Parenting 101

Today my boys reminded me of two important lessons as a parent. The first lesson was brought to me by my oldest. We were in the car, talking about something. He kept asking me to repeat myself and I got frustrated. I snapped at him and his reply was, "Mommy, you're driving me nuts. Just lax!" Immediately I started laughing and thought of a song I sing with him that goes, "Be careful little ears what you hear....." because I heard myself in him. I was reminded that I need to gauge my words around him, lifting him up. I don't want him to think that I'm always telling him to be quiet or that he's getting on my nerves or that he's driving me nuts or whatever else I say without realizing it. I need to follow the teaching rule of 3 positives to every 1 negative. I want him to hear all the love that I have for him.
The other lesson I was reminded of happened this afternoon. I always have a HUGE "to do" list every morning. I try to prioritize what needs to be done but there's usually a hiccup in our day. This morning I awoke to find Easton's eye shut closed with nasty gunk. Once I cleaned it I realized that he possibly had pink eye. So I made an appt to get his eye checked out. That led to a bacterial pink eye diagnosis which led to stopping by the pharmacy to get a prescription filled. Between that and scouting out a photography location for a photo session I did this afternoon (more on that in the next day or two) our morning was shot. We got home and I immediately put Easton in his bouncy chair to start making P his lunch. After lunch I left him there to start laundry and clean the kitchen. As I was rushing around Easton was just sitting there, watching me. All of a sudden a quote my mom has said several times came to mind..... "Cleaning and scrubbing can wait 'til tomorrow. For babies grow up we've learned to our sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs and dust go to sleep. I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep." I immediately stopped what I was doing, picked Easton up and spent some quality time with him. Too often I put him down so I can give P attention, not wanting him to feel left out. Or I put him down with the intention of just doing one thing but it quickly turns into 2 or 3 or.... while he just sits there. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings when P is at preschool I want to squeeze in time on the treadmill as well as time with Easton. But once again I don't spend the quality time with him that I should. I am thankful that both of my boys taught me important lessons with their childlike innocence today. Lessons that I need to be reminded of more often! I don't want to look back 18 years from now and realize that our house is clean, the dishes are done, the laundry is folded but I haven't spent quality time with my boys showing them how much I love and cherish them.