Woo hoo, Mom!

I had just loaded Silas up in the car after a nice workout at the gym, and was trying to pull out of my parking space to head home. I pulled back as one normally would, but realized that I was in a "tight spot" thanks to the Isuzu trooper parked along the curb behind me. People can be incredibly selfish sometimes. Rather than go to the parking garage to find an open spot, some people will just make their own parking spaces where ever they like, including the curb behind my SUV.

So I inched forward and tried again. And again. I was getting a little frustrated and Silas started asking, "what are you doing, mom?" Like, "why are you backing up and pulling forward, mom, why don't you just leave?" So I told him that I couldn't because someone was not being nice and parked behind us so that mommy had to work extra hard to get out.

Finally, after inching back and forth for a couple minutes, I was able to squeeze my way out and leave the parking lot. Silas from the back seat threw his hands in the air and shouted, "Woohoo, Mom! You did!"

It was all worth it for that little pat on the back from my hilarious little boy.

Knitting...

How many hobbies can one have? I seem to be on a quest to find out. Actually, I think I'm like most people who dabble in one thing and then leave off as life picks up somewhere else.

Recently, I've started knitting. Someone in my mom's group asked if anyone knew how to knit and Ruth, one of our Brits, offered to teach her along with anyone else who wanted to come. So we've been meeting the last several weeks at her house after the kids go to bed (hers go to bed early!) for a cuppa and some chatting and some knitting. It's been quite fun! I'm almost done with my first project, a charcoal grey shrug. Actually, the shrug is done, but I want to add a collar bit to the back. I'll post a picture when it's done.

But I realize that this blog was a hobby for a period of time and that I missed it a bit. I'm thinking maybe I should not worry so much about offending anyone with my nutty food issues and invite my friends to be a part of my thoughts. I'm thinking about it. I haven't decided just yet.

Say it nicely...

Silas learned when he was very young the power of "please" - he often makes a curt demand and then slaps a "Please" onto it when I give him a look or prompt him with "how do we ask?" But I'm no longer satisfied with just having the right words; I'm now working on the tone in which it's delivered.

How does one go about addressing tone in an almost 3 year old?

A few weeks ago, Silas woke up grumpy and wanting to watch tv. I told him that he could if he could give me a smile. He gave me the most pathetically awful smile I've ever seen. He completely lacked the heart for a warm smile but was at least obedient, so I honored his obedience and let him watch tv. Then in the afternoon, he was still a grump and wanted me to carry him up the stairs. He's 40 lbs. now and those stairs are steep, so I told him he had to give me a big smile. He gave me another exaggerated bearing of the teeth in place of a smile that hit my funny bone and sent me into a good long laugh. I was so weak with laughter that I couldn't carry him. I asked for a few more smiles just to keep the laughter going as I was in need of a reason to laugh that day.

So this has become my new mode of attitude adjustment for my preschooler. When he asks for something, I make him say it nicely and with a smile. Sometimes he gives me the same exaggerated smiles that lack heart, but somehow that contortion of the face produces a small change in his attitude and when i give him the nice way to ask for milk "Did you mean to say, 'May I please have milk, Mommy?'" in a syrupy sing-song voice, it often produces a true smile that warms my heart... and his.