Rad

A recent conversation:

Me: "How was hot lunch today, Mason?"
Mason: "It was yummy!"
Me: "Yeah? Did you eat your whole lunch?"
Mason: "I did! I ate my whole lunch TWICE!"
Me: (laughing) "Oh yeah? You ate the whole thing twice? How did you manage that?"
Mason: "By being awesome."

Who can argue with that?

Oh, Rissa!

A few months back, we decided the time had come to take away the Rissa's pacifier. Her third birthday was fast approaching, and her teeth were only getting more "bucky". I had put off the dreaded day of saying goodbye to the paci long enough, and so we did it. We threw them suckers (ha!) away and had a miserable week.
In the months since, Rissa has decided to shed all the things that used to bring her comfort and help her sleep. About a month after we said goodbye to the pac, she spontaneously decided to say goodbye to her lovey "Pink Bear" (so creative are we in naming our kids' lovies). A few weeks after that, she decided she didn't want her blanket either.
So here we are, months after the fact, and Rissa still doesn't know how to fall asleep without her baby comforts. She sits in her bed and talks to herself, even providing both sides of the conversation "GO TO BED!", "I don't WANT to go to bed!", etc, cries, jumps around, and generally just avoids sleeping as long as possible. Since I have been a total grump for a while now, my response to this has been to be stern, threaten, and even yell right in her face. Obviously, yelling is super helpful in getting a child to sleep. Landon has been similarly frustrated with her sleeping issues and has also been known to get right up in her grill and yell.
I was feeling all crazy and desperate for her to start napping again since her cousin is starting back at school this week (and therefore can't stay with her here while I pick up Mase from school, run errands, etc while she hangs out in her crib for hours on end without sleeping) and so I can actually start working again during her nap. Then I remembered that I have a great tool in helping her figure out how to sleep... my sleep bible, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. I reread the chapters on toddlers/preschoolers and created a game plan. We're a couple of days into retraining her to sleep. It's not been fun or easy, but the end is near and I know the method works. I just need to get out of both our ways and let her figure out how to sleep like a big girl.
I am grateful for expert help from third parties who can be objective and not crazy, and who know that yelling at 3 year olds in an effort to get them to sleep is just dumb.

You want it, I got it

We went to a party this weekend, the husband and I. It was a party full of lawyers. Lots and lots of lawyers. The problem with lawyers is, for the most part anyway, they work so much that they don't really have much else in their lives. Therefore, most conversation with lawyers is about being a lawyer. I have found that I can hang in the lawyer talking since I am 1) married to a lawyer and 2) a reasonably good bullshitter. It's not my most favorite thing to do, be in a conversation with a lawyer about being a lawyer, but it happens pretty often and it is what it is. Sometimes it is better than talking to my 3 year old about the poop she just made, sometimes it isn't.

Anyhow, at this party, I found myself primarily engaged in conversations about being a lawyer, but as the night wore on I found myself almost entirely engaged in conversations about how great I am to my lawyer husband. Now, basically none of these people know me at all. They just know that I am married to a lawyer who works a lot, and they discovered that instead of bitching about how much my husband works, I was focusing on how much harder it is for him to be working like that all the time. Clearly, this struck a chord with these lawyers, and they nearly all became of the opinion that I am a fantastic wife and wonderful human being.

One conversation (that repeated itself several times, thanks to the increasing level of "drunk" being experienced by my fellow conversant) went like this:

Drunk Lawyer (what other kind of lawyer is there?): "You are so great!"
Me: "Uh, thanks."
DL: "Landon is so lucky to have you!"
Me: "I am pretty lucky to have him too."
DL: "I really love your hat!" (it was a costume party, my hat was awesome, and she was really drunk and easily distracted).
Me: "Yeah, it is pretty great. Thanks."
DL: "Landon is so lucky to have such a supportive wife! How are you so supportive?!" (did you notice how everything she said comes with exclamation points?)
Me: "Uh, well, he supports me too. It works both ways."
DL: "Wow! That is just so amazing! I really love your hat!"

So anyway, I was thinking about it this morning, and drunk lawyer was right. Landon is lucky to have a supportive wife. But I was right, too. It is easy (usually) for me to be supportive because Landon is so supportive of me. And most relationships don't seem to have that give and take. They are either one-sided, with one who always gives and one who always takes, or have two selfish people who live parallel lives. But not me. We both try to take care of each other and be supportive of the other and appreciate what the other is going through.

So thanks Drunk Lawyer for reminding me. Landon is lucky. And so am I.

Forgetting Gratitude

I have not been a very kind person the last few weeks, which is particularly sad when you take into account that time period includes Christmas. I have been short-tempered and sometimes even flat out mean, and most of the time, I haven't even felt bad about it. There are no excuses for this behavioral slump I have been in. It is a problem and I need to get over it. As I was pondering my attitude issues this morning, I remembered this, my forgotten endeavor to count my blessings, and decided it was well past time for me to practice gratitude.

Today, I am very grateful for a husband who, after working all day at a job that is demanding and stressful and hard, was willing to do the huge pile of dishes last night so I wouldn't have to. I am grateful for a son who proudly battled the ants that overtook our kitchen table in the night before I got out of bed this morning because he knows they drive me crazy. I am grateful for a daughter who really wants to use the potty and be a big girl now. I am grateful for a nephew who patiently entertains his cousins and mows the lawn and takes out the garbage, even the stinky diaper pail stuff. I am grateful for a 2 year plan that includes things that I can be and am really excited about, and the opportunity to learn personal discipline from someone who excels at it (Lando).