Lost things

Have you ever noticed that some things that get lost are fairly universal?  It seems that everyone I talk to has at least one missing sock.  Some lost things are specific to the person, my daughter and her shoes,  my mom and her phone, my husband and his favorite hat.  Yet other lost things are household or family specific.  In our house the major lost thing is hairbrushes.  I have several theories about this.  I used to think that my daughter hid them because she doesn't like to brush her hair.  It seems she hasn't thought it through enough to be that deliberate.  My leading theory right now is invisible creatures about 2 feet tall that eat yogurt.   How did I arrive at this theory you ask.  Well, for some reason there are strawberry yogurt finger prints about 2 feet from the ground on several walls and the fridge.  My children all deny being the culprit of course so it must be invisible creatures.  If there are invisible creatures making fingerprints on the walls they would also likely hide the hairbrush.  See problem solved.  Now if I can somehow catch them in the act and get the brushes back...

Ode to The Christmas Tree

  Every year we keep our Christmas tree as long as possible.  I'm not talking New Year here, I mean July or in this case October.  We take the ornaments off but we usually keep the tree in the garage because it is of course dead and the needles get everywhere.  This year we had a live tree.  Now to give you the proper mental image understand that we never have a tree taller than about 4 feet.  This year I let the girls have the tree in their room.  I knew it would probably die if left too long, our house has a reputation to uphold.  We've actually killed every plant brought inside in the last three years, except for a very sickly but tenacious amaryllis that has never had more than one leaf.  The girls really wanted the tree so I left it, knowing it would die but hoping it would teach them and hoping to give them a memory.  Imagine them in their thirties, missing their previous close relationship saying "remember the year we had the dead tree in our room?"  Yesterday I had enough.  The tree needs to go girls, it's messy and dead.  We started the purge.  Imagine my surprise when my son was the one pouting.  The girls are excited talking about the new tree they will plant and raise in the pot outside.  My son is carefully petting the dead tree.  "What is wrong?"  I ask.
"The tree, the Christmas tree.  Oh, Mom, look at it's nice dead branches and it's not very tallness.  Oh, it's so pokey and dead and see how it's needles fall when I touch it."  With a sad sigh and a sadder pout.  He gently caresses the tree and kisses a branch.  A tear in his eye he proclaims quietly "I shall miss you tree, even though you are actually pretty ugly."  My initial shock over his reaction quickly turned to mirth but as I didn't wish to offend I kept my laughter for later and instead left him to eulogize on his own for a moment before saying my own solemn farewell.  The girls meanwhile were looking through gardening books for their next victim, I mean tree.

Parenting Dilema

My seven year old daughter plays hockey, she loves it, and she's quite good if you ask me.  Of course she will never play in the NHL or probably even college, but she enjoys it.  It has also allowed her to gain in cofidence and meet new people.  I'm excited that she has a hobby she enjoys that she can take into her adult life.  I don't really expect it ever to be more than a hobby for her.  Now, all that is great, but there is one little boy who says mean things to her every time they step on the ice.  I am not a helicopter parent, I believe that the best way to learn is to experience things, however I do not like to see my children get hurt.  I especially don't like what my daughter goes through with this boy because I don't want her to stop liking hockey.  The question is do I ask the coaches to put her on a different team so that she doesn't have to deal with this kid so much or do I let her go through the hurt of this experience because honestly there are mean people that we have to deal with all our lives?

Have You Ever...

Lately my daughter has been interested in history.  This interest is good and I want her to think about the past.  She's been asking me 'have you ever' and 'when you were little' questions, here are my favorite.

Have you ever worn petticoats?

Have you ever ridden in a wagon with a cloth top?

Have you ever gone to school in a one room school house?

When you were little did you have to milk cows before breakfast?

When you were little did they have telephones?

Have you ever sent a telegram?

When you were little did they have velcro?

When you were little did they have big freezers?

Have you ever ridden a stagecoach?

When you were little did they have airplanes?

I'm wondering if these are things she values, or wishes she could do.  Although I must admit that I like my big freezer.

Memories

Letely I've been doing things that remind me of people I love and miss.  Some of these people are no longer living, some of them are far away.  I find it odd the things that make me think of people I love.  Canning apples, the smell of roasting chile, and hot air balloons are some of the things.  This might seem normal-ish but there are other things that probably aren't normal.  Teaching my son pattern recognition reminded me of a wonderful lady who led me to love math.  When I was running with my children and my pants started falling down I thought about how my grandfather used to make fun of those silly guys that wear the baggy pants.  Then, the other day I saw a kid sitting on an old tire and remembered doing that with my brother.  All this has made me think about the memories I am giving my children.  What are they going to remember about growing up as my children?  I want to take this into account with every vacation plan and special day plan, but I am also starting to think about it when we do everyday things as well.  I want to make trips to the grocery store fun too.  I tried this today when we went to the store, we started playing word games, like what rythmes with bacon and what else starts with m like milk.  The funny thing was that the children started behaving better when we played the games.  It was strange because I thought I was just trying to make them have happy memories, when in fact I was happier and they were able to get through the shopping without a single "this is boring" or "can I have?"  Now, especially when I'm tired, I am going to remember this little lesson and play more word games when we shop.  I actually got everything on my list and I didn't have to talk to my children about how naughty they were in the store.  Hopefully my children will remember fun times at the grocery store when they are telling their grandchildren about me.

I am the best Mom in the world!!

I love unsolicited advice.  I actually do.  Sometimes it's useful, I can't tell you how many times I've actually taken unsolicited advice.  I also like it because sometimes it makes me feel so good.  That's why I would like to thank the lady at Target a few days ago.  I was letting my little one sleep in the Moby, it's a baby carrier and he loves it.  Aparently, this lady did not know that I am the best Mom in the world because she said "You shouldn't let your baby sleep in the carrier, he will get dependent on you."  Now I couldn't help it, well maybe I had a chance, but I hadn't slept well for a couple nights because my older children had not felt well.  My reply would have been nicer if she hadn't said "You wouldn't want that."  I looked at her, and I'm sure my face said "Huh?" but what my mouth said was "Isn't he already dependent on me?  I mean, the government calls them dependents and I feed him."  I admit that when I get unsolicited advice, good or bad, it is not a good idea to argue with the giver, but like I said I was tired.  She then noticed my other children, "Are you all sick today, is that why you aren't in school?" My daughters looked at her like she had a third eye, then my oldest said "We are homeschooled and we finished school right before we came here."  She took a deep breath, and said "Oh, well then, I guess you are the best Mom in the world."  Then she walked away.  My daughter looked at me and said "How does she know Mom?"  I'm not going to explain sarcasm to her just yet.  See, unsolicited advice is either useful or it makes you feel awesome.  Thanks lady at Target.  I'm so glad I ran into you.