Thursday, March 29, 2007

My Protector

Elijah has taken some advice to heart lately. Every day when Gavin leaves the house for work, he tells Elijah to make sure and take care of me and watch out for me during the day. And Elijah always agrees to do so. Well, today I saw his care and concern in action. We were in Costco grocery shopping and Elijah spotted another mom with her 4 or 5 year old son. He proceeded to sternly look at this kid and say, "Hey boy, this is my mommy." I guess this little boy looked threatening in some way. I'm just grateful he was there to protect me!

On a side note, he has also gotten very interested in all of the crazy mayflies that are everywhere. So much so, that when he feels an itch or gets something like a hair or little piece of food in his mouth, he blames it on the mayflies : "I have a mayfly in my mouth." "There's a mayfly flying inside my ear."

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Listen Up!

This may just be some ranting from someone who has been pregnant for the last 26 out of 41 months, but I have a couple of requests from those of you who are not pregnant.

1. Out of courtesy, or just the kindness of your heart, when standing in a long line at a public restroom, if you see a woman who is obviously pregnant, feel free to offer her your place in line, or to cut in front of you. Maybe this thought will help - although you really have to use the restroom, keep in mind that not only do I really have to use the restroom also, but I have a 5 lb baby head-butting my bladder and pushing out a little urine every time this happens. I am literally about to wet my pants - it doesn't just feel like it.

2. When curious about how far along someone is from their due date, please be kind-hearted enough to not make any facial expressions that say, "wow, she's huge!" And if you're honest enough to actually speak instead of making an annoying face, please attempt to be a little tactful in what you say. Things like, "really? wow, 4 more weeks is a long time" or "oh! so you actually still have a while to go!" are not taken very well. First of all, I know much better than you how pregnant I am - there is no need to call my attention to it. Second, 4 weeks is not long at all, especially when you consider how long I've been pregnant. And third, it's just rude.
So, my advice would be to really try instead to call attention to the positive side of being this pregnant: "wow! how excited you must be to be so close to having your baby here!" or "you look wonderful! Congratulations!" or "that t-shirt is really cute, and I just love those sweats and flip flops!" (this last one is kind of a joke, but you get my point). Pregnant women don't hear nice things about themselves often enough if ever, so I would encourage you to change that trend.
I have a wonderful friend that every time I see her she tells me how wonderful I look, and I can't tell you how much that brightens my day and lifts me up. Just try to see pregnancy for what it is - allowing a child to grow and develop inside of another human body, preparing itself for life outside of that comfortable and secure womb. It's a beautiful miracle, not just a huge woman wearing overly casual clothes.

Saturday, March 03, 2007

What's Up With Crazy Parents?!?

I recently had the privilage of going with Elijah and my mom to his first concert - Elmo Makes Music. As far as kid things go, this was actually somewhat entertaining and realistically short. Basically, I didn't feel like I was being tortured for three hours.
The only thing that was a real beating to me was watching and listening to the other parents and grandparents that were there with their kids. I think I witnessed for the first time, on a mass scale, how uninterested, impatient, annoyed, and mean adults can act toward children. It really was overwhelming to me, and sad. Why do any of them choose to take their kid to something like this if they're just going to be overwhelmed and ticked off the whole time and take it out on their kid? It just made me want to host a parenting class during the intermission and tell these parents that it doesn't have to be that way. This isn't to say that I think I'm the best parent in the world - I know plenty of places that I can make improvements, and no one will ever make all the right decisions with their children. But it made me realize that I think Gavin and I do a pretty good job and we've got a great kid. And it makes me thankful for all of the training that I have had and the complete dedication that Gavin has to being the best parent that he can be.
So, in the future I really look forward to taking our kids to various concerts and performances like this one, and maybe hand out pamphlets on ten ways to not be such a beating to your kids.