The Art of Becoming

Sean has been taking a Sunday school class called Atrium.  For 90 minutes on Sunday mornings, he is without any other member of his family, so when we get back together, we question him about what he's learned. me:  Sean, what did you talk about in Atrium today? Sean: I'm not sure. me:  Did you talk about God? Sean: No. me:  Did you talk about Jesus? Sean: No. me: What did you do? Sean: We cut paper. He might not be listening, but he sure is enjoying himself!  The other day he was musing to himself in the backseat of the car while we drove, and then he piped up. Sean:  I really like my class on Sundays. me: That's great!  I'm glad you do.  What do you like about it? Sean: I like drawing pictures. Cutting paper and drawing pictures: that's about the gist of it.  I am not too hung up on him learning any huge tenants of the Catholic Church, but rather I like that the teacher introduces the kids to the idea of God and Je...

Some things are obvious. Some are not. Some things that are obvious to me are not so obvious to the kids.  And vice versa.  Such as - I leave the room for 2 minutes to use the restroom.  I keep the door open so that I can hear if anyone (read: Audrey) starts screaming for any reason (read: Sean tackling her).  When I come back from the restroom, I see that flash cards are strewn everywhere in the living room. me: What just happened in here? Sean: We had a party! Obviously. Or just after their bath, Audrey is dressed in her pajamas and ready to read books. Sean is still running around the house naked doing the 'happy donkey' dance.  He runs into the furniture, the walls, and then head-butts his sister.  Audrey begins crying. me: Sean!  I want you to come over here and say you're sorry to Audrey. Sean hides behind a chair.  As if this makes him invisible to me. me:  Sean.  I will only ask three times.  I've already...

This past weekend, I made homemade pizza dough.  Once mixed together, I set the bowl outside in the warm air to rise.  Tom was out in the backyard, mowing the lawn with Audrey in the backpack watching him closely. I was in the kitchen making dinner, and Sean the Cito was running around the backyard "mowing" the lawn with his pint-sized lawn mower.  Once tired of this activity, he walked up onto the deck and saw the pizza dough rising in the bowl.  He decided to open the plastic wrap, get a closer look, and stick his hands in.  Then he scooped some out.  Having figured out that this was a sticky, sticky mess, he immediately began scraping it on anything he could find: the deck, the lawn chairs, the table, under the table, etc.  When he exhausted all of these options, he then walked to the side of the house and scraped some dough on the siding.  It was only when he realized he couldn't get the dough off by himself that he eventually fessed up. ...

The other day we were at the YMCA and Sean agreed to use the potty before we left to run errands.  An unusual compliance from him, I applauded his self awareness. But then Sean began getting nervous as he surveyed all of the toilets. Sean: Which one can I use, Mama? me: Any one you want, buddy. Sean: Do the toilets flush by themselves? me: Yes, Sean, all of them do in here.  We talk about this every time. Sean: I don't like it when the toilets flush by themselves! This rigamarole.  We go to the YMCA a couple times a week, and he always worries about the same thing.  He doesn't like how loud the toilets sound when they flush, and his dislike is heightened by the fact that the toilets seemingly flush on their own accord.  I did not have much patience for this predictable exchange. me: I know you don't, but it's time to use the potty and then we need to go!  Come on - He slowly, ever so slowly, began pulling down his pants, bending over at the ...

Lady: That's disgusting. Husband: What? Lady: (to little girl) There is no way I'm letting you go in there! Girl: Why not? Lady: There is disease in there.  It's disgusting.  Disease and dirty diapers!  Do you know what happens to people who go in there?  They get sick.  Husband: (quietly) Really? Lady: (to little girl) There's NO WAY I'm letting you go in there! This was the conversation that occurred right next to us as we approached the splash-pad-esque-water-area at the Minnesota Zoo.  I had looked it up on the internet earlier that morning and saw that there was a water area with fountains and squirting water where the kids could play.  On a hot day, it seemed like the best place to be AND it's in the middle of the zoo.  Does it get any better than that?  He was so excited about the possibility, Sean wanted to wear his swim trunks and swim shirt TO the zoo.  I thought this was a great plan. Yet somehow we got stuck n...

It rained here today.  I was grateful because our car needed a good external rinse to get the chalk off.  Chalk? Why chalk, you might ask?  Well, it was a slight misunderstanding, but Seancito decorated our car with chalk designs a couple weeks ago, and we've been without rain (or the car's been in the garage) so there's been no opportunity for a rinse.  Did either Tom or I try to rinse it off ourselves after we realized he'd chalked the car?  No.  Why would we do something like that?  A couple weeks ago, he'd taken sidewalk chalk to his tricycle.  I think the misunderstanding occurred somewhere in here: Sean: Hey, look, Dada, I colored my bike! Tom: (feigning a level of excitement greater than he actually felt) Oh, nice, buddy!  Keep up the good work. It was only later, when we got the family together to go somewhere that I saw the chalk designs all over the car. We'd been chalked.  Tom assured me that he and Sean had a little dis...

At approximately 12:45pm today I was scrubbing the kiddie cart attached to the grocery cart at Target.  Both kids were in the car eating gummie bears.  They had not yet eaten lunch.  I was hunched over the cart, my backside hanging all too closely to the traffic in the Target parking lot, and I realized that I had only eaten a piece of toast with peanut butter on it, a cheese stick, and a cup of coffee this morning.  No wonder the heat was getting to me.  If you think me a thoughtful Target shopper for cleaning up my cart after using it, then I want you to hold that thought in your brain while you read the rest.  Perhaps you will think well of me for another 60 seconds until you get to the end. We traveled to Texas this weekend for my Grannie's 90th birthday celebration.  It was a great time!  It's been far too long since I'd seen my Grannie, aunts, uncles, cousins and cousins' offspring.  A good time was had by all.  Some highlights a...