline isn’t to punish. It’s to help kids really want to do the right thing.
It really made me think about how, when and why I discipline Dear Son. This quote is so true… discipline should be for teaching, a lesson – not to punish or make them feel guilt or shame. Going forward I will think of this quote with each disciplinary action needed and really think does the discipline match the ‘crime.’
Cloud Images
Jul 7th
Image via WikipediaWe were driving to grandma and grandpa’s over this past 4th of July holiday weekend, when Dear Son excitedly blurted from the back seat “I see a sheep in the clouds!” Gwenn and I paused for a moment and looked at each other, this was his first cloud image. We both got so excited and started playing along with him. The game continued on the rest of the afternoon randomly whenever anyone saw an image in the clouds. By the end of the afternoon we had seen, flying dogs, race cars, sharks and much much more. It was such a moment of joy to see his imagination at work and for us to remember that childhood fun.
New Wonders
Jun 10th
Image via Wikipedia
This weekend our family enjoyed 2 wonderful play dates for Dear Son. It was so great to see him interact with children his own age and watch them in amusement and imagination.
On Saturday we attended a local festival full of music, bounce houses, great food and new friends. On Sunday, we enjoyed swimming, great food, bubbles, tractor rides, good conversation at an old friends house whom we are getting to know better.
All these activities left me tired, but thankful for friends and people who are willing to open up their lives and let my family into theirs. At times, I can be very closed to new situations and moments, however, this weekend reminded me that I need to be willing to try new adventures, be spontaneous again, and show Dear Son it is OK to sometimes stay up past his bed time. It is the sparkle in the eyes and the new wonders that keeps life fun and magical in the mist of all the routine and chaos.
So thank you friends for reaching out!
Cycled Toys
Jun 2nd
In our family we have a process called ‘cycling toys.’ This process allows us to keep the amount of toys manageable within the household. The process of cycling toys has generally gone unnoticed to Dear Son until this last cycle.
What we do it take a few of the toys we notice Son has not been playing with for a month or so and place them in a storage bin and take out the previously cycled toys for play. This allows us the keep toys with a sense of fresh [new] in the house and his imagination fresh and learning, without always having to buy him new toys.
This past weekend I felt as if it was time to change up his toy and train track table in our living room. This is usually cleaned up each Sunday as part of our chores; however this Sunday was going to be different, I made the decision to change up the train track design, cars, buildings and people on the table. This was quite an eye opener to Dear Son, he was so excited, it was as if it was Christmas in June. He had actually remembered that Santa brought him the yellow helicopter which replaced the white one which went in the ‘cycle bin.’ He was extremely exited to come home and play with the new setup after school on Monday. He even was jumping up and down when he saw the airport landing strip set up with the toy airplane.
As I sat back and watched his outward enthusiasm continue to raise, his smile get bigger and bigger. I realized, sometimes it is the little things we do for our children that they appreciate the most.
The Simple Life
May 19th
Genius of simplicity:
- riding toys are motorcycles, race cars or huge boats
- drum sticks turn into microphones
- a crayon creates create another world
- watching a bug is discovering another life form
- the vision of going to the moon is within reach
Above is a snippet of Dear Sons world from this weekend. The eyes of a child are so brilliant and imaginative. We complicate our world to extremes so many times for so many unneeded scenarios, it is refreshing to just sit back and listen to the refreshing genius of a simpler life.
The Obvious
May 15th
Image by redteam via Flickr
This morning while sitting around the breakfast table eating our cereal, we turned on the weather channel to see what was in store for today. Our goal was to see the days forecast in order to know if Dear Son would need pants or shorts when dressing for school this morning, however I gained a lot more then expected from the conversation with Dear Son.
Here is how the conversation went with Dear Son and myself…
Son: What are you watching?
Me: The weather to see what it is going to be like outside today.
Son: What did they say?
Me: Well, it is going to be sunny today, but a bit chilly so you need pants for school.
Son: But it is cloudy outside, not sunny!?! There are lots of clouds everywhere…
Me: You are correct.
Do we really get so consumed in needing others to tell us what we need and how life is, that we forget to just look around, forgetting to observe the obvious and observe our surroundings?
I was so consumed in believing the TV and a weather man could tell me all I needed to know, that I did not even use my own given instincts to see what was around me to tell me it was cloudy. If only we could get back to the basics of believing in ourselves and the talents we were given from birth, our instincts and our ability to observe life would be much simpler.
clean your plate
May 10th
Image via Wikipedia
the other day our family was eating dinner and our Dear Son whom is almost three and a half asked if he could have dessert. Of course he hadn’t eaten hardly any of his veggies or meal so the answer was “you first need to clean your plate.” Dear Son looked at me and asked, “can i have a napkin?”
it took us a while, but we finally figured out when we said to him “clean his plate” he took it in the litterial sense of cleaning. it was quite cute and we all got a good hardy laugh out of it.
to see life again through the eyes of a child growing up and adventuring, learning, experimenting and loving is an amazing journey my family is just beginning and i’m thrilled and passionate to wake each day to learn what will be next.
do you have a story through the eyes of a child?
