From the mouths of babes...

From the mouths of babes…

There is nothing like having a child to keep you humble. Children will let you know exactly what they think of you at any given time. If you thought you had any sort of wisdom in the area of child rearing (we’re going to say pre-kids) those little stinkers (albeit cute stinkers) will have you second guess everything you ever thought you knew… several times a day.

I love my children. But some of the things that come out of their mouths…

I often say, I need to write more of these things down and then I don’t! So this is me writing a few things down.

I’ll start with my youngest, Zavier Shane. He is very nearly three years old, but he’s definitely catapulted into what we affectionately (or begrudgingly) call the “three-nager” stage. At any given moment he can flip the switch for his insta-attitude and he reserves the right to change his mind, opinion or stance on anything… just to make life difficult. His newest catch phrase that he mumbles if he’s particularly upset with you is, “I’m gonna punch your face!” Isn’t that lovely? What a sweetie! Thankfully, I’ve never seen him actually punch anyone’s face and yes, of course I’ve talked to him about talking like that.

Zavi in the midst of a yogurt therapy beautifying session.

Now, I know that it’s a popular opinion to teach your kids the proper names of their own body parts. I understand that it’s for safety, etc. I’m not here to dispute or affirm that, but let me tell you, there can be consequences with educating a toddler!

We were in town in the afternoon the other day, so I thought it would be nice if my two youngest and I went to pick Jett up from school. We arrived a few minutes early, so I helped Lena & Zav out of our vehicle and we walked to the school to wait by the boot room doors. When the bell rang and kids began pouring out of the school doors, someone informed me that Jett was waiting for us at his classroom. (Pardon me, your highness, my son… let me come and escort you…) SO, I brought my littles into the boot room and gave them strict instructions to stay put while I walked just around the corner to J’s classroom (literally no more than 20 steps). Call me lazy, but I didn’t want to take everyone’s boots off just to walk the 20 steps and then have to get everyone re-booted. Jett was there and ready to go, so I really don’t think I had left Lena and Zav alone for even 1 full minute, but of course my little threenager couldn’t be expected to wait that long. He was almost in 3^rd gear when I cut him off and scooped him and his boots up before he could track anything down the hall. It was a quick reaction, one fluid motion as I bent down, and lifted him by swinging my arm between his legs so that his legs were straddling my arm. It’s an awkward description, I realize, but I’ve picked him up that way many times; often when we’re playing or giving ‘airplane rides.’ Anyway, I guess he found it uncomfortable because he yelled (not with an inside voice) “OW, Don’t touch my penis!!” He then repeated the same thing at least 5 times, just in case someone in the area hadn’t heard him.

Seriously, son, thank you. 

A few of my favourite things about Zavi at this stage in his life:
-He loves his stuffies. His favourites are Puppy, Giraffy, Unicorn and Cowie-Wowie. A stuffed puppy, a stuffed lion (yes, a lion named giraffy), A black stallion (there's no unicorn horn, but it doesn't seem to matter) and of course, a cow. The cow he has on time-share with his sister. ;)
-Zavi loves to catch me when I'm crouched near the floor. He gets this irresistible twinkle in his eye and grins at me. He then says, "Give me a hug, lady!" (I love it.. The first time he said it, I melted-- was putty in his hands. He knows it. He uses it.) and proceeds to run at me full speed, trying to tackle me with a monster hug.
-And his sleep sweat. A weird thing to love, I know. Each night I put my princess on the potty (she's fully asleep.. it's rather hilarious, but necessary!) and after I return her to her bed, I lean over my baby who's sleeping on the bottom bunk, feel my way through the stuffies until I find his sweaty little face, and then I inhale a big sniff. I love it. He has his own sleepy sweaty smell and I can't get enough of it.

Kalena Jane, my sweet princess, loves to tell stories. Whether they're true and based on reality is not important. She will decide and let you know if it's true or not. Some of the tales she tells...
She also can get highly emotional in an instant. (I fear her adolescent years...) But the other day, she slipped. She admitted to me that she is capable of making herself cry. She can even produce actual tears, which makes this whole parenting thing even more of a challenge!

You gotta love the influence of a big sister...

Miss Lena also LOVES to sing and dance (although her ability to sing on key... it's not developed yet...). We took the kids to the movie Trolls a week or so ago (it was cute) and at the end  when the credits were rolling, Kalena jumped up out of her seat and ran to the front of the theatre to dance to Justin Timberlake. She considered it her stage and she poured herself into a moving performance of her own interpretive dance. Of course her little brother joined her. (cramped her style)

"She came in like a wrecking ball..."

Of my three nose-pickers, Kalena is the least shy. She will approach pretty much any adult she deems interesting (we have work to do in the whole Stranger Danger department). I caught her starting a conversation with a strange man in an airport... a few times. Her version of social boldness is paired with a form of bluntness that leads to situations that are highly embarrassing. She has no qualms about loudly informing anyone who will listen to her of the things she observes. You know, things like commenting on the appearance of people around her... things like weight, interesting hair styles or tattoos...  Honestly, I am trying to teach Kalena how to be socially sensitive, to not spout out every thought that runs through her brain... to think about how the things that she says might make someone else feel... It's a work in progress.

This pic is cute and un-assuming, but the back story is that Kalena is wearing no shoes... On October 31st, in Saskatchewan, her barefoot state went un-noticed and she trick or treated a whole block without shoes. #parentingfail

We've been trying to catch up on some appointments over the last while, and all three of my kiddos did great at their recent visit to the optometrist. I first got glasses when I was 7 (my eyesight is horrible) so I'm always praying that my children will get Mitch's perfect vision. Anyway, our optometrist is brilliant. He used Paw Patrol for the kids to watch while he checked out their eyes and they all behaved marvellously. He took them to the prize drawer afterwards as a reward and my princess boldly inquired, "Do you have any diamonds???"

