Shhhhhhh!!

  What a sense of humor God has, but boy is He a great teacher.

  After a challenging week with the kids I wanted to go to church alone this morning. I needed a little peace and quiet, and the past few Sunday's they hadn't been little model citizens, so I left them at home.

  So, what happened? God played a little game with me.
Two 'rambunctious' kids decided they wanted to sit in the pew in front of their mother...beside me in the front row.  We usually sit there because of my responsibilities at some services and because my oldest likes an unobstructed view of the action at the altar.  Unfortunately it also provides the officiants an unobstructed view of the action in the front row! These kids,  they did exactly what my kids normally do: fidget, argue, ruffle pages in the song books, drop things then run around the front to retrieve them... The irony wasn't lost on me, in fact it plopped itself down on my lap and gazed up at me with a little smirk the way only irony could.  Surprisingly though, I wasn't bothered and sat enjoying the service while their mother shushed and quietly reprimanded them from her seat behind them for their behaviour.  After mass I chatted with the mom and assured her the apologies she was offering weren't necessary.  Her kids weren't really bothering me and I totally understood what she was going through.

  Lesson learned: by leaving my kids at home this morning, I did them a great disservice. They may be restless during  mass, but the disturbance I think they are creating is much greater in my eyes maybe than in the eyes of others  around me. And like our pastor, Father Larry said in his homily, all are called and WELCOMED to the table... fidgety kids who are full of beans as much as the mother's who are compelled to 'shush' them.

Kids Hear the Darndest Things...

Being a stay-at-home-mom, the kids constantly catch me off guard with spontaneous cuteness (well, a lot of Not-so-Cuteness too, but that's a whole 'nother post).  Sometimes the kids say or do things that are so awesome that if life were a textbook, a reader would be taking a big giant highlighter to that very moment.

I just had a GREAT laugh out loud moment with Veronica. Yup...no LOL here folks! It was so epic to me, that I feel it is worthy of using the actual words over the acronym! Highlighter out, this one will be flagged for me for future laughs for years to come.

We are hanging out in the kitchen feeding Xavie his dinner.  It is a quiet moment; Veronica and I are both lost in our own thoughts.

Xavier sneezes.
Her tone straight out of the Brittany S. Pierce notebook, Veronica dead-pans, "His shoes tight."
Me: " ... What!?"

Veronica/Brittany: 'When Goofy sneezes, Mickey says 'His shoes tight'."


Oh, my sweet girl.

I'm just now picking my A up after L'd it O!
:)

Doin' My Duty

As a parent, one of my responsibilities is to make sure my children grow up to be mature, socially responsible adults.  They need to know what to expect "out there" and of course, what is expected of them.  So I've introduced the concept of "mommy tax".  If they need me to wash it, cut it, peel it, open it or pour it, I am entitled to approximately 10%.  It's easy to collect on a bowl of baby carrots, but when for example a couple of cookies are involved, it's harder to give The Mom what she's due.  I know it's working though because the other day, Matteus asked me to slice him an apple.  When I absently handed him the whole thing on a plate, he pushed it back to me and said, "Uh, mom? Tax?"

If it wasn't for those meddling kids...

There comes a time when you finally just throw up your hands and say "Fine then".

I stumbled into that moment today.   It dawned on me that I have been trying too hard to define myself outside of being a mother. I've wanted so badly to find some comfy place in which I could unfold all that I am and plaster it all over the other things people have put up on my wall. I was so unfairly resentful of anything or anyone that imposed their needs upon my own.  As though if I didn't find that part of me that makes me Patricia (not the wife, not the mom) and hold on tight with both hands, my grip might slip and I'd be lost for good.  Well, being in the forest so long I was starting not to see the trees.  

Right now, I am a wife.  Right now, I am a mom.  There is nothing else I really need to be.  And my hands need to be free for caressing cheeks that won't be chubby forever; for wiping away tears that might one day be hidden from mommy; and for keeping the rest of the nest ready for the day when we find it empty (many, many, moons from now!)

I started this blog as a creative tool to help me uncover characteristics or interests that may have been laying hidden; other things I might be; to remind me of the other things I once wanted to be.  In 2 years, I've only had one entry.  It took me this long to see that the blockage was self-imposed.  I couldn't write because I was trying to use someone else's voice and fly along someone else's path. 

My kids have hijacked my life.  They have me tied up in the cockpit, and have full control of the flight path, God help us. But that is where my joy is; seeing the clever things they come up with to deal with the blips on the screen.  So, that is what this blog will be about; my kids, my little Oliveira's served straight up. All those crazy things they say and do that make me  facepalm smile.  I hope they do the same for you.

PS. Up till now I've been documenting all their wit and wisdom on my Facebook account.  I'm going to be digging deep into past status history to see how much of that I can salvage and I'll post them here instead. So I'll ask my Facebook friends and family in advance to forgive the repeats!

Stay tuned.  Things may get interesting!