At least one!

You want to know irony?  I posted yesterday about going grey... and low and behold, I look into the miror while brushing my teeth and what is sticking straight up from my head.  One really white hair. Not even kidding... I'm blaming Madi.  One little question and she is making me go grey.  Urg.  Don't worry, I pulled it out, but my guess is that grey hairs are like roaches.  If you see one...

Any grey yet?

So Madi asked the question today, "Mom, what does it feel like to wear a bra?"

Man, I'm getting old...

Emergency!

Jack is at the age right now where I feel like he is wanting to fast forward through growing up.  He wants to do everything, and do it himself.  So, this is a blurb from our Saturday afternoon.

Scott and I are doing something in the kitchen.  Jack comes running down the hallway,  "Emergency!  Emergency!"  He is waving his arms and his eyebrows are way up on his little forehead.

We run after him to the bathroom.  (Now everyone knows this cannot be good)  We round the corner to find the whole bathroom floor covered in water.  Where is it spilling out of?  The toilet of course.  I'm pretty sure there was a whole roll of toilet paper bobbing at the top.  I asked Jack "what happened here?"  His response,  "it wouldn't flush."

Thanks to a wonderful husband that offered to clean it up, I can laugh at the situation.  Got to love my little buddy.

The bright side

I was up in the kitchen today and found a chip out of a dish of mine.  I said, "Darn, my serving bowl got chipped."

" Don't worry Mom, look at the bright side, now it looks, you know, old and kind of fancyish," Madi replied to me.

Got to love her.  It put a smile back on my face.

A camping first

I grew up going camping every summer up at Browne Lake.  I have continued this tradition with my kids.  Here is the thing about Browne Lake, there isn't much there in the way of facilities.  Any outhouse sums it up.  But, this year they were spraying for some beetles and everyone had to leave the camping area for 24 hours.  So, we moved down the road where we had to truly camp, including using the woods as your bathroom.  I had never done this will the girls before.  It was a first, but I figured it was a skill that needed to be learned.  Right?  Well, Dad was going to take the girls fishing, so we took a walk out in the woods to take car of business before they left.  Allie was a pro ( I have had to help her do roadside pit stops before), totally expected.  Hannah was a little concerned, but we finished with dry cloths.  Then came Madi.  Madi is one of those people who cannot pee under pressure or with an audience.  I wasn't sure what to do with her.  We tried squatting, holding onto a tree and leaning back, propping herself on a rock, sitting over a dead log, leaning over a rock.  I mean everything I could think of, we tried it.  At this point she is crying, thinking she isn't going fishing because she can't pee in the woods.  So... I let her go fishing.

Well, they come back from fishing and she really needs to go.  She went back into the woods by herself and a few minutes later she comes and whispers to me, "Mom, I need to tell you something.  I went back into the woods and tried to go again, but I couldn't.  Will you take me to a bathroom noooow?"

I looked at her and said, "Madi, it's not that I won't take you to a bathroom,  there is no bathroom.  There is nowhere I can take you."

So, we went on another walk out in the woods together.  We tried everything again and finally I didn't know what to do.  So, I looked at her and said, "Madi, people have been peeing out in the woods for thousands of years.  If you really need to go, I'm sure you'll figure it out.  Just stay out here until you go."  And with that I walked back to camp.

Well, about 5 min later Madi comes walking into camp.  Her eyes are a little red from crying, but she has this hug smile on her face.  I said to her, "So, did you go?"  She said, " I sure did."  I asked her how she finally did it.  She said, " I built myself this toilet thing out of rocks back there."  Needless to say, the rest of the time we were there, we didn't have any more problem with her needing to go.

Dear Mom & Dad,

I'm so sorry for all the complaining, tattling, hitting, screaming,  and "woes me" moments.  I now know why you sometimes just lost it.  I have a new found respect for you.  Thank you, I love you.  I now ask that you pray for me every moment of this summer vacation because, frankly, I'm on the verge of losing it most of the time.

With love,
Jenny

We've come a long way

So Madi had her first softball game of the season on Thursday.   All was going very well.  She got up to bat and I started cheering...nothing embarrassing, just a "you can do it Madi."  I saw her look over at me a few times, but thought nothing of it.  Well, she struck out, and she was okay with that.  But, she walked over to me in the bleachers and said "Mom, I have a favor to ask of you.  Will you please not cheer for me like that, you just make me nervous.  I can't do this when I'm nervous."  I said "okay."  She returned to the dugout and the game went on.  EVERY parent around me we laughing at this exchange. 

Now, although I found some humor in the situation, I was also incredibly relieved that she had so calmly come over and asked me not to cheer.  It was only 3 years ago that the same kid came running down the sideline of her soccer game yelling at me, "Stop yelling so loud Mom.  I don't want to play this anymore!  Why are you making me do this?"  So... I think it's safe to say that we have come a long way.  Thank goodness!