Wednesday, October 12, 2011

two things i don't want to forget ... wait, three

1. Dude. I just sent Asher to preschool with his lunch in a plastic grocery bag, because I couldn't find his lunch box. Could NOT find it (I mean, really, where could a lunch box be? If it's not in the van and it's not in the kitchen, where else is it?). And while I searched frantically for his lunch box (at the exact minute it was time to leave, OF COURSE) Asher did his homework in the car. Not because of him - the boy loves projects and assignments, and happily does whatever you put in front of him - but because his mother forgot - again - about it until it was time to load the van. I have such a history of forgetting to sit him down with his pencil and his take-home page that his teacher met me in carpool line one afternoon to gently chide me, saying that Asher is being left out of their homework game in the mornings, because he isn't bringing his papers back completed. So he wrote five 5's while I dug around for a grocery bag for his ham and apple.

I have to homeschool this little boy, because I am totally going to FAIL at having my kids in school.

2. I don't know what Silas will choose to pursue as an adult, but this much I do know: whatever he does, he will excel in it. He is the most determined little person I have ever met. An example: you know how I keep talking about Silas and naps? Honestly it kind of takes over the whole afternoon - can I get him still long enough to accidentally fall asleep? And if I can't, what in the WORLD do I do with these two while the baby sleeps? On and on it goes ... I realized yesterday that the problem is where he takes his nap. Because we have three kids and three bedrooms, for the past year Silas has been napping in a pack-and-play in the master bathroom. He has decided he doesn't like sleeping there, so he has just made up his mind not to sleep anymore. I wish I could convey to you how successful he has been at this. He can just ... decide not to sleep, then not go to sleep. Even though he's a little kid and he's utterly EXHAUSTED. Yesterday afternoon it clicked for me that the problem was not naptime so much as location. So I made a deal with him - I'll put the pack-and-play away, and you don't have to sleep in there anymore, if you will just nap in my bed. He smiled and said, "okay Mama," then curled up in his blanket, closed his little eyes, and WENT TO SLEEP. A three-year-old who determines when he sleeps and when he doesn't - not out of maniacal energy, but out of careful, intentional will - kind of blows my mind. The kid's a force of nature.

Happy Wednesday.

3. I forgot one - riding in the car on the way to school, Silas tells me, "I've decided to change directions. I'm going to trust God." Edited to add - I'm not noting this because I'm convinced it's a commitment to a life of faith (though maybe it is - what do I know?). It just cracked me up. Here's my little three-year-old boy, announcing from the back seat that after careful consideration, he's decided his life is going down the wrong path. He's decided to change directions. Do I sound jaded? Does anyone else find this funny?

3 comments:

Danielle said...

I have a little boy who loves to refuse naps as well. And the whole spending your entire afternoon trying to come up with ways to get him to secretly go to sleep? Been doing that for months! Sometimes I'm successful and I jump through the hallways, other times I fail miserably and replay what I could have or should have done differently. Sleep is a glorious thing but when you don't have enough, it's the pits!

I think I'll take Silas' new approach and just trust God that he'll help me through this tough transition (:

ljkgates said...

I was okay until number 3! Now the tears won't stop coming.

Lauren said...

Kendra sent me over here because my son is on a nap strike. Except that my son is 18 MONTHS OLD! And he just WON'T NAP (unless he's in the car). I'm not making him nap in a bathroom. He is in his comfortable crib, like he always has been. 8 days ago he just decided to scream for hours (HOURS!) instead of going to sleep at nap time. And he has done that every single day since then, unless we've been in the car. So he literally doesn't nap. At 18 months old. You think it's impressive at 3?? lol