Lydia has a wide range on the quality of work she turns in from school. On the “just get it done and check the box” side, Lily told me an adorable anecdote of when Lydia ran down the stairs and the following conversation ensued:
Lydia: “Mom, I need to plant a seed for my school assignment. Do we have any seeds?”
Lily: “I’m not sure that I have any seeds to plant honey. Maybe we get get some a little later.”
Lydia: “No mom, I want to do it right now. I just need any seed. Oh, look, a lemon. Can I have a lemon seed?”
Lily: “Darling, lemons are tropical and won’t grow here. That seed won’t grow.”
Lydia: “It doesn’t matter mom, this will be perfect, thanks!”
Lydia then grabbed the lemon seed, went outside, plucked it in the dirt, and came back inside victorious. Haha, I thought that was hilarious.
On the other end of the spectrum, the “I can create beautiful, thoughtful, outcomes when I really want to” is the nature collage she spent hours on which you can see here:
Here is a comic she made a couple weeks ago, which resides somewhere in the middle of the two extremes. As usual with Lydia, it is very sweet, smart and adorable.
On other news from the day, I was already running late to a meeting when Lily hollered for me from the yard because she needed my help. Ammon got stuck between the springs of the trampoline and she couldn’t get him out. I have to say, at this stage of life it feels like Ammon is constantly breaking things, getting hurt, crying, fighting, or getting into predicaments. Some recent things that come to mind: Ammon putting rocks in my my garden planters, Ammon putting a shovel in our basil plant pot and dumping the dirt all over the patio, the cabinet door mysteriously falling when Ammon was sitting right in-front of it with no one watching (Lily said he often kicks that door), and lots of fights with Clarissa. There is this difficult cycle with him, when Lily or I will ask him to do something, or not do something, sometimes repeating ourselves multiple times. Then he will go and do the exact thing opposite of what we instructed. Then we will scold him, and then he will cry big alligator tears. And then we will hug and try to explain for the hundredth time, that we wont get mad if he will just simply do what he is supposed to. It’s hard to tell if he’s not processing instructions, or acting out to get attention and the eventual tender make-up that follows the scold. There probably is a more elevated way than this to parent, but right now it’s where I am. I need to be kinder because sometimes I really lose my patience with him, which I think is why sometimes he doesn’t tell me the truth when he does something wrong. Yesterday, (May 2, I’m writing this blog from the future), I felt exasperated even at a time when he was barely doing anything wrong and said, “Ammon, stop being a problem!”. I felt awful and apologized profusely, and later repented on my knees and got myself a better place. I need to give myself a little bit of a break for being hard on him at times because I’ve been very stressed and right now it seems like he is creating problems or situations a lot, situations that are hard to deal with gracefully when I’m tired or already stretched. But that doesn’t make it right. And I want to parent better, and it was a good opportunity for me to reflect about how to be better. I need to give him a break and find a way to be more kind and understating to that sweet boy, so he can always feel my love. I’m going to really try to get myself to a better place to not get frustrated with all of his energy, playfulness, and curiosity that so often results in messes to clean, things to fix and situations to resolve. I’m so glad in this situation, even though it made me late for work, I had the sense of humor to grab some photos. He really is so innocent, adorable, and good natured. I adore that boy, and in this situation, because my perspective was right, he really gave me some much needed amusement during a stressful day of work, even though it made me later for a meeting. Boy he gives me so many opportunities to smile if I’m just wise enough to enjoy it.
