Steady Mom

enthusiasm: becoming brothers

Don't you enjoy seeing the relationships develop between your children? Yesterday was in the mid-40s (can't believe I was excited by that!) and we went outside to take advantage of the sun. Jonathan, who has been a bit, how shall I say it, temperamental lately (yes, that's a good word) had a wonderful burst of kindness for a few delicious moments. He made a game of pushing Elijah's car around the yard. Elijah thought it amazing, and laughter that made me remember why I love being a mom was ringing out from one side of the yard. (Trishna's whining was ringing out from the other side, as she was unimpressed with being left out of this little activity).

When we began our first international adoption, we had to decide if we wanted a boy or a girl. Somehow we really believed that our Liberian child was meant to be another son. Looking back, I never remember questioning this or longing for a girl so we could have 'one of each.' I just knew another boy was on the way for our family. Watching these guys together, it's so clearly a perfect fit.

Recently I was reading to the children from A Life Like Mine, a wonderful book about the needs of children around the world. That day the topic was education. We were learning about South Africa, and I read a paragraph stating that until recently children with brown skin and light skin couldn't go to school together there. Jonathan and Elijah looked at me like I had antlers growing out of my head. "Why not?", they asked. "We go to school together and we live in the same house!" I love that discrimination seems so absurd to them because of our beautifully diverse family.

And I love watching the bond between these brothers, born in two vastly different worlds, grow stronger with each passing day we spend together.

memories: the celebrations

Can you guess what's inside?

The children were so excited about their umbrellas that they ran off playing for half an hour, not even considering that there might be other things in their stockings!

Traditional Christmas breakfast

Opening their new First Little House on the Prairie Books

 Preparing Christmas dinner

Pulling our Christmas crackers (a British tradition)

Our three little reindeer - complete with paper antlers.

I hope you made many memories with your little ones this holiday season as well. I'm ready to kick off a new year now - come on 2009!

the spirit of giving

Garbage trucks. Those of you who know my family can guess where I'm going with this.

Garbage trucks are my son's passion, and have been for over a year now. Jonathan (my 4-year-old) is on a first name basis with our garbage truck men (remember Carl the snowman?) Every Tuesday, you can find him waiting all morning at our front window for a little glimpse of trash gliding by our house. And the workers love it, waving like celebrities on parade.

So Jonathan was thrilled when I suggested we pick out a little gift for them. His imagination and generosity kicked into gear as he searched the aisles of Target for that special something, declaring, "This is going to make them SO happy!"

We settled on a shiny, red tower of treats, and Jonathan made a card to go with it. The inside message was dictated by him and written by me:
In case you can't make it out: "Dear Garbage Truck Workers, I want to be a garbage truck driver one day because I really like all the controls inside. Have a Merry Christmas. From, Jonathan"

My favorite part is the top half, where Jonathan wrote:
CA
RL  - (Carl, the name of his favorite garbage truck friend!)

Today was THE day, and Jonathan and I stood in the snow, waiting to deliver our gift. The men all said, "Hey Jonathan!" Just like he belongs there. So sweet how they include him. And special to see such natural generosity well up within a little heart.

(By the way, this same darling, generous son woke me up repeatedly last night, refusing to return to his own bed. We seem to be going through some kind of Jekyll and Hyde phase with this child at the moment! Deep breaths, Jamie, deep breaths. It doesn't get any better than this.)

Here's hoping for a magical, "silent" night (i.e - no little midnight visitors) for all of us on this Christmas Eve!

memories: meet carl

Our patriotic snowman, named in honor of one of our garbage truck workers (Jonathan's hero).

I was surrounded by my family in the backyard as the sun was setting last night. The snow was perfect snowman snow (a little wet, but not too icy). Steve set to work with the kids. After a while it became clear that the project was more important to the parents in this family, but we kept at it anyway.

A very satisfying result, I think. By the time we finished, it was dark. The children were still engrossed in their Winter play. I glanced from them to the lights illuminating our beautiful home and felt, well, very Christmas-y.  Extremely grateful for all we've been given.  And extremely inspired to keep doing our small part to help those with less.

Thanks, Snowman Carl, for giving this Mommy a little time to reflect during this special season.