He's Got Jokes

Caleb was sitting on the toilet last night working on his...ahem...number two. He peered into the toilet at his waste and mentioned something about Piglet. Knowing he's a creative (see: weird) kid I asked him if he was telling me that his stool's shape reminded him of Piglet. He looked up at me and said, "That's not Piglet Mommy, it's Poo." Get it? Poo and Pooh, as in Winnie The. I laughed. Hard. Caleb seemed confused at my amusement so I venture to say the joke wasn't deliberate. It was funny nonetheless though. Here's hoping you laughed instead of puking. Sorry about the poop talk. 

Reflection of Me

When you do something wrong as a parent and haven't caught onto it on your own, your little ones have a way of revealing to you what it is you're doing wrong. At least that's how it works in my house. For example, I have no idea I'm using not such nice words and then one day my two-year-old shouts, "dammit! Gideon" as he watches me struggle with his wriggling, leg-kicking, screaming mess of a brother during a diaper-change...oops. It's like a big mirror. But not a regular mirror, more of a fun-house type mirror that makes everything crazy and exaggerated and in turn makes you, the parent, feel horrible that you've let yourself slip up in front of delicate little ears. And worse, they've adopted said slip-up. There's a litany of other examples but I won't bore you with my less-than-perfect-mothering moments. I assure you, you don't have time for that.

Here's the wonderful thing though. In the same way, when you're doing something right as a parent and you might not be aware of those moments, the little mirror that is your child reveals that to you too. And just like the exaggerated fun-house reflection, these moments always feel extra-sweet and heartwarming. 

For instance, Gideon has been working really hard on walking. He's up to a good fifteen steps in a row and whenever he falls, he gets right back up. That in itself is amazing to watch. But what adds to it is hearing Caleb saying, "good job Gideon, good job!" It's kind of indescribable actually to hear Caleb cheer his brother on (especially since oftentimes Caleb is less-than-kind to his brother).

Just this past weekend, after I had finished painting a wall in Caleb's room, he came up to check it out. After some consideration, he said to me, "That's great Mommy! You're a great color-er!". It was very sweet. 

He also asks me questions, waits for my answer and then responds with, "That's right Mommy, very good." So, while I make my share of Mommy Mistakes, I apparently have the positive affirmation thing down. Or maybe he's learning this in Sunday school where I'm sure he hears positive affirmations as well. But, because he's with me 98 percent of the time, I'm going to go ahead and take the credit (oh and Matt can take some credit too). That's fair right?