sweet moments

A few special pre-Christmas moments at our house:

A few days ago I commented to Tucker that Maddox doesn't know what Christmas is about since he was not even one last year. Tucker exclaimed "I will tell him about Christmas!" I was curious to hear his take on what it's really about, so from the other room I heard him explain it to Maddox. "Maddox, I'm gonna tell you what Christmas is really about! It's about Jesus birthday! It's not about whining and wanting to get more stuff." Oh it melted my heart. The last line was a direct quote from Veggie Tales movie called "The Toy that Saved Christmas" so hats off to the folks at Veggie Tales for helping instill those values.

Another moment was watching Tucker write  Maddox's name on tags for two little matchbox cars he bought Maddox with money out of his piggy bank.

And then last night, we heard Tucker tossing and turning for an hour after he went to bed. When I went in to check on him, and asked why he was not able to go to sleep, he said "I am just thinking about Christmas! And its so hard to sleep when I'm thinking about Christmas!" Oh I remember the sleepless nights leading up to Christmas when I was a little girl. 

So thankful for these sweet moments in the midst of the daily chaos!

Death by shorts

I have been reading a book called Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel. Its a must read for all parents! It has challenged me in many ways, but one is to not make a big deal out of opposing small things that are a big deal to Tucker.

So this morning, (yes its Dec 3rd) Tucker insisted on wearing a particular pair of shorts and favorite short sleeve shirt, with crocs. Now its Dec, and we have to go grocery shopping and to the library. I started to insist he changed, but he suggested he could go outside to see if he was cold. He has lots of sensible ideas and this seemed like one of them. We stepped out, realized it was 60 degrees at 9 am and so I relented. I have to say I was a little afraid of people thinking I am a terrible mom for dressing my son in summer clothes in the winter.

Fast forward to when we are leaving Kroger. There is a elderly lady sitting on a bench inside, and she sees Tucker and says "Where are his clothes? Where are his pants and shirt and coat?" I reply "this is all he wanted to wear today" to which she shoots back "Fine! Just let him die and wear what he wants!!" I replied as calmly as I could muster "Its 60 degrees today, I think he will be fine", but she was still huffing about it as we hurried outside.

So my fear had come true, someone had actually voiced there opinion that I was killing my child by allowing him to wear summer clothes in December. And guess what i discovered? It didn't really matter.