saying yes
I have been a grouch with my kids lately. They have been driving me crazy. Fighting. All.The.Time.
It's been making me nuts and my patience levels have been super duper low.
And I know that when they are all wacky like this what they need is me. 100%. Paying attention. Present.
But, it is a vicious cycle. They need more of me. I want to go do my own thing and not play with them. They get more wacko. They need me to pay attention. I just want to check out and avoid them. They get more insistent that I pay attention to them by acting up, and I get mad and angry with them. Around and around it goes.
Well, after our art group this week (paper mache), I had a big bag of torn up paper sitting on the floor waiting for me to do something with it.
Enrique discovered it. I was working on the computer (trying to escape my nutsy kids) when I looked up and saw that he had dumped the WHOLE BAG out onto the floor.
My first reaction was to yell. Scream. Get mad. Clean that up! Don't do that! NOOOOO!
Instead? Instead, I took a moment to breathe, to watch him and the pure delight all over his face. This was a MAJOR DISCOVERY!
And I let go of all my annoyance and frustration and said YES!
So all three of us - me, Anabel and Enrique had a confetti party. We tossed, we rolled, we laughed.
And laughed.
It is good to just let go sometimes. To be a yes. To let these goofy kids be kids. And in doing so, I fell in love with my little poops all over again.
8 comments:
YAY!! That sounds fun. And such a great thing he poured out the ripped paper instead of, say, a bag of flour... :-) Glad to see ya'll had a blast with it.
That feeds MY soul. Thanks! I really needed that this morning. :)
Ditto, Dani! Thanks, Lisa!
Oh, I love this! Your paragraph about the vicious cycle - yes, I can totally identify with that. I LOVE that you just let go and went with the fun. Very inspiring.
I had a day like that this summer (actually lots of them). I was hot, pregnant and grumpy and my three kids were running wild. It started raining and they all went outside and started running around in it. I was about to go and call them in, but then something came over me- I just had to join them. So we all laughed and screamed together and got good and muddy and cool! Like your blog.
Are you sure my little munchkins weren't there? They sound a lot like them and you sound a lot like me. Seriously, families have a way of bringing you to the brink of insanity and bliss. But you have it right....it's a choice!! Sometimes the hardest choice is to stop, grasp the good and move with the tide. I'm proud that you decided to let the tide take you to a pure and good place.
You are such an amazing mama Lisa!!
this is just beautiful. thank you so much for sharing it.
i can so relate to the vicious circle that you describe so well. i've been there many, many times. and i *love* how you switche the energy!!
great work mama!
~erin
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