Tyler's First Bible Lesson

I wrote this several months ago, but I thought I'd go ahead and put it on my blog just for fun.

I am a teacher, and it's so exciting for me to get to stay home and teach my own children now. I found a great website that has printable Bible lessons for toddlers, so I printed a few to try them out. Well, Tyler had his first Bible lesson today...just a little story and some coloring pages...nothing too profound. My hopes were high. Our first lesson was focused on the verse, "Children, obey your parents." Fitting. Tyler listened (as he sat strapped to his high chair...the only way to keep the child still for more than 2 seconds), prayed, and colored a picture. All seemed to be going well until he got mad, bit his crayon and threw it at me. Unfortunately this lesson ended with a timeout. Lesson learned? I don't think so, but we'll keep trying. I am a teacher.

Shoe Shopping

One of Tyler's more amusing quirks is his intense affection for shoes. He's loved shoes since the day he started wearing them. Seriously. There must be a shoe gene that he inherited from his mommy, although I have to say, his affinity for shoes far surpasses my own. Tyler received bags full of toys, games, and puzzles for Christmas, but the single most exciting gift he opened was a pair of blue and gold sketchers. Currently, Tyler has 5 pairs of shoes in size 8. He has a pair of shoes to match every outfit in his closet. I actually just put all of his shoes in the top of his closet because he kept getting them out of his chest of drawers and changing shoes every few minutes throughout the day. I got tired of constantly seeing shoes all over our house.

So....a friend of mine mentioned that this little boutique in Plano was having an 80% off sale on their winter clothes. I decided to take the kids to check it out to see if I could find anything for next year. I found lots of cute things for Tyler and paid only pennies for them. It was invigorating! I love sales! Tyler, on the other hand, has no use for sale prices. Tyler decided to forgo the cute little playroom that most children enjoy while their mommies shop and headed straight for the shoe section. He was in Tyler Heaven, surrounded by shoes all made for little boys just his size. So I shopped the sale while Tyler admired the shoes. He found some blue and white Ecko sneakers with a rhino on them. (He loves rhinos too...another little quirk.) He promptly took his own shoes off and replaced them with the "rhino shoes."

After I finished checking out, I went to let Tyler know it was time to go. Usually, he's all too ready to GO when Mommy's shopping, but not today. I told him to take the "rhino shoes" off and put his sketchers back on. You would have thought I had just slapped him in the face. He looked at me in horror; his little hands started shaking as he pleaded, "no, mama" in the most pathetic voice I've ever heard. "Ok, decision time," I thought. I had no intentions of buying a pair of full-priced shoes, but Tyler was so broken-hearted about leaving these shoes behind. (I can totally relate!) By this time, he was sitting on the floor, holding onto the rhino shoes that were still securely on his feet, crying big crocodile tears.

I am not one to give into any kind of fit. It sets a very bad precedent, and in my book, throwing a fit automatically guarantees that you absolutely will not get your way. But for some reason, this was different. Tyler was honestly broken-hearted about leaving those shoes. I bent down holding Tyler's little hands and asked, "Tyler, do you want to take these home?" "Hokay," was his shaky reply. I took the empty box to the register and paid way too much for a pair of shoes for my 2 year old. When I turned around to leave, Tyler gently hugged my leg and said, "kank you, mama," in his still teary, shaky voice. The slightly sick feeling I had about spending too much money suddenly slipped away as I felt a peace of mind wash over me. I had made the right decision.

This took place on Saturday, and the only time Tyler's taken off his "rhino shoes" since then was to take a bath. He's played, eaten, and slept in his new shoes....he wears them 23 1/2 hours a day. Precious boy.

Sweet Lauren

Why do children have to die? I know all of the right answers....we live in a sinful world and death is part of it. It's part of the fall of Adam. It may help those of us left here on Earth learn some valuable lesson. God doesn't want His children to suffer, but the fall of mankind makes this world imperfect. God gives and takes away....we own nothing. All of these answers make sense, but they don't take away the pain: the pain of losing your firstborn, the pain of losing a precious student, the pain of losing a dear friend, the pain of losing your only sister. So much pain.

There are hearts breaking all over because Lauren is no longer with us, but those same hearts are also hopefully rejoicing in knowing that Lauren is happier and more perfect than she's ever been. Her pain and suffering is over, and she is singing and dancing in heaven with her Savior. But it still hurts us. We miss her.

Lauren was a gift to us. As her teacher, I will hold onto so many memories we created together, like reading "Where the Red Fern Grows" crying at the end and passing each other the tissue box as the tears streamed down our cheeks. Like reading Twilight when she was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open and she said, "I'm so tired, but I love this book so much, so KEEP READING!" Like the time she wouldn't take her medicine until Joe suggested she take it for Ms. Christie. .... "OK, for Christie," she replied and promptly swallowed her medicine. How incredibly special that moment was for me. Thank you Lauren. Thank you God. Thank you for these priceless, precious moments I so blessedly shared with Lauren. Thank you.

One thing about Lauren that amazed me the most was her independence and determination. She was so weak and frail in her last few weeks, but she insisted on taking her medicine herself and pushing her morphine button herself. She wanted to hold her drink herself. She didn't want anyone doing things for her. She could do it herself. What a fighter. What a winner. What an inspiration.

Thank God for Lauren. Thank God that He shared her with us for as long as He did. Such a beautiful soul is too good for this Earth. She is home now, where she belongs, where God wants her, where we will all rejoice when we see her again someday. Thank God for Lauren.

24 hours of Tyler

Sometimes I call Tyler...."Tyler the Terrorist." The last 24 hours have been nothing but enduring the wrath of "Tyler the Terrorist." Here are some of the events in the last 24 hours.....

• Tyler tells me, "don't tell me no!!"
• I ask Tyler what he wants for breakfast. His response...."Be nice."
• Tyler runs his toy trucks all over my beautiful piano after repeatedly being told not to.
• Tyler tells me NO.
• Tyler tells his gymnastics coach NO.
• Tyler tells me NO again.
• Tyler insists that anything of color is GREEN.
• Tyler chases the dogs around the kitchen by pushing his highchair around.
• Tyler feeds the dogs his dinner...twice....so he didn't get to eat the rest of the night. That was pleasant.
• Tyler tells me NO.
  
• Tyler stood on the back of the couch, and when I yelled, "TYLER GET DOWN," for fear he was going to break his neck, he responded in a whisper, "mama, it's okay."
• Tyler insists that Piper's activity center is his and gets stuck in it multiple times. He doesn't seem to learn his lesson.
• Tyler tries to spank the dogs with my wooden spoon. Poor dogs.
• Tyler screams because I won't give him candy. There's no way in hell he's getting candy any time soon!! He's got too much energy as it is.
  
• Tyler has gone to time-out, gotten a couple of spankings, and spent some solitary confinement in his room over the last 24 hours, but he doesn't seem to care.
  

What's a mother to do? : -)