Life of Lily and Jackson: January 2014

Friday, January 31, 2014

Cookies with Jackson

Tonight Lily had a birthday party/sleepover to go to so I asked Jackson what he would like to do? Figuring he would ask to go to some play place or Bass Pro, I somewhat mentally prepared myself for that. (Can you tell how much I love both of those places? :-) Well, his answer totally surprised me. "Mommy, I want to go to the grocery store and get stuff to make cookies! And then I want to put frosting on them! And then we can make chocolate cookies with chocolate chips! And then, I want to make a chocolate cake too, Mommy!" Well...we narrowed it down to sugar cookies with frosting. This boy is just like me in the sweet department. Limits? What limits? Haha!

He got a new monkey apron from Grandma L. for Christmas that he was able to wear for the first time. He loved it! We had such a great time baking together! He was so excited to use the roller, Valentine's Day cookie cutters, put them on the baking sheet, and of course, sneak a bite of cookie dough (or two) in the process! As wild as he can be, he was actually gentle with the cookie dough when I asked him to be and enjoyed learning how to use all of the "tools". Granted, there was frosting to look forward to so I know there was an extra incentive for him to stay involved in the process as long as he did! And when the frosting part came, he went full speed! I had to stop him from emptying the entire sprinkles jar on one cookie! I knew that wildness would come out at some point :-)

Enjoy some pictures of our fun mommy/son cookie baking time!

check out that pile of sprinkles!

Happy Jack...all sugared up!

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Preschool problem

Wow. I'm going to start this post off with something personal. I think this will be important for the kids to read as they experience answer to prayer. Daddy & I did a Bible study last week on humility. One of the questions in the study was to list three ways we wrestle with pride. One of my answers was in my children. In my mind, their behavior is a reflection of me. When they behave, use manners, and I hear cute stories about them, I am overjoyed. When they misbehave, I view it as a personal attack. And I tend to make mountains out of mole hills in many situations. The brain then goes on overdrive...."Maybe I did something wrong? Where do I need to Google or what book do I need to read to tell me how to "fix" this behavior? I mean, there is NO way my child will behave like that!" So you can see why I need humility in this area. Well, God decided today would be a good day to teach this!

The pick-up process at Preschool is a drive-up car line. This is awesome. Especially on the 2 degree day that we are having today! The teachers walk each child out to the car as we drive up. Jackson's teacher is not always the one to walk him out, but today she was. As she came up to my car, she said "Jackson had a really rough day today." Mind you, this is the FIRST time all year I have had a conversation with her regarding Jackson's behavior. And, it's in the car line. Shocked, I responded, "Really? What happened?" She then responded that he has been having anger issues that have progressively gotten worse. WHAT?! Been having? Progressively? I had about 5 seconds to get some detail about him having an issue during gym time, kicking blocks, yelling, and screaming. Totally blindsided, I thanked her for the feedback, said we would be addressing it, buckled him up, and got out of the 30 car line-up quickly. My pride was shot. I felt totally deflated. We have had no problems at church or BSF, but he is having them at school? Lily never did this! What am I doing wrong?? I had an unproductive conversation with Jackson in the car about what was going on at school. He was tired and honestly, how do you talk to a child about an issue that has been going on for who knows how long? So, I called Daddy. He happened to be running errands in the area, so he decided to come home to talk to Jackson. This, by the way, was his idea. He felt it was important to address the issue while it was still fresh in Jackson's mind. When we arrived home, I immediately called the school to talk in more detail with the teacher.

Apparently, he has had some minor issues of frustration with the other children. Typically over a toy or something of that nature. Totally normal for his age. But today, he flipped out at gym time! Yelling at another child calling them "Stupid!" over and over. I addressed this issue in my last post. In fact, I have labeled him the "Stupid Police" because he is the first one to tell me when he hears the word on T.V. or from another source. He literally had naughty spray before school this morning for calling Lily this name!

His teacher and I had a great supportive conversation and she admitted today was completely out of character for Jackson and maybe he was tired or coming down with a bug. Although either of those could very well be true, I was not allowing myself to accept those as excuses. Again, my pride would not have it! When I got off the phone, Daddy decided it was time to up our game with soap in the mouth instead of the naughty spray. It was not a pretty sight. (He didn't see me capture this shot...but I had to have proof!)

After Daddy had quite a discussion with Jackson about behavior, he went back to work.

After Jackson calmed down, we had lunch together. As we were talking, I had a light bulb moment that THIS situation was teaching me humility. I am not in constant control of my child's behavior. They will do things that will shock me, embarrass me, and there is nothing I can do to prevent that. My responsibility is to lead, guide, and direct them in love. And I realized that the first thing I should have done was pray about this situation. My response would have been much less frantic! This was a good lesson for me today. And I am so thankful that I am able to see God's hand in this.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Back-talking

Well, from the title of this post I'm sure you can tell this is going to be a fun one! ;)

How did we get ~~cursed~~ blessed with not one, but two kids who enjoy back-talking?! I'm sure my parents know exactly how we received this blessing. It's called pay-back! As a child, I was never as physically strong as my older sister, so I learned to use my mouth as a weapon. I was queen of the "last word" and I remember my dad saying more than once that I should become a lawyer. I am definitely not proud of this trait, and I'm sure this is where our children get it from. And this just happens to be at the top of my list for hot buttons. Again, not a surprise that one of my worst traits is coming back to haunt me.

It seems that the phrase "terrible two" never applied to either of our children. No...it was "terrible three"! With both kids, this seems to be our most trying year. Testing boundaries. One of those being their language ability catching up to their observation of the world around them. Learned phrases from television, sibling, and sometimes parents are repeated, in many instances, inopportune times.

For these "inopportune" times, we have what's called "naughty spray". A brilliant idea I received from a good friend of mine who struggled with the same problem. It's a mixture of vinegar and water. Not tasty, but also not unsafe to swallow. I'll give you a little insight into the different ways our children respond to this. Just the threat of naughty spray for Lily straightened her up. When we had to give it to her at this age, she would literally go into the biggest dramatic episode worthy of Hollywood. Threw herself on the floor, uncontrollable tears, begging, pleading....just drama! And after we sprayed it in her mouth, she would run to the bathroom, arms flailing, and spit it into the sink. I can count on one hand how many times she has actually received naughty spray. That just shows how effective it has been for her.
Jackson, however, has to see the spray in my hand to straighten up. And even then, that is not always the case. This boy seems to have no fear until action is taking place. Threats don't scare him. The first time we gave him the spray, he immediately spit it right out. As in, onto the carpet in front of him. This did not go over well with Mom! So now, he has to swallow it. That is literally the only way this form of discipline is effective for him.

Jackson has developed more than just verbal back-talk. He has started spitting (as in blowing bubbles out of his lips)!! This boy is a real button-pusher, let me tell you! And no matter how many times he is warned and then disciplined, he continues on. Stubborn!

Although this is definitely not a fun topic to discuss, I do have to share a funny story....

In the midst of a disagreement with Jackson that involved back-talking, I warned him to keep his mouth shut and just do what I had asked him to do!
Of course, this didn't happen as he just HAD to respond!
As I turned to him, red in the face, he said "But Mom!", to which I responded "What Jackson?!"
He then replied with "But I love you, Mom!"

Oh boy. As much as he loves to make my blood boil at times, I love him dearly.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

California Christmas 2013

This year, we spent 11 days in California during our Christmas break! Although most of the adults were sick with the flu during our visit, we still managed to fit in some fun times! We were thankful to have warm sun and an opportunity to be outdoors. Enjoy viewing our trip through pictures: