Parenting

Parenting brings with it so much diversity and depth of emotion.  Some days it is easy and natural and full of love.  Others not so much.  A friend of mine recently mentioned to me that our oldest children have hit the "age of reason".  It really resonated with me.  And there are days that I am ashamed that I take for granted the wisdom and depth of understanding that my oldest possesses.  Being a mother is most certainly a gift, and I have so much more to learn.  Sometimes a sincere apology, a kiss and some ice cream makes the horrid parenting moments all better.  I was so touched by this TedTalks on gratitude.

I wanted to also remember the hilariousness of my little guy eating a piece of floppy pizza this weekend.  It was so funny, we were all in tears.  He was trying to get the end of a long piece of pizza in his mouth and couldn't do it.  The more he laughed, the more we did too.  It felt really good.

on the other side

She's been asking for curly hair for some time.  We tried using the iron, but alas, her hair is bone straight and held the curl for a brief time.  So tonight I sat on the other side of the tissue curling.  I remember sitting in the blue plastic sticker covered chair in Hilltop, while on the eve of nearly every holiday, my mom set our hair.  

She was so excited and we were both surprised how long it took and how many tissues I rolled up.  Can't wait to see the curls and smiles in the morning.

Father/Daughter discussion about technology

I sat on the periphery and listened in.  There was talk about how technology is changing our brains, how we think, what we think about.  I heard mention of dopamine, delayed gratification and information.  He was sharing a lesson for his Sociology class and she wanted nothing more than to know what it was about.  I heard elated, "YES's" from him as she grasped complex concepts and immediately related them directly to her past 24 hours.  One day with a laptop of her own use and an email account; she instantly knows of what he will speak about in this lesson and the dynamics of it.  She loves to learn.  She teaches us so much.