Moment in the life

[End of a long day, mom goes into the bathroom and locks the door.  Alone.  Finally.]
"MA-AHM!"
[Ignore this and it will disappear.  She tells herself.]
"MAAAAHH-AHM!"
"MOM!  MOMMY!  WHERE ARE YOU?"
[pause]
"MOM!"
"MAAAAAAAAA-AHHHM!"  "MOM, MOM, WHERE ARE YOU?"
"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHM!"
"MOMMY!  MOMMY!  MOMMY!"
"MOM!  CAN YOU HEAR ME?"
"MOM?"
"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHM!"
[She finally breaks, awkwardly leans forward, opens the door a crack]
"OWEN!  GOOD GRIEF, what is it??  I'm in the bathroom?" [reshuts and locks the door]
"Oh, there you are."  [attempts to open door]  "I just picked NINE tomatoes.  Can you believe that?"
"Let's talk about this when I'm done."
"MOM!  I PICKED NINE TOMATOES!"
"Owen.  When.  I'm.  Done."
"Oh."
[Mom opens door shortly.  Boy is waiting within 1 foot.]
"MOM!  I picked nine whole tomatoes!"
"So I heard."

Someday I will miss this?  So I've heard.  :)

Advice for Boys

I read this blog, and I have grown a deep respect for the writer's advice.  Here is such a short, practical list on her blog today I have to post it for my memory.  She's a mom of 8 boys and 1 girl, if I remember correctly (homeschooled them all, of course...wow).  http://www.ordo-amoris.com/2013/07/circe-handout-3-quick-guide-to.html

The 'let him drive' point is interesting.  This is the rub between Owen and I.  I always think that I will adjust behavior problems by taking away what I perceive as excessive autonomy or freedom that is making him big in his britches.  But it's a delicate dance to figure out when to actually give more of the wheel to ease the tension over who's in control.  I've never been a good dancer.

Quick Guide to Parenting Boys

Their Identity is tied to the questions:

Am I man enough?

Am I up to the challenge? 

Solutions:

Sleep

Exercise (including team sports)

Hard Work

Fresh air and Sunshine

Mothers and Sons:

The DO NOTS:

Do not nag

Do not moralize/spiritualize

Do not make it personal

Do not remove challenges from your son’s life.

The Dos:

Be a Strong Woman (Contemplate the word ‘impervious’)

Teach your son to laugh at himself

Let him fail

Give him responsibility

Need him

Provide challenges

Listen to him/Let him drive

Pray for him

Respect him.

What month is it?

It's been a busy few weeks.  In the middle of trying to finish remodeling...which has now ground to a halt...we had a lovely visit with Reuel's sister, husband and four kids here at our house.  Beach (where we caught lots of crabs!), fruit-picking, lake, enjoying play with cousins, Old Ironsides...so much fun!  I think they have most of the pictures :)  Then, all 11 of us left simultaneously for Texas where we had a surprise reunion with that side of the family.  Also great fun!  (Also have no pictures...too busy enjoying everyone's company.)  We flew back on a Sunday night and VBS at our church started Monday morning.  I'm sure I have relayed my sob story of commuting to way too many people, so I will just state in summary that while we love VBS, and love being with our friends, it is not an easy week.  Our worst day was a 1h45min one-way commute and our best was 1 hour...with 4 kids; we brought our neighbor.  It would not have been as bad if I had not been nursing some strange ailment that started with coughing back during our TX visit, and has just progressed to all-out lung dysfunction that is keeping me up at night and puffing albuterol (made an urgent care visit late in the week) to function at all.  I am headed back in to the Dr. next week.  Yuck.  You kind of need to be able to breathe well to function during a VBS week.  Reuel took the kids swimming this morning, so sitting on a chair and blogging is my desperately needed moment of rest.  Whine, whine, whine.  It really has been a fun summer.

Not too many pictures, but here's what I've got:

There are those rare moments when I achieve 'Zen Mommy' state, and here is one.  Someone got into the nonpareils and made a spill.  Instead of my normal reflexive move to scold and get mad, I managed to smile, and say, "why don't you guys have fun playing with the sprinkles before you clean them up?"  Why is it so hard to come up with these kind ways of dealing with the unexpected more often?  Clearly, I had slept that night :P

End of year gymnastics show!

Preschool 'graduation'...in today's leave-no-one-out culture, even the non-graduates get different colored graduate caps :P

Ready for the 4th of July parade!  What a big girl...the days are flying by.

Lorin, my temporary designer-in-residence helped me immensely with some paint choices.  The one you see in the background here is a no-go.  I might attempt painting this room with her choice this afternoon, we'll see.

With cousin Sterling before blueberry and cherry picking!

Learning how bing cherries grow: