Happy Mother's Day

Do you remember all the dump little things you made for your mom for gifts when you were little. I do. It is kind of silly to be like, "here mom, here's a bunch of trash that I glued together as a gift so that you would know I love you."

One of the many reasons I love mothers is because they see your gift and say, "oh, thank you. That's so sweet." And then, they keep that "gift" forever because it actually does remind them that you love them. That is a miracle. Only a mother could love a child enough to answer a gift like that with a sincere, "thank you, I love you too."

Some of the "gifts" I gave my mom:
a noodle frame
a spray painted candle stick holder
a reframed picture of me
tissue paper glued in the shape of a heart
an old fruit basket woven with yarn
homemade peanut butter-jelly-teddy graham goulash
and a lot of scribbled notes and pictures

I love you mom! Happy Mother's Day.

Soap is gross

Before my mother found the book 1-2-3 Magic, she used me as her discipline guinea pig. When I was little there were a few words that I was  not permitted to say. One of them was "stupid" and one day my mom overheard me tell or call or at least say the word "stupid" while playing with some of my friends. She quickly whisked me away to the bathroom and washed my mouth out with a bar of soap. YICK! Boy howdy, did I learn my lesson and believe me there were a lot of other unspoken words that remained unspoken after that.

and

= no more

Mothers are the best!

With mother's day coming up this week I thought it might be appropriate to share some of my favorite memories of my mother. Yesterday would have been the first. By the way I think all mothers are amazing. Thank you for putting up with your little kids!

When I was little my mom was so patient with me. We have a home video of me eating breakfast one Sunday morning. I was eating oatmeal, very slowly. I would take a bite, chew for a while, swallow, take a sip of juice, and then talk a little. My mother would then say, "Take another bite", which prompted me to start the cycle again. I'm sure this happened nearly every morning. I really don't like oatmeal, but I'm glad my mother made me eat it so that I could grow up big and tall.

I usually load as much sugar into my breakfast as possible, even now. So when mom made oatmeal I liked to push the limits of my cereal to sugar ratios. Usually I was only allowed one spoonful and my mother would tell me the story of Sugary Sam:

"One day Sugary Sam had a lot of sugar on his cereal. Sugary Sam loved sugar. He ate it with everything. His mother warned him not to eat too much Sugar, but Sam never listened. One day Sugary Sam's mother asked him to go to the store to buy some groceries. Sam went and picked up the bag of groceries his mother asked for. On the way home it started to rain. Sugary Sam started to run, but he never made it home. No one ever saw Sam again, they just found a bag of groceries sitting in a puddle of melted sugar."

And that is why you should do what your mother tells you!

Sharing a mother

Sometimes sharing is hard. For the first 4 years of my life I was an only child. Then one day, 22 years ago, my parents got another kid. A sister! At first I thought it was great because I would have a playmate built into my family. Then I realized that babies don't do much. Well, they do eat and mess their diapers. They do cry too. Sharing a room with a crying baby at night is not fun. I don't think I handled the first sister too well, but I've had plenty of practice since then because my parents decided to give me 3 more little sisters after the first. Oh boy... er, girl!

Eventually my mom taught me that I did have built in friends in our family. It took moving to another town and living in isolation for 6 months to convince me, but I'm glad we did it. I sure am glad today for moms and sisters.

How I learned to never tell a lie

When I was little I had a nap nearly every day. Usually sometime in the mid afternoon my mom would have me go take a nap and then she would take a break and maybe nap too. I remember one day when my mom was occupied I snuck out of my room during nap time and went into her room. I don't remember too many specifics but I know that I took a Vitamin C without permission. I liked those big chewable vitamins because they were like candy. My mom knew that I had taken one and she confronted me on it. I told an untruth and said that I had not taken the vitamin.

I don't remember exactly what the consequence was, but I remember that my mother knew the truth and she was very disappointed in me. I think that all children want to please their parents and I was no different. I felt bad that I hadn't told the truth and that I had let down my mom. I was very remorseful. Later in life when I felt like not answering honestly to my mom I remembered that experience and quickly changed my mind. Honesty really is the best policy.