We are on top of it….

I am not the kind to make a big deal about a holiday.  No decorating, no fan fare, a few simple gifts, and that is about it.  But the one thing my girl will never let me do is ignore it.  And Christmas is a holiday she really will not let me ignore.  She had a holiday celebration planned out the day before Thanksgiving.  The day after Thanksgiving we had a tree.  Not put up, trimmed or decorated, but we had a tree.  By the end of the next weekend Santa letters were mailed, tree trimmed and decorated, lights were up and her shopping list was completely bought.  At the end of the second week my shopping list was ordered and wrapped as they came in, carols were played on our ipod on a daily basis, and our advent calendar was well read (over and over and over).  These last few weeks we have taken a break.  Gifts have shown up, sure, and they are ready for the frantic wrapping rush, cookies and baked goods are done, delivered, and now we are attending parties.  They are some of the best parties.  One of them was to make snowflakes and decorate gingerbread houses.  After 30 minutes of this, all the kids were playing with their friends and the mommies were sipping tea while sharing jokes. 

Now had my girl, backed with no less than an arsenal of siblings, not been able to drive me out of my bah humbugness and let me just let thing go, I would not be enjoying myself right now.  So let your kids drive you, not insane, but drive you with their motivation so you enjoy those things that matter to them.

Finding Help

Not the kind in which I receive mental boosts from friends, but the kind in which I find a perfect care giver.  How do you screen someone for the right amount of authority and laid backness.  Knowing that person can judge a situation and decide a smooth and easy way to calm kids down, and have them focused and happy.

In which I reflect back

Moms know that a good portion of their day is spent listening to whining.  About this, or that, things are too hard, unfair, or not going their way.  It sucks.  During this weekend I spent time around a lot of girls, little girls, big girls, and moms with a couple of dads.  At the end of this trip the senior scout girls took the brownies and jr scouts on a hike, which was up and down a few steep spurs.  On the way back the four of them chose to put some of the kids up on their back and hike the rest of the way back.  I thought they were crazy, because some of the kids were not going to be easy. 

I hung back and encouraged my girl, another girl and a dad with his daughter to take it nice and easy-going back, there was no rush.  I fully expected whining, but instead learned a lesson.  The dad during the tough times began telling his girl that she was a champ. Telling her how tough she was, that he was proud of her.  Not once did any of the girls whine or complain about the walk.  I was proud and realized I had a tendency to patronize my kids when things get rough.  I theorize this may leave the door open for whining, exactly something I do not want. 

When the girls and I arrived back to the cabin a few of the senior scouts began patronizing the girl whose father encouraged her, asking her about how much she whined.  I immediately jumped right in and defended her saying she did not whine once, and to leave her alone!  I guess I came across as angry because the ladies backed off immediately.  I hope that my defending her gave this one girl a boost of self-esteem that she may have not had the day before.

In which Girl Scouts set me straight.

This weekend was my daughters first Girl Scout field trip.  We went camping. Yes it was cold. No, no one became sick. I am very happy that we did not have to go to the emergency room, lose my mind, or get cranky (much). 

Now if there was a way to describe the group of girls there without being mean, I would, but to put it bluntly, these gals have seriously escaped the attrition rate for survival of the fittest.  Clearly only the constant love, care and extreme vigilance of their parents have kept them alive.  I mean it.  I had to repeat “now zip up your coat”, “put your hat and gloves on”, and “please get warm first” so many times I grew hoarse.  No, the hoarseness has nothing to do with my head cold, which did get worse, it had to do with how many times I had to repeat myself. 

My girl was an angel!  I mean a complete angel!  Some of the parents were concerned when in the middle of the afternoon she went to her bed and zoned out for an hour.  The consensus was that she was pouting.  But I was with her, because I did not feel safe leaving her alone without an adult.  So when I was asked what was wrong, I could confidently say nothing, she just needed time to herself.  With this I learned that despite what the popular consensus of activity should be, hanging out on your bed reading is much more relaxing and should be pursued with some single-mindedness on my part. 🙂

So after killing some time and resting we played in the snow, made fires, smores, watched projected TV, hiked, found a Winnie the Pooh tree, and now have fun memories.

I have been avoiding this…

Lately I have been avoiding blogging, mostly because after a few spectacular posts I really wanted to continue with more just as good content. Sadly, I have nothing as good as the first few posts. But I will report that my girl has made some leaps and bounds, according to friends. During our informal preschool co-op, one mommy commented that my girl has really blossomed and changed for the better since the mommy had met us. And she was so very happy that it was homeschooling that had made this change. I felt a little abashed, probably because there are some days that I could throw my hands up into the air and scream with frustration, and I could not really see the change. It takes the new eyes of an outsider to really point out the differences. I hope that over the next few months this proves to be a continuous improvement.