June 4, 2011

Summer + Swimming = Sleepy Kids

Well, it’s June already. How the hell did that sneak up on me so quickly? Dawson has three days of school left and then I have to figure out what we’re going to do this summer. Even though he’ll be going to daycare with Owen while I’m working, I realize I need to try to spend more time with the boys when the weather is sunny and warm. My kiddos love to be outside and summer goes by rather quickly. We need to enjoy it.

Tonight I took both kids to the YMCA to swim in the Adventure Pool. After an hour of splashy fun I said it was time to go. Neither child wanted to get out of the water. I endured several minutes of crying and gave in to another 15 minutes. They finally agreed to get out because they were hungry.

When we got home Dawson and Owen ate as thought they’d been starving and they both fell asleep by 8:30. I managed to get all of my homework done online and now I’m wide awake. Swimming may just become our Friday night ritual.

Our summer is definitely beginning on the right foot. What have you all been up to?

May 22, 2011

Two Little Birds

I have the cutest kids ever.  No really, I do.  They are the joy in my life and I have every right to brag about them, yes?

Here’s some recent photo goodness:

They are growing right before my eyes and every day is special.  It’s so difficult to watch them grow up and become their own personalities.  As much as I love them and understand that this is part of life, in these moments I truly understand what it must have been like for my own mother to “let go” of her four children.

Dawson will be 7 years old in just a few months.  SEVEN.  It seems like yesterday that I was holding him in my arms and rocking him to sleep.  His life is no longer an off-shoot of mine.  He has his own life, separate from me.  He has experiences at school that I know nothing about.  When he gets home he tells me about his friends, what he’s learned, the emotions he feels when things happen during his day.  He is making his own memories and some day this little boy will be a man.  How do I get over the immensity of this fact of life that is staring me in the face every day?  Oh how I wish I cold slow down time.

Owen is almost two years old and I’m now realizing that everything I’ve experienced with Dawson is coming down the pipe with my youngest child.  My baby wants to be like his big brother so much, and it seems like he’s growing up twice as fast as Dawson is.  I don’t know how this is possible.  Owen is so full of energy and is always smiling.  When I look at his face I see how much he loves life.  I see how much he loves Dawson.  He is ready to conquer the world.

I can help but shed some tears.  I’m sad these little birds have to leave the nest some day, but I’m so lucky to be their mother and to watch them take flight right before my eyes.

November 4, 2010

Bullies on the Bus

I got a call at work this afternoon from the nurse at Dawson’s school.  It seems my little boy was feeling sick and wanted to come home.  The nurse explained he didn’t have a fever but had said his stomach and head hurt.  The flu had been going around and she was concerned he may have been coming down with it.

When I arrived to pick him up, Dawson looked sad and worried.  I asked if he was feeling okay and he simply shook his head.  We walked from the nurse’s office to his classroom so that he could get his coat and backpack.  His teacher stopped to talk to me in the hallway.

Mrs. T made mention that Dawson was feeling some anxiety about riding the bus home from school.  I knew exactly what she was talking about.  A few weeks ago, Dawson told me some of the older kids (fourth and fifth graders) on the bus were poking him in the back of the head and calling him names.  Being a Love & Logic parent, I told Dawson how sad I was to hear this and asked him what he thought he could do about it.

After talking it over, he decided he would tell the bus driver if things got out of hand, and he would try to sit in the front of the bus whenever possible.  Dawson is the last one on the bus in the morning, so all the seats at the front are usually taken and he makes his way to the back where the naughty kids wreck havoc.

I discussed the situation with his teacher and she explained that Dawson becomes nervous just before the end of the day.  She thinks he may be worrying about the bus ride and it’s making him feel sick.  It broke my heart to hear these words.  The thought of my son enduring such torment is frustrating and infuriating.  I honestly had no idea it was causing him such anxiety.

Dawson is a polite child and he’s painfully shy.  He doesn’t cause trouble.  He doesn’t fight. He doesn’t talk back.  He will sit quietly and ignore anyone who intends to bring him harm.  This child has more patience than any adult I know.  I try to teach him to stand up for himself, to use descriptive words to tell the bullies that he doesn’t like what they are doing.  I’ve told him to politely ask them to stop.  Dawson tells me he did tell them to quit bothering him but it sounds like the bad behavior is persisting.

After school I called the school bus garage and left a message for the bus driver.  When she returned the call she told me that Dawson is one of the best kids on the bus.  He never yells or causes a distraction.  He always says hello and goodbye to her when getting on and off the bus.  She also told me she has been keeping an eye on the situation to the best of her ability, but that driving children safely to their destination is her first priority so she can’t always see everything that goes on.  I told her I understood; I know the drill.  My mother has been a school bus driver for 23 years.

The plan is to save a seat in the front of the bus for Dawson so that he doesn’t have to deal with the rotten kids in the back.  I’m so mad at those kids.  Shame on them for picking on someone littler than they are.  I am so upset that they cause my son so much anxiety.  It brings back memories of the same crap happening to me when I was in elementary school. I never fought back, I was too scared.  I often cried all the way home.

I sure hope this arrangement doesn’t single Dawson out and cause more teasing, but I don’t know what else to do.

November 1, 2010

Tricks, Treats & Star Wars Cuties

Yesterday I took the boys Trick-or-Treating around the neighborhood.  I’ve never had more fun.  Dawson is an old pro at the “getting free candy” thing.  This was Owen’s first time and it was so cute to watch his face whenever candy was placed in his pumpkin pail.

The first house we went to was the next-door neighbor’s.  Dawson rang the doorbell.  He was a Star Wars Shadow Trooper this year.  When our neighbor came to the door she was carrying two large bags of candy.  Little Owen, dressed as Yoda, stood in the middle of the driveway holding his pumpkin pail and didn’t really understand what was happening.  When Dawson put some of the candy into the pail, Owen just stared inside with his mouth wide open.  It was like he couldn’t believe someone gave him candy and Mom didn’t swoop in to take it away.  I don’t usually let the boys have candy so this must have been Heaven to both Dawson and Owen.

I let Owen walk up to a few other houses and then put him in the wagon while Dawson continued around the neighborhood.  Every house we went to gave tons of candy to Dawson and then sent more over for Owen’s bucket.  I think we have enough candy to rot the teeth of an entire village.  We only went around the block and across the subdivision this year.  Then we came home so that Dawson could hand out candy to kids.  He had such a good time answering the door.  Owen was a quite startled with every ring of the doorbell, but I think he liked seeing the costumes just as much as the rest of us.

Check out my cute little goblins:

Halloween 2010

How was your Halloween?