Sunday, September 30, 2007

Smooches

All day Brie has been hurting herself. Typical toddler woes. A table in the way, a block that gets stepped on, a bonk on the head from the low lying counter.
Each time she gets an "owie" she runs to me saying , "Mommy, 'mooches." Which means "Mommy, kiss me better."
I was in the bathroom reaching for something when I hit my knee.
"Ow!" I screamed.
Brie came running from the other room. " 'Mooches, Mommy. 'Mooches." And then she lifted my hands off my knee and gave me a kiss.
And you know what? It did the trick.
I was all better.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

The Blue Car

Burnt, charred embers
leave marks on my hands
Easily washed off
with the grit of the sand
that stood under your feet
as you stood on my soul
Helpless and lame
Completely unwhole

Rhonderdons blooming
Stars shining the same
Blues music was booming,
To a tune that was slain...
eking a place in my head
For the swallows to sit
For the swallows, a bed

Drip-drops of the coffee
that I never drink
Sing songs of the melodies
that I never think

Questioned the running of time
through the land
of wheat that blows grandly
while slips through my hand

Wondered at silence
Why nothing was said
Sealed up like drum
That beat in my head

Rhythms stopped rhyming
And moods stopped their sway
Time hands stopped ticking
The moon slipped away

Frayed ribbons
Black hats
Scuffed shoes and dark shades
Under the blue car
that drove far away

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Like a house on fire

In the past week and a half I have had two family members greatly affected by fire.
My older sister's home burned down. No one was in the home, but she lost everything. My father's Bible, her pictures of her family (including the baby picturres), and anything that we use on any given day. Anything that could have been salvaged had smoke damage and somewhat singed.
On the other side of my family, four days later, my father-in-law's roof caught fire. It will take three months to fix the damage. Fortunately, their insurance is putting them up in an apartment during that time but again they lost many things to smoke damage.
It throws things into perspective. Sometimes I can't stand the junk we collect and I dearly love the word "Purge". but it's one thing when it's your choice to get rid of things and another when things are just stripped away.
Hey, I know that they are just things. That when we die we can't take them with us. But these things still have this ability to carry with them an emotional attachment. As my sister described it, "I had people helping me go through everything. I stood watching as people picked up scorched toys and tossed them because they were melted or throwing books away because they were deemed no longer good. But all I saw them doing was throwing my memories away and treating them as though it was all garbage."
In both cases, all my family members were safe, and at the end of the day that is all that matters. Truly, it is.
I wish I didn't live so far away from them because I would be giving everyone great big hugs. And I'm grateful that the memory of a hug can never be thrown away into a garbage bag with the words,"that's no longer worth keeping."

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Grab life by the beans!

Today my daughter is a bean counter.

I have a huge container of dried kidney beans. We use them for counting and math and for playing the game "Mancala".
But today my daughter found a new use for them.

It's my first year homeschooling and we're having fun doing the math and reading thing. But my main focus has really been to watch her character and especially her attitude and her obedience. This is the beauty of homeschooling, in my opinion...having the opportunity to capitalize on every teachable moment that presents itself.

Back to the beans...
SuperGirl decided to spill the beans everywhere in her bedroom. She then proceeded to go into different rooms and play with other things.
I asked her four times to pick up the beans.
I've really been sensitive to her following and obeying the first time I ask. We've had so much "up-in-the-airness" the past 6 months that I have let alot slide for the sake of (insert excuse here). Anyway, it was a lightbulb moment for me when she didn't obey after the fourth time. I realized, "She doesn't believe my words the first time."
So...time to turn to the magical fruit to send home the message of consequences: the beans!

I set the timer for 15 minutes.If she did not pick up all the beans in that timeframe, they were dumped out and she'd start again. If she whined while doing it, the beans she had picked up were dumped out and she started again. And if she spoke disrespectfully to me and said, "You don't love me." The beans were spilled out.

The beans were spilled out a total of 6 times but SuperGirl caught on. And in the end, it was the realization that she would miss lunch that gave her that final burst of energy to pick up all the beans.
Afterwards, I asked SuperGirl what she learned from the bean experience. "You know Mom, I don't like doing things that are hard."

Join the club, kiddo. Try teaching your kid to listen to you the first time.
It's hard, but for the sake of long term intiatives, it's worth it.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Lovin' every minute of Jerry!

I'm back on line...insert scream of delight here. yeahhhhhhhh!
Anyway, as evidenced by the massive amounts of comments I can tell that my absence has profoundly effected many of you (that was sarcastic in case you were wondering). Anyway, I'm back and better than ever.
In the past few weeks I have:
-unpacked and painted a house
-lost my summer list
-watched a movie that has made me wish someone was talking to me about their saliva because I'm certain that would be way more interesting than the film I sat through
-made cherry stuff from all the ripe cherries in my yard
-captured a cricket
-found my summer list
-read the official sequel to Peter Pan. "Peter Pan in Scarlet" Bravo, I say.
-started to homeschool
-found out the reason why mosquitoes hum
-made plans to be in the mountains for turkey lurkey doo day
and
-learned to live without the internet.

Musings and spiritual thoughts headed your way soon...
In the meantime, back to organizing all that was unpacked and giving my sister a much needed phone call.