Words of Joy

Experience #1:

Last night I was helping Tyler get his shirt right side out so he could put his pajamas on. Out of the blue he says, "I love you cause you're the best Mom ever".

"Oh thanks Ty! I love you too! How come I'm the best mom?"

"Because you give me hugs, and make me good food... you just do all the right things!"

And off he ran to play some more.

A lot of people say that parenting is a thankless job, and usually I agree. But not with my sweet Tyler around. That was a "parent pay day" right there.

Experience #2:

First I need to preface this by saying that every single time I go out in public with the kids I get at least one comment from a stranger. It is getting annoying.

Wow! You sure got your hands full!

I can see they keep you busy!

Looks like you got a lot of little helpers!

And my personal favorite: Are they yours? You look too young to have kids, especially three! (My age is probably my my least favorite and most embarrassing topic ever. I would much rather they asked me how much I weigh, or some other personal info. but please, not my age.)

When you have one, or even two children, folks will comment on the baby itself or maybe even the cute quilt or something. But I have discovered that with three, they no longer see the kids themselves, just the situation, if that makes sense. They notice the number of people and level of busyness, not what color their eyes are or if they have on a cute outfit.

So today we were at super wal-mart and got stuck in a long line (they were all long lines). We had been waiting a while, and the kids were getting really impatient. Candy, magazines, and toys started coming off the shelves faster than I could put them back on. Madi was starting to scream (she has some good lungs when she chooses to use them), and I was anxious to get out of there. There was a lady behind us and she started talking to the little boy in her shopping cart (I assumed it was her grandson because she looked a little old to have a boy so young but I didn't dare ask) and saying, isn't that a cute baby? What do you think she's trying to say? It caught me off guard. She was so calm and sincere, not annoyed in the least at the scene before her. She started talking to Tyler about what a good helper he must be at home, and she could see that in him. Seriously this woman was heaven-sent. Then she says to me, "All of your children have such beautiful faces." I wanted to cry and hug her. She made my day.

It taught me a good lesson. I hope I can look at others better too, when I'm out in public. Really look at people, and see them for who they are, not the disruption they might be causing in the grocery store.