Fun With Our Sons: Gr8 to be 8

Monday, November 30, 2009

Gr8 to be 8

A pile of presents,

a favorite toy gun,

a BRAND new bike,

a football cake,

all add up to one happy Kaleb!

As busy as life is around here these days, Kaleb sure did have fun turning 8! He opened one present before school--an Eagles shirt that he could wear all day long. After school he told me, "When I was working on my math today, I just kept looking down at my shirt." :) I wonder if he got any math done? It was tough to convince him to take that shirt off at bedtime. Daddy picked the boys up after school, and we enjoyed a visit from Kaleb's cousins as he opened up the rest of his birthday gifts. Aaron took special care this year to give Kaleb "extra" presents. Like a package of gift tags hidden in another gift. And a small gift bag filled with more gift tags and a gingerbread man bookmark. :) He also put a bow on each present and made his own gift tags...Aaron sure did make Kaleb's packages that much more special. Some of the ways I made the day special for him: red balloons tied to the mailbox, birthday message written on the bathroom mirror, gifts picked out with great care, favorite meatball supper, and chocolate cake to top it all off. Birthdays aren't just for the child. They're for the mother too. :)

November 30th is an eclectic day of sorts. I have halloween candy on my counter, turkey placemats on my table, birthday decorations in my living room, and Christmas music playing on the radio. But if I allow myself to go back 8 years, all the clutter clears away and I can see us holding our new baby, Kaleb Matthew. All 9 pounds, 10 ounces of him! Red skin, blond hair, with a candy cane hat on his head. I wondered how I would be a mother to two little boys. Would I have enough love for both of them? Funny thing, it all worked out one day at a time. And it still is. :)

Happy Birthday Kaleb. You bring your parents such delight! You're a patient brother, placed in the middle, able to play the role of little brother at times and big brother at other times. You say the funniest things without trying to be funny. We love you gr8-ly. :)

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What I've Learned While Raising Boys

You know you're a Cub Scout mom when you end up teaching the salesperon which neckerchief slide goes with which age level.

The boys want to be just like dad, but they want to snuggle with mom.

Snuggling and cuddling can quickly turn into a tickling match with daddy, but mommy avoids the tickling to keep snuggling longer.

A carpeted floor always turns into a wrestling mat.

I don't care how old (or how young) you are; if you are male, you will wrestle on the carpeted floor.

I've never heard the words 'belch' and 'fart' more in my life. Nor the sound effects those words represent.

They'll carry toads and eat dog food. Hand them a toilet brush and they think it's gross.

Why mop the boys' bathroom floor when I can wait for them to do it for me? Three showers later, a towel makes a nice mop.

Courtesy flush=an adult walks by the boys' bathroom and flushes the toilet. Courtesy flushes are standard around here.

Hearing me count to 5 changes my child's behavior, if only for a moment.

I get more practice counting to 5 than I did when I was learning how to count.

Pull-ups should never go in the dryer.

Vacuuming the pull-up pieces out of the dryer at midnight is not unheard of.

Rocks, cars, coins, chapstick, crayons, army men, kleenex, and stickers are all washable, but shouldn't be.

If I want a child to be sick, give him clean sheets.

Band-aids really do make it all better.

My camera batteries will die at the worst time. Like they did at my wedding and the birth of my first son.

When I get mad at my son for spilling his drink, I'll spill mine that same day.

Just when I'm ready to sit down with my lunch, my kids need cleaned up from finishing theirs.

The game "I Spy" works great in a restaurant; not in a moving car.

Dandelion bouquets should be checked for ants before gracing my kitchen counter.

I should always accept a dandelion from my son with delight, for someday they will just be weeds in my yard.

I really do have eyes in the back of my head.

The messier the better--living room, kitchen, toy room--for it means my kids are here with me.

I never turn away a hug from my son--soon enough he won't offer them to me.

Things are always better in the morning.

I can never find the scotch tape in my kitchen drawer, but my son has at least 3 rolls in his desk.

My 5 year old can remember attending a funeral when he was 3, but he can't remember to flush the toilet or shut the front door.

I shouldn't be surprised that my 5 year old thinks I was friends with Mary, mother of Jesus, when he thinks 7 year olds are big kids.

Hiding a purchase from an inquisitive child looks like shoplifting.

The number of bathrooms in a home should equal the number of children. All 3 bathrooms have been used at the same time more than I ever would have imagined.

I'm a selfish, self-centered person. God's cure for that? My 3 blessings.

They really are little for just a little while. . .