parenting

In my car I have satellite radio. One of the stations is “Kids Place Live.” I am in my car with the kids about 95% of the time. This means I listen to Kids Place Live about 95% of the time. That means about 95% of the time I want to poke my eyeballs out!   

This morning I got into the car and they were playing a “song” I had previously seen on You Tube. A song that was on the kid’s station, but definitely is NOT for the kids. On another very hectic, but usual, Thursday morning, it made me smile!

So true, so true is all I can say!

When James and I made the decision to move in August, as we looked at houses, I was very clear I wanted to stay close to Nolan’s school. Mainly because he is in school three days a week and we are in the car enough without another long drive, but also because I DID NOT want to start the whole preschool registration process over again. (See here and here for a refresher on my experience with this before and why I am still traumatized). When you have a currently enrolled child in said preschool, you have PRIORITY enrollment for siblings. This is huge! Now you can see why I wanted to stay somewhere in the proximity of his school.

Needless to say our search for the perfect home ended up in the exact area I had repeatedly said was way too far from Nolan’s school. Considering there is not an opening for a preschool anywhere once the school year has started, I have made it work. It has not been that bad of a commute, but it would be nice to be at a school closer to home and not have approximately $40 a month in tolls just going to and from Nolan’s school.

So this brings me to my current dilemma and I do mean a MAJOR situation here folks. I am not sure where to register Griffin for preschool. You may be thinking, but he will only be two? What is the big deal? It is a big deal because the older a child gets, the more competitive it is for available spots in preschool. The preschool you chose for a two year old, maps out their future preschool years typically. I know. It sounds ridiculous, but welcome to North Dallas.. I have several options, but it could all be a gamble and a costly one at that.   

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2:58 AM Last Night

I hear ice fall into a cup. Nolan must be awake and thirsty. I am surprised he has not come in to wake me up as he usually does when he needs something in the middle of the night. I anticipate he will hold down too long on the ice button and ice will fall to the floor. Ice continues to fall into the cup and then I hear silence.

A few seconds elapse and then I hear him filling his cup with water. Once again I wait to hear water overflowing and spilling onto the floor. He stops and then resumes filling his cup. He must have stopped to look inside and notice he still has room. He is being so careful. I never hear water spill.

I continue to listen and wait for Nolan to come in and ask me to follow him back upstairs and tuck him back in bed. It is what mothers and fathers do in the middle of the night. They take care of their children in need. I wait until I hear a creak in the stairs and realize he is not coming for me. He is going back to bed by himself.

I am now wide awake and sad. He did not come for me.

Sometimes in life we can become so stressed about many different things. Sometimes we forget the things we worry about are not that important in the big scheme of things. Sometimes we need a reminder that although life is not always easy, as long as we have our health, things in life are really OK.

I have seen this video on TV several different times. (You may have seen it too.) I saw it again this morning and cried all over again. It is worth the six minutes. WARNING: You will need a BOX of Kleenex, not just one or two.

Nolan was born with magical ears. Did you know that? Well, they are. They have these special filters on them. These filters screen out anything they hear that pertains to being responsible, doing chores, following instructions, answering questions that are deemed boring and not “important,” and so on. Ironically they ALWAYS hear things like “Do you want to get an ice cream? Do you want to go to the Lego store? and Do you want to go to the water park?”

This “issue” surfaces multiple times daily and drives James and I crazy. It seems to manifest itself in two ways. The first being when something is said to Nolan and we are met with a blank stare, no eye blinking, no movement, nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. No comprende. It’s like we are speaking Russian. Just complete silence. It’s really the only time we hear this silence from Nolan come to think of it. The second way is observed something like this. “Nolan do you want a turkey sandwich or peanut butter and jelly?” To which Nolan will respond, “Mommy, let’s go the park.” CRAZY MAKING I say! It is like nails on a chalk board and it happens over and over again every. single. day.

I recently saw a quote that sums it up.   

If you do not want your children to hear what you are saying, talk directly to them.

EXACTLY!

RIGHT ON SISTER!

AMEN!   

The only thing that brings me comfort about Nolan’s magical ears is that we must not be the only ones going through this. This absolutely brilliant statement was published in a book about all time favorite quotes. We are not alone right? Oh please say yes!