My Mother's Day

So maybe if I get my Mother's Day post in before the end of the month does that still count??

I realize that it's past Mother's Day and I'm just now writing my post about it. I've put some thought into this and what I wanted to write.

Here's what I came up with....

"The Ways my Children Show Me They Love Me"

Janelle: She folded 2 loads of laundry, made sure the house was picked up, and had the dishwasher running one night while Todd and I were out late. I was so surprised it literally took my breathe away.

Rachel: By sharing her musical talent. She loves to sing, play the piano and occasionally will practice the violin where I can hear it.

Julie: She takes the younger kids outside and plays with them after she gets home from school so that I can start on dinner, clean up the house, or just relax for a bit.

Russell: His love/hate relationship with reading. He'll sit down and read if he's asked to but he doesn't like to do it without being reminded. He surprised me when I showed up at his class's Mother's Day program. The class was reciting a poem about the school year when I got there. Russell and a girl from his class later took turns narrating the book "I'll Love You, Forever". There is one part toward the end when the mother calls her son to come and see her because she's getting old and she starts to sing the song to him that she's sung to him his whole life. "I'll love you for always, I'll love you forever". Russell did a solo here and finished the story. He loved reading that day. What a sweet young man I have!

Christian: He plays my favorite game (Ticket to Ride) with me while the babies take a nap. Out of the 2 games a day we play, he beats me at 1 out of those 2 games. He's such a smarty-pants. The game says for ages 8 and up and he figured out how to play it.

Hannah: Her request for kisses and hugs before I leave the house. She also likes to hand me clean clothes out of the laundry basket to fold. Sometimes faster than I can fold.

Spencer: He shared his favorite snuggly blanket with me. One day I was taking a nap after the kids got home from school. One of those, I have a headache and just need to lie down for a few minutes nap. Spencer came to find me shortly into my nap. When I asked him what he was doing, he asked me if I was going "nigh-nigh" and then handed me his favorite blanket to sleep with. Breaks your heart doesn't it?

My Mother's Day wasn't filled with gifts and goodies.
It was filled with LOVE.

When "no" means "yes"

Question: When does "no" really mean "yes"? Or vice versa??

Spencer was the first one to use the words "yes" and "no". In fact, I think he used "yes" before he used "no". He would nod his head when in agreement. It was the cutest thing.

Then one day he suddenly stopped nodding and everything became "no". We then had to determine if he really meant "no" or if he meant "yes" by the way he said it or if he smiled when he said it.

Hannah on the other hand started with "no". And not just any "no". There were times when she was pretty forceful when using that word. And if she didn't say "no" when asked something that was her way of saying "yes".

But now Hannah & Spencer are getting to the point where they are communicating with their words (a lot of words). Sometimes they even come out in full sentences. But there are those times that what they say comes out more like gibberish than actual understood English. And when they aren't understood or are told "no" that's when the temper tantrum happens.

When the temper tantrum occurs I try to explain why. You're probably thinking, "yeah, right, reason with a 2 year old. Don't make me laugh.". But it does happen sometimes that I can get them thinking about something else and the temper tantrum dies down and they stop. This happened just yesterday.

Sunday afternoons at our house are quiet time. Everyone under the age of 8 are to nap while the 3 older kids have the option. But if they don't nap they have the responsibility of getting the babies up when they wake up so that Mom & Dad can take a nap.

So yesterday afternoon, I had woken up before Todd and was trying to get Spencer to leave Daddy alone so he could rest some more. Todd had gone to a midnight showing with "the boys" on Thursday night and then we went to Nashville on Friday night and got home around 12:30am. He needed the naptime a little more than me. Anyway, Spencer was NOT budging by the bedside. He was even trying to pull the covers off his Dad so Todd would get up.

This is where my tactic comes into play. I ask Spencer if he wants some cookie dough. (It's almost a ritual at our house that during naptime the older girls make cookie dough that we later bake for an after dinner treat.)

Spencer didn't respond.

I then ask if he wants a cookie.

He turns to me and yells "YES!!" so I think I've got him. Then I tell him he needs to come downstairs with me to get his cookie.

He looks at me with his face all scrunched up and yells, "NO!!"

Did he really want the cookie?? You bet he did. He just didn't want to leave Daddy to get it.
So the answer to my question would be: When you're dealing with toddlers.



PS: I DID get Spencer to come down and get a cookie. He even got a spoonful of cookie dough while he waited for the cookie to bake.