6 years ago
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Accidents Happen
Let me share a scene with you from tonight. It was bath night and BooBear is in the tub. I come in to wash his hair. I kneel down at the edge of the tub, and my knee gets really wet. "Were you splashing?" "No." he answers. "Then why is the rug wet?" He giggles (which is always a bad sign). "Little Miss peed when she was getting in the bathtub." "No, it wasn't Little Miss. I was holding her. If she had peed, she would have peed all over me, not the rug." He giggles again. "Yes, she did." Suddenly a light bulb goes on in my brain. "BooBear, did you pee while you were getting in to the tub." "YES." Accident happen, and these are the moments that I say, yep, I am a mommy, and isn't that a wonderful thing? But WAIT, I'm not done with this story...a few minutes later I am getting Little Miss out of the bath and getting her dressed. Just as I am about to put on her diaper, yep, accidents happen, all over my bed this time. So there I was with a wet knee and a wet bed, telling myself that it's a great thing to be a mommy, because the best thing you can do when accidents happen is just smile.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Sister E.C., my former student, soon to be missionary! Thanks for letting me know about your mission call. I am SOOO excited for you. I hope you have great companions and joy in your service. Remember that the individual days seem long and tedious, but the months fly by. I know you will be a wonderful missionary.
I am going to take this moment to reflect on an experience from my mission. As a missionary, your time is the Lord's and not your own, and sometimes it is hard to know how to best fill your time to be the most effective. I had one companion who was a good woman, but she had some physical difficulties. I think when we were together was the only time that she was placed in a bike area instead of having a car. Her previous companion had belittled her whenever she physically couldn't keep up. Growing up she had also had some destructive experiences in her childhood. I soon came to realize that this dear sister's self-esteem was depleted. But I will never forget the day that I was frustrated because we kept missing our bus connections due to how slowly my companion walked. (We rode the bus because she couldn't ride a bike). I felt we were wasting time just standing at bus stops all afternoon. She suggested we stop by the Elder's apt on our way home, since we needed to drop something off. I worried that this was not the best thing we could do with our time, as some might think of it as a "social" call, but I agreed. As we were standing on the Elder's porch, a car drove up and parked in front of us. The man got out and called to us, "Hey, you guys. Who are you?" All four of us introduced ourselves, and the man explained how he had seen my companion and I waiting at different bus stops all day long. Everywhere he went, there we were. (He drove a lot as part of his job.) He felt like God was sending him a message and telling him he needed to talk to us. We spent the next hour sitting on the porch and teaching this man about the Book of Mormon. As we were together for 6 weeks, this sister and I had other similar experiences. Because of her faith and dedication, people often came up to us, instead of us having to find them. Together we set companionship goals to help build up her self-esteem, and it was a sweet and humbling experience for me. Heavenly Father knew what he was doing putting us together in a "bike area."
I am going to take this moment to reflect on an experience from my mission. As a missionary, your time is the Lord's and not your own, and sometimes it is hard to know how to best fill your time to be the most effective. I had one companion who was a good woman, but she had some physical difficulties. I think when we were together was the only time that she was placed in a bike area instead of having a car. Her previous companion had belittled her whenever she physically couldn't keep up. Growing up she had also had some destructive experiences in her childhood. I soon came to realize that this dear sister's self-esteem was depleted. But I will never forget the day that I was frustrated because we kept missing our bus connections due to how slowly my companion walked. (We rode the bus because she couldn't ride a bike). I felt we were wasting time just standing at bus stops all afternoon. She suggested we stop by the Elder's apt on our way home, since we needed to drop something off. I worried that this was not the best thing we could do with our time, as some might think of it as a "social" call, but I agreed. As we were standing on the Elder's porch, a car drove up and parked in front of us. The man got out and called to us, "Hey, you guys. Who are you?" All four of us introduced ourselves, and the man explained how he had seen my companion and I waiting at different bus stops all day long. Everywhere he went, there we were. (He drove a lot as part of his job.) He felt like God was sending him a message and telling him he needed to talk to us. We spent the next hour sitting on the porch and teaching this man about the Book of Mormon. As we were together for 6 weeks, this sister and I had other similar experiences. Because of her faith and dedication, people often came up to us, instead of us having to find them. Together we set companionship goals to help build up her self-esteem, and it was a sweet and humbling experience for me. Heavenly Father knew what he was doing putting us together in a "bike area."
