Maturity

Erik, my oldest, is now eight years old. He is hard working and caring in so many ways but this has caused some growing pains. It seems as though I do not allow him to do things that others do. This includes using the stove (he likes making eggs for breakfast.), and shampooing the carpets just to name a few. This all came about by him throwing a crying fit one night when he stayed up too late. Needless to say he did not go about it the best way but it did cause Brad and I to reevaluate what we allow him to do. We now allow him to make eggs in the morning but he has to make them for everyone. We are now spending more "adult" time with him and allowing him to help in projects and operate some of the machines that were previously off limits. (I have a Kirby and I do not want it broken by improper use.) One side benefit came yesterday when the Seth was sick with a temperature, Erik was able to go shampoo the carpets at Nana's. This was something I had intended to do myself. I am both sad and glad that he is getting so big. I am also very thankful that he is so eager to help and to make sure he understands how grateful we are Brad and I are taking him to lunch today. It seems as if they grow up so quickly and I am sure before I know it he will be ready to operate even bigger machinery, like a car. No more of that now I starting to hyperventilate.

Clothing Swap

I just attended my first clothing swap. I have to say I love the idea. Someone was cleaning out her children's closet and noticed she had a lot of extra clothes. She happens to work at the ARC child center at the junior college and promoted this idea of a clothing exchange. Everyone brings the extra they have and swaps it out for stuff they need. I quickly went through my kid's closet and weeded a bag out. The friend that told me about this and I headed out there today. There was tables set up for all the different sizes and one just laid out on the appropriate table what they brought and then went through and grabbed what they needed. Essentially I picked up some of what I needed and was rid of my extra in a short time. This will work for me every time. Obviously not a perfect solution since I need 3t and 18month jeans and was only able to get one of each but did I mention it was FREE!

How Polite!

Seth this morning told Matthew "Tan-tu" today after Matthew gave him his cup. My heart melted that he was talking and was so polite. Then I remembered last night when he was laughing at pretend farts. Yup, all boy.