The Adventures with Childhood Glasses

Yesterday I took Nathan to the pediatrician to get his Kindergarten Physical so I could register him for school starting this fall. He performed rather poorly on his eye exam and the doctor told me I should have it checked out at an optometrist. So today, we did. My poor little guy has some pretty crummy vision, apparently. Not surprising with having Greg and me for parents. Our eyeball genes that we passed on to him were bound to make an appearance sooner or later. Too bad he's only 4. After lots of coaxing, pleading, threatening, we finally got Nathan to calm down and sit in the exam chair to get his eyes looked at. The tantrum started with the machine that blows a little puff of air into the eye. That set him over the edge. It probably didn't help that it was just yesterday that he had to get 5 shots at the Pediatrician's office. Too many health care professionals in a 24 hour period, I guess. It took quite a long time to get through the exam and get him in a glasses mind set. He just kept ripping them off his face every time we tried a pair on just to see how they looked. I bribed him with a new toy and he calmed down a little bit.
So after we got our lenses on we went straight to the toy store where he promptly picked out yet another Light Saber. Like we don't already have enough...but that's what he wanted, so I made good on my promise/bribe. What an adventure for an afternoon.

Calling all forgetful moms...Help!

For two nights in a row now, the Tooth Fairy and I have forgotten to take care of the tooth waiting underneath Andrew's pillow. The first morning he pulled out the little baggie it was in and came and showed it to me. He said the tooth fairy must have forgotten to come to our house last night. Probably because she was so busy with all the other kids in town (his logic, not mine). He said "It's okay. She's just busy. She'll come tonight." So I promised to remember to go slip in and do it. But I didn't. I got so busy cleaning up the house and doing mountains of dishes that by the time it was done, I just wanted to go to bed myself. So this morning Andrew came in holding the little baggie again and actually said "Why doesn't she like me?" What's a mother to do in a situation like that? I promised him that I would give him his dollar that he's expecting so badly, but how can I redeem the poor, busy, forgetful tooth fairy? To be honest, I've never really loved the idea of things like the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny. Probably because my parents never really made a huge deal about them while I was growing up. I must have been a cynical kid, though, because I always knew it wasn't real. I never had anyone tell me, I just thought this couldn't really happen. And yes, it's the same with Santa. I can never remember a time in my life when I REALLY believed in him. I never doubted that I wouldn't get presents on Christmas morning, so it never bothered me. I just was too much of a realist, even as a kid. There's a part of me that wants to just tell Andrew it's all a sham. But I guess I can keep his childhood innocence for a while longer. But in the mean time, what do I do about this tooth I can't seem to remember to turn into a dollar?

A few of my favorite things...

We have finally started to feel a little bit better around here. Life can return to normal which includes a full night's sleep for everyone. I've been thinking a lot lately about joy and being happy. We had a really nice sacrament meeting yesterday. Our bishop talked about joy and choosing to be happy. I can usually find someone or something else to blame my unhappiness on, but really it comes down to making the choice to be happy. And finding joy in life. Because, after all, we are meant to be happy. I recently came across this statement on a wall of one of my favorite restaurants. This restaurant has tons of little quotes and sayings up all over the place. Most of them are uplifting and I can agree with and this one was my favorite: "Experience is what you get when you DON'T get what you wanted." And I thought that was a perfect way to define a person. You can either take your disappointments in stride and learn from them or let them eat away at you and just get worse. I'm choosing to take the word 'experience' in this quote as a positive thing. Experience gives us knowledge, insight, and wisdom for the next challenge that awaits us. So thank you, anonymous person, for your insight. So my goal and challenge for myself is to choose to look for joy and happiness. I can make a list of things in life that make me irritated. I can go on for hours. (the stringy things on a banana when you peel it, the toilet paper coming from the underside of the roll instead of the top, the appalling amount of filthy diapers my one year old can produce) but I'm CHOOSING to see the good in life. I got to see the most beautiful sunset the other night. I took a picture, but it is weak in comparison to the real thing. We got a little bit more snow and the boys were beyond thrilled to go make one last snowman. Greg's beater of a car is STILL running (a miracle, I promise). Making cranberry bread. A quiet afternoon with a book. These are things that make me happy and give me joy.

This is the best little snowman with a mini carrot for a nose.



This is the lovely view out my front window.