Picture Time!

The Important Lessons in Life

Lately I've been one proud mamma. My baby girl (who isn't a baby anymore), who happens to go to Kindergarten sure has proved to have learned one of the most important lessons in life. What lesson is that? Why, it's treat others kindly.

Let me start by saying that Emma's been having a hard time lately, and I honestly don't know what it is. She has decided that listening to Neil or I is completely out of the question, lying is the funnest thing in the world to do, and back-talking is a-okay. I have been struggling every day with her, I try to tell myself that she is only 5 and will eventually learn, but I thought she had already learned these lessons. Whatever the reason, this too shall pass.

THEN, in the thick of this craziness that has taken over my child, and when I didn't know what to do anymore, we were summoned to her SEP conference. As we drove to meet Emma's teacher, I started running through my mind everything she could say about Emma, "She's smart, but doesn't take direction," "She has a hard time listening to authority," etc. We sat down and her teacher starts showing me Emma's work and the words, "She's so smart" pop out of her teacher's mouth. And I'm terrified of what the next words were going to be...but they weren't bad! She kept talking about how smart Emma was and how much she has already improved. I was relieved! The last thing she touched on what Emma's character...here we go. But Emma's teacher informed me what a great helper Emma was. That she always is trying her hardest to help, and she does anything she's asked to do. What the WHAT?!

And lastly, the part that makes me more proud than any other mamma...she's kind to others. Her teacher informed me that she has sat Emma next to a child in their class that has ADHD and just really struggles because Emma is kind, patient, helpful, and calms him down. I honestly almost started to cry. She gets it people, she really gets it, And she's only 5 years old.

As a mother, you worry if you're teaching your children everything they need to know to go out in the real world. For me, and with Emma, I never have worried for a second about her intellect. I know Emma is an extremely smart girl, she doesn't have to do homework for an extended period of time to get it, she actually is done within a few short minutes. So I knew I had that one in the bag. But, I naturally worry about her treatment of others. Every time I have witnessed her around others kids her age, she has seemed to be kind to them, but I worried that when she wasn't around me and there was peer-pressure to mock and make-fun of others that she might give in to that.

But what I have learned is that Emma has learned to treat others kindly (and I hope I had something to do with that knowledge). She is really a good girl,. Even though I struggle, I know she will grow up to be something special. I have had several people tell me that this girl of mine is going to change the world, I hope I can continue to teach her all she needs to know in order to do so. Emma Girl...got get 'em!

Where the Wild Things Are...

This is what I live for...

My Claire Bear

My sweet, sweet Claire. She goes 0 to 60 in .5 seconds flat. I love her so much, but at the same time she is my most challenging child. I can already imagine what the teenage years entail and I'm scared.

I can already tell too, though, that she will tend be more of an "outcast" per say. She's just content to be by herself for the most part. Even so, she wants friends so badly. She loves playing with little girls and is coming out of her little box more and more all the time.

Which is why it makes me so sad when these girls that she tries so hard to be friends with tell her things such as, "You're not my friend," "You can't play with us," or,"You can't come in the house ha ha ha ha ha ha." I try my hardest to stay out of it, because honestly I don't think Claire really gets everything they are saying to her.

But I do, and for goodness sake they are only 3, when did this start to happen so young?! It wouldn't break my heart if it only happened occasionally, but it happens more often than not. All Claire wants is a friend.

Maybe it cuts so deep because that was me as a child. All I wanted was a friend, but the neighbor girls (one of which was my cousin), treated me so badly and berated me to no end, and yet, I still hung around them and put up with it. And eventually I started believing everything they told me. I believed I was ugly, stupid, and that nobody wanted to be my friend. I don't want my Claire to feel as badly as I did throughout childhood. She deserves more than that.

Now, I know more than anyone that Claire can be difficult to reason with and play with, and as a child this can be an absolute deal breaker at times, but to taunt is crossing the line, in my opinion.

Oh, my Claire. I never thought I could hurt so much for another person. One of the many joys of being a mom.