Some of my favourite things about Kalena right now:
- She is SO affectionate. I get multiple "I love you's" and hugs/kisses throughout the day.
- Her hips. She's had this hip wiggle for a long time now, and it works its way into most of her dance moves. I can't call it a booty shake because this girl's got no booty!
-Her toothless grin. Having two front teeth pulled was rather traumatic for both Kalena and I, but she has such an adorable smile now.
-She has the hair I always wanted. Seriously. It took well over two years for Kalena to have any hair to speak of, but now that it's in, it's gorgeous. She can sleep on it wet, take it out of a ponytail, whatever, and all we have to do is run a brush through it and it's smooth, soft and full.
- She still pronounces several of her words with a toddler-type accent. I think it's on words that have combined vowel sounds. "Door" is one of words where we notice it the most. "The deuuu..." Kalena was talking to grandma on the phone the other day and was trying to tell her about the face-paint design she'd had drawn on her face. She was trying to say that she had a heart drawn on her forehead. I chuckled as she repeated at least a half dozen times, "No Grandma, a hawwwt!"

Kalena and her "hawwwt" design. ;)

And then there's my Jett.

Grade 1 :)

As my first born, he's been my guinea pig as I try to figure this whole parenting thing out. I know that I'm much more laid back with Zavi than I ever was with J, poor guy. I've written more about Jett than the others as I try to figure out the trick to this child-rearing process. Seriously, though, I am so proud of how my boy is learning, maturing, and growing. (Yes he IS one of the biggest 6-yr olds you'll ever see-- He thinks he's more like 10...)

I was flipping back and I came across this post I wrote about a year and a half ago. I think I was apprehensive as J was nearing the point of starting kindergarten. We're now nearly half way through grade 1, and I am thrilled with how Jett is thriving in school. He LOVES school. His favourite part about going to school would surely be that he gets to see/play with his friends, but he enjoys the school work, too!

Jett is still the energetic, mischievous boy in a large-for-his-age athletic body that I wrote about in that post a year and a half ago, but he's learning more self-control, for which I am grateful and ever-so proud. We're nearly to Christmas, and Jett's only had a couple of minor incidents at school. Here's the thing, though, when he gets off the bus at home, it's the first thing he'll tell me! I love his openness; how he comes clean with whatever may be weighing on his chest. I pray that we can keep/maintain an open and honest relationship as he grows through the years!

It was sometime in the first month of grade 1, I met Jett as he got off the bus at the end of the school day. "Hey mom, did Mrs. Tew (his teacher) send you a message?"he asked me right away. "Uhhh, no. Why?" I responded. "Well, I kinda cut my shirt today..." said sheepishly as he unzipped his jacket to reveal his batman shirt with a massive shark-bite in the front. We had a long talk about choices, the value of things and how we need to take care of our things. I think what happened was that he was exploring his school supplies while eating lunch (having school supplies accessible is new in grade 1). He took his scissors and made a small snip in the bottom of his shirt. He is a fidgeter, and as the day progressed, he pulled at the tear until it became so big that it revealed his entire tummy! His teacher had written a note in his day planner apologizing for not being on top of it, but I certainly do not blame her. ;)

Now, here is a conversation we had the other day when Jett got off the bus:

“Hey Jett, How was your day?”

“Good… Well, the first two recesses were good. The third one, I struggled.”

(I get a kick out of how he said he struggled. You can tell what kind of terminology we use!)
“Uh-oh. What happened?”

“On our way back into the school, I kicked someone.”

“Jett, why did you do that?”

“I was trying to be funny, we were goofing around.”

“Where did you kick him?”

[He points to the crotch area]

“Oh, buddy. That would hurt.”

“I didn’t know it would hurt him. I thought it would be funny. I said, sorry.”

“That wasn’t a good choice to make, J.”

“I know. The teachers talked to me and took care of it.”

We left it at that. He knew he was wrong, and he admitted/owned his poor choice and felt remorse over it. Lesson-learned.

***Sidenote-- I have a vivid memory from when I was in elementary school. There was only 1 year when myself and my 3 siblings were all in the same school. I was in grade 7, my brothers grades 5 and 1, and my sister was in kindergarten (Massey Elementary in Regina). One of my friends taught my little sister to go up to boys and kick them square in the crotch, which she did several times. She's a quick learner. ;) I may not have been directly responsible, but I didn't stop it! The crazy thing is, I don't remember any consequences resulting from this!!

"Mom, check out my muscles!"
(Note: Zavi's not wearing shoes.... ever.)

Some of my favourite things about Jett right now:

- His growing love for reading. His reading ability has been improving rapidly and the books that he brings home to read now have a decent plot line, which he enjoys.
- His understanding of spiritual things. He blows my mind with the questions he asks about God and heaven. (Our best conversations happen in the car or at bedtime)
- He is SUCH a keener. I will para-phrase what J's teacher wrote on his report card this year. She very nicely worded that he could chill out. ;) He is highly competitive and needs to be the first done his work, the first to line up at the door, etc. I don't want to completely snuff his keen-ness, but maybe just tame it down a bit.

I love being a mom and being able to watch my three little firecrackers grow up. I had a moment not long ago where the thought occurred to me that I don't have much longer where I'll be referred to as "Mommy." How sad! We joke about the millions of times our kids call for mommy... every day, and yet time passes far too quickly.

I often pray that God will give me wisdom and patience to parent my children in the manner that they need. I am thankful.