Milestones

My niece recently had a baby, and it got me thinking about milestones in parenting.  How, when you have a new baby, there are books the size of dictionaries brimming with these miraculous achievements for their first year or two.  We have first rolls, bites of food, words and steps.  It all builds up to that all-important first day of "school", then what?  It's not like parenting stops there.  Potty parties and learning to write their name is just the beginning.  There are so many other milestones that parents have to look forward to before the big D word, like.......
First organized sport on a competitive team.   Sure sports are for fun, and yes the parents keep score even when certain leagues don't...but the first time the "officials" keep score, winning and losing become a factor.  The kids know it.  The parents know it.  And if you're kid feels like he/she is the weakest link (whether or not that's true) you could be heading for...
First time they want to quit something you've paid for in advance.  Should you let your kid quit baseball after the third game, because well, he hates it?  I rented this tuba for a year, and you want to quit band because it's boring?  Change instruments because it's too heavy?  Talk about the great parenting mine field, where wherever you step someone is going to blow.  It's almost as bad as the family bed(room) issue.
First time your kid makes a friend where you haven't bonded with the parents.  Absolutely nerve wracking.  Your precious baby always has been friends with your friends kids, and now they bring in an alien.  Don't worry mom.  You probably just picked up a friend too!  This alien will almost always have a similar values system to your own...THAT milestone comes at a later date.  
First standardized test scores.  Relax, your child's 3rd grade MAP test isn't for college admission.  Beware of this milestone with siblings.  I just fell into that trap, going, ack only x%....then my husband reminded me it was a percentile, and the kid is still well above average.
First time they want their own phone.  Yes this is separate from when they actually get their own phone...because well, we like screening their calls, and it takes a while for a mom to work through the emotions behind this and separate want from need...and then convince the kid to wait a couple more years.  The idea of giving them that much freedom and privacy is absolutely terrifying....but then again, it's nice to have your own phone back too.
First time they need deodorant.   I've only been here with a boy, so shaving is still a bit ahead of us, and thank goodness I have a while before the girls need bras and um, supplies., but the bottom line is, this is the "into to adolescent worries and attitudes" milestone.  From here on out you will have adolescent worries intermingled with playing with hot wheels and legos.  Your kid doesn't really know which world they fit in, and quite frankly, you don't either.
First day of middle school, or week..or month    Yeah, this whole two years is going to need a post of it's own, later, once we've survived.

When a loss is a win.

Today, even though the Jr. Indians lost as a team, they also won. 
Today, no one grumbled about the refs.
Today there was no trash talking the other team.
 Today, all the kids got almost equitable play.
Today, everyone paid attention, including my son.  I even had two coaches tell me how well he played, and can continue to play IF he'll just pay attention.  E2 is kind of a dreamy, distractible kid...kind of like his mom.  Hence the I-35 to 69 to 435W back to I-35 route to get out there this morning.
Today was our day to bring snacks/gatorade for after the game, and there were no complaints.
After the game, in my forever directional impairedness, I went the west instead of east, so instead of going to Trader Joes, we ate lunch at a McD's with a playground.  E2 and littlest man played nicely together.  I think we'd all call that a win too.

Just another day with Si Guy

Today has been a very amusing one.  This morning we went to the "extreme thrift" store run by the school district.  There, Si found a free "monkey."  (It didn't have a tail, so it was really an ape, but HEY...he's four.)  This monkey has all the colors of the rainbow, thus it was dubbed "rainbow monkey."
"Mom!  Rainbow monkey has a BUTT!"
"So it does."
"Butt!!!  Tee-hee.  I like butts!"  (Yep, he's four.)
"That's nice dear.  It's okay for rainbow monkey to have a butt."  (Um, hold that thought...something's wrong here.)
Repeat monkey butt comment at park...and then finally home to watch How to Train Your Dragon, twice.
There's a lot you can learn from a kid's movie.
This particular kids movie is about not making assumptions.   (Yeah, there's that butt reference again.  Seems to be the theme of the day.)
It's also about giving others a chance, and getting to know those who are different than yourself.  There's even a message about trying new things, although I don't envy the dragon training kid.  I don't think I'll ever like raw fish. 
I just caught Si jumping on the couch.
"Don't jump on the couch Si."
"But Mo-om!  I'm trying to fly!"
Never a dull moment. 

Happy Birthday Danger Baby.

There's something about the third one...especially if it's a boy.  This is a common consensus among my mommy friends, that these boys tend to gravitate towards risk.  So it was only natural that our theme for his birthday this year was "dragons."  Specifically "How to Train Your Dragon."  The book is already in the house, so we bought the movie and all the action figure sized toys.  (They were on clearance under $1 each @ W-mart.)  That gift just brought out the beauty of his nature.  With the exception of Night Fury ,he shared every one of those dragons with his siblings.  Toys are meant to be played with with friends after all. 
He wanted lemon cake w/ lemon frosting.  Check.  Nothing fancy this time.  He was totally fine with it.  This morning, he checked to make sure Night Fury had his fire before school.  Today, at W-mart...I saw a BIG Night Fury on clearance...but I didn't buy it.  He doesn't need more.  He's happy with what he has.  That's a lesson many adults haven't learned yet, and hard as it is for me sometimes, sometimes it's best to just leave a good thing a good thing.