Monday, December 14, 2009

Little reminders that the world is not as perfect as I need/want/would like:

Reminder #1Church Christmas programs.  If you were at "the Creek", you totally understand (Mr. Miles, for example).  In his first Oscar-award-winning perfomance:  Ryan sat on the stage like a champ.  No one can sit and glare better than my little guy.  Yes, there were children younger than him singing and doing the motions all perfectly.  Not Ryan...he stuck by his guns, no singing, no motions, just pure disgust.  He looked like he WISHED he had a gun.  Not a big surprise as my Mom reminded me that I was not exactly a Christmas angel myself: (a few years older than Ryan) I had a solo part and a few yahoos in my Sunday School class had the AUDACITY to sing along with me during my moment to shine!!! Can you believe it?  Apparently I sang my heart out while giving them death glares, barely looking at the audience....and pronounced to all who could hear:  "it was SUPPOSED to be a solo."  Wow, real cool. 

Silver lining:  He looked ridiculously cute....if I may say so myself



Reminder #2:  My kids eating habits.  I slave over a hot stove (such a pathetic phrase) for 45 minutes making beef stroganoff.  Do the kids eat it?  Nope.  Do they try it?  Nope.  Ryan chooses punishment over even taking one bite.  Seth throws his on the floor.  And then what happened?  Glad you asked!  I find them eating playdough.  Yep, Seth demolished at LEAST a few bites of orange playdough and was begging for more.  Lesson learned:  my  cooking is less tasty than playdough.

Silver lining:  Pending.....still researching playdough ingredients - there's got to be SOMETHING nutritious in there, right?  I bet all the Vitamin C is what gives it the bright orange coloring.  Yes, that's it.

Reminder #3:  Art projects are not very artful at all (to be read: full of anxiety, mess, lacking in logic, order, pattern, this is NOT okay with me).  To ward off boredom, I decided to have some art time tonight.  Ryan was put on earth to challenge my need for perfection.  Thanks.  Say it with me now:  dip the brush in water, dip the brush in paint, place brush on paper, swipe, repeat.  Ahh, peaceful, logical, beautiful.  But nooooooooo, we have to dip the brush in ALL the paint colors in one by one: starting with black, ending in (gasp!) Yellow!  Colors mixing, dripping, panic setting in.  THEN we dip the brush in water, removing all paint from brush. Then spill water and drag sopping paintbrush across paper, resulting in a wet not-very colorful  soggy "art project".  It was actually painful seeing the purple end up in the yellow, the black in the green, it hurts me to even type it.  I caught myself following behind the runaway paintbrush with a papertowel to clean up the missplaced colors.  (I'm SICK, I know).  Did he follow directions?  Nope.  Was he interested in my loving suggestions?  Nope.  Was my idea for a PERFECTLY peaceful and creative moment appreciated?  Nope.  He even asked me to "excuse me please Mommy".  His kind way of telling me to go away and leave him alone.

Silver lining:  despite my ulcer, I'm left with a (dirty, messy, sticky, wet) SMILING BOY and a BEAUTIFUL creation by his little hands.


TORTURE to even look at: (I know, I need professional help...this is after cleaning it up)





3 comments:

peter marie said...

I loved Ryan's outfit for the program. He's just the cutest.

I have a hard time letting Henry paint too. I just have to close my eyes sometimes.
You're a great mom for letting him try, even though it was messy!

une autre mère said...

1 - Ryan was adorable last night - even if he caused my daughter to fall into his sin... Sitting was just too tempting. She had some pretty good death glares too!

2 - Maybe you should put your beef stroganoff in the cupboard and say, "Okay boys, whatever you do, DON'T EAT THIS." Works every time... (okay, so I've never really tried it, but the theory makes sense).

3 - I also used to be horrified at the mixing of the paint colors. Now Addie is old enough to paint "correctly," so she got a new paint tray while poor Millie is stuck with the all-brown one. But she doesn't care - paint is paint! Good job for letting him do it!

The Sneaky Mommy said...

Wow...I would have given you $1 to get up after the prelude and say, "That was suppose to be a solo." Although we did nail it...we're just that cool!
Painting...yes, it sends me over the edge, too! I sometimes buy the really cheap paints and throw them away after one use. It's okay...no therapy needed! Now, I have to try and convince Cloe that entire notebooks don't have to be thrown away just because one page has a word spelled wrong. It's fun to have perfectionist genes passed on...not.at.all.actually!