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
January Update
So, here another month has gone by. My resolution for 2013 was not blogging more regularly, can you tell? My resolution was to have more meaningful interaction with my children everyday. So far. we have been having more fun and creativity in our house.
I started BooBear in a music class at BYU for 3 year-olds. The rest of the kids in the class have been together since the Fall semester, but I wasn't ready to add something new to our schedule last Fall. So, instead of feeling guilty about that, I am rejoicing in how much he loves music class now. He spent a lot of time trying out new instruments, like the child-sized drum kit. BooBear has asked to play the rhythm game we learned in the class every day this week.
We have also added storytime at the library to our schedule, which is another thing I am trying not to feel guilt about not doing earlier. He used to go with his Aunt BBug when I was working, but when I had a new little newborn baby, I just wasn't up for it and we got out of the habit. He remembered it well enough that he was excited to start going again.
BooBear is absolutely loving Sunbeams. He has wonderful teachers. I think the reason he was so grumpy about nursery in December was because he was bored. He has been asking all week if one of the other girls in class can come play. They were in nursery together, but never really interacted (parallel play, right?). Now that they are in Sunbeams together they get along really well. So, I guess I need to get in gear and set up a play date sometime. This particular girl has a baby brother exactly one day older than my Little Miss, so play dates would work for both kids.
BooBear doesn't like to get his hair cut. I mean, how many toddlers like to sit still and get itchy hair all over their neck, right? So, Werty has been promising all month to take him to the barbershop or the "hair-cutting store" as we explained it to BooBear. Finally, they went last week.
Before:
We have been having record cold temps, like most people in this part of the country. BooBear and I built a snow fort, which was pretty difficult, since it's really dry snow. We started it New Year's Eve. It's currently 2 levels high, about 8' x 4' and still hasn't melted (in the picture we were building the first level).
Little Miss is rocking on her arms, but not quite getting her tush off the floor to crawl yet. Her increased amount of movement and rocking makes me think it will be very soon.
BooBear with his cousin at play group. For several weeks, he was the only one to come to play, due to his other cousins traveling and being sick. I was sure glad he came because BooBear looks forward to play group all week.
I started BooBear in a music class at BYU for 3 year-olds. The rest of the kids in the class have been together since the Fall semester, but I wasn't ready to add something new to our schedule last Fall. So, instead of feeling guilty about that, I am rejoicing in how much he loves music class now. He spent a lot of time trying out new instruments, like the child-sized drum kit. BooBear has asked to play the rhythm game we learned in the class every day this week.
We have also added storytime at the library to our schedule, which is another thing I am trying not to feel guilt about not doing earlier. He used to go with his Aunt BBug when I was working, but when I had a new little newborn baby, I just wasn't up for it and we got out of the habit. He remembered it well enough that he was excited to start going again.
BooBear is absolutely loving Sunbeams. He has wonderful teachers. I think the reason he was so grumpy about nursery in December was because he was bored. He has been asking all week if one of the other girls in class can come play. They were in nursery together, but never really interacted (parallel play, right?). Now that they are in Sunbeams together they get along really well. So, I guess I need to get in gear and set up a play date sometime. This particular girl has a baby brother exactly one day older than my Little Miss, so play dates would work for both kids.
BooBear doesn't like to get his hair cut. I mean, how many toddlers like to sit still and get itchy hair all over their neck, right? So, Werty has been promising all month to take him to the barbershop or the "hair-cutting store" as we explained it to BooBear. Finally, they went last week.
Before:
After:
We have been having record cold temps, like most people in this part of the country. BooBear and I built a snow fort, which was pretty difficult, since it's really dry snow. We started it New Year's Eve. It's currently 2 levels high, about 8' x 4' and still hasn't melted (in the picture we were building the first level).
Little Miss is rocking on her arms, but not quite getting her tush off the floor to crawl yet. Her increased amount of movement and rocking makes me think it will be very soon.
BooBear with his cousin at play group. For several weeks, he was the only one to come to play, due to his other cousins traveling and being sick. I was sure glad he came because BooBear looks forward to play group all week.
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