m&m's

There are a lot of things I gave up when I became a parent.

Sleep: It seems that no matter when the kids go to bed they are up bright and early the next morning - and having three it seems that there are very few nights that none of them wake up during the night.

Privacy: The children want to be where I am - bathroom and all - sometimes I lock the door just to be alone.

One of my favorite children's books is Five Minutes' Peace by Jill Murphy. It's breakfast time and the Mama Elephant, Mrs. Large, gets a tray ready to take with her to the bathroom where she plans to enjoy a soak in the tub. Her three little elephants want to know where she's going and why. She tells them "To the bathroom... Because I want five minutes' peace from all of you". Of course they end up following her and they all end up in the tub - she gets out and heads for the kitchen where she has three minutes and fourth-five seconds of peace before they join her.

Quiet: Right now it is 9:45 PM and the house is quiet. I'm one of those people who like the quiet. So, I treasure this time. People have asked what's the difference between having two and three kids. My husband says about five minutes (that's how much longer it takes to get places). I think there is a definite difference in noise level.

My Body: Today I've been climbed on, laid on, sat upon, stepped on, yesterday I was even spit upon (there were unpleasant consequences for the spitter - since that was inappropriate and unkind behavior), and you read about back when we had the flu. Kristin is now 10 months old so it's been a while since she inhabited my body but alas my body has not yet returned to pre-baby size and tone - thus the title of this post "m&m's". I gave them up for the year (hoping that it will help me get back to pre-baby shape). I really like m&m's. My children each have a bag that they got on New Year's Day from my mom. They've been having a few every now and then ever since. I remember when I was a high school freshman. Our band went to Florida for Spring Break. One of the other girls had a relationship problem and she cried even more when she realized that she'd just consumed a pound of m&m's. I'd love to go finish off both bags tonight but I've kept my New Year's Resolution this far and m&m's aren't good for me anyway.

Well, I shall end this post soon since the kids will be up bright and early.

Parents may give up a lot of things when they have kids but we gain so much. What a privilege to be a parent. My husband and I are so blessed. Our children are a gift from God. A treasure entrusted to our care. I've learned so much as I've watched them grow. The privilege of watching them grow is worth the loss of sleep, privacy, quiet and my body.

They are learning

My kids love books and they ask a lot of questions. We read and read and answer question after question and I'm often surprised by just how much they remember.

Today while the kids and I were watching Reading Rainbow on PBS, the host shared a book Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter. He talked about how slaves learned a song about that and followed the stars north to freedom. My five year old piped up "it was a constellation". That made my day - he is learning! Even if he doesn't like to write or color and doesn't seem interested in learning to read for himself yet - he is learning.