Are We Almost There Yet?: 2009

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

My Happy Girl

I haven't been talking much about Ella so here's a post completely devoted to her beautiful smile. I think the picture says it all.

Monday, June 1, 2009

So, at the time of my last post, we were dealing with a bit of a blunder on mommy (and daddy's!) part and trying to correct Andrew and teach him what is appropriate to say and what isn't. I am happy to report that he (and mommy and daddy!) are doing much better in the bad word department. Andrew has since moved on to a new and exciting phrase that he loves to yell ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE we go. He yells it before he goes to bed and as soon as he wakes up. He yells it in the store, in the mall, at the playground, in church. He doesn't care who hears him or who he's interrupting. What's the phrase, you ask?

"CHRIST IS RISEN!"

Ah, much better than my last post. During Easter in the Orthodox Church, it's customary to say "Christ is Risen!" and then to respond by saying, "Indeed He is Risen!" Obviously this is where Andrew got the phrase, but unfortunately for me, every time he yells it, he expects me to respond "Indeed He is Risen!" in just the same amount of gusto and excitement as he. I don't mind doing that at home, but in the store? At the playground? What if someone HEARD me?

I am ashamed to admit that I am embarrassed to proclaim Christ's resurrection with the same joy and freedom of a two-year-old. It is understandable why Christ wanted the children to come to Him. They had no agenda. They had no ulterior motives. They had no shame in their desire to know and be known by Him.

I envy Andrew and his simple faith. Andrew loves to say his prayers and I've started asking him to pray for specific things I'm worrying about because I know his faith could move a lot more mountains than mine can. I hope he will always be my little prayer warrior, and my little reminder of the faith that I am expected to have as well.

Monday, April 27, 2009

My Mirror

I am ashamed to say that Andrew has learned a bad word.

And he says it frequently.

At first I thought he was saying shoot, or shirt, or ship...but alas, he was not. The phrase, "Oh man, shirt!" just doesn't make sense, although for a while I tried to convince myself it did. "Is something wrong with your shirt again, Andrew?" I'd ask hopefully, but all I'd receive in reply was a confused stare. So I stopped denying it and started trying to figure out who to blame.

Shirt.

Who was I trying to kid? The fact is I can only blame myself, although I still partially blame Chicago city traffic. What can I say? It's my "naughty word" of choice, and it's come back to bite me.

As I continue to raise my children, I am discovering a nasty little secret that other parents failed to warn me about: our children are tiny little mirrors that reflect in painful detail our own flaws and weaknesses. They learn how to live life by watching how WE live life.

I thought parenting was hard enough when I thought all I had to do was TELL my kids not to swear. But now I have to not swear either? I can't tell Andrew not to throw a tantrum and then lose my own temper a few minutes later. I can't expect him to pray before his meals if I forget to pray myself. I can't teach him to love others and then have him hear me talking bad about people behind their backs. The list could go on....

A very wise person said it best to me: I can preach at my children all I want, but it's what they SEE me do that will influence them the most, not what they hear me say.

Talk about some heavy shirt.

I considered vowing to stop "preaching" at Andrew and just start living as I want him to live, but let's face it: a two-year-old inherently needs a lot of active and meaningful instruction on the do's and don'ts of life. But I will make a concerted effort to put into practice that which I preach. And hopefully my little mirror will reflect more good than bad.

Just as long as I don't drive in heavy traffic.