A Jumble of Thoughts

There's no good title for this post besides "A Jumble of Thoughts" because that is exactly what it is...just a bunch of things that I have been thinking about spurred by little experiences here at the Demers' home.

This morning I awoke at 4:54 am with Scott telling me to get the phone....yikes, this is way too early. But I knew instantly that school would be canceled on account of the icy snowy mix of precipitation we got all night. GREAT! I can sleep in....which I did. I wish sleeping in were later than 6:30 sometimes, but I AM a morning person so I suppose it is ok that my kids come in WAY too early on mornings that I actually don't HAVE to get out of bed and be somewhere EARLY.

Spencer came in and got in bed with me. Characteristically he is very wiggly...he ALWAYS has been. From the earliest moments of his life I remember that whenever HE woke up I would just take him out for a walk so he didn't wake the entire house. Little did I know that wouldn't change. Well, this morning he was still...sort of. Then it was too much for him and the wiggling began.....he was planting kisses all over me and mauling me with hugs I wasn't so keen on that early in the morning, having NOT gotten up yet. When I made a movement contrary to his he said, "I'm just loving on you LOTS, mom!"

Do you ever learn something from what your kids say? Funny little phrases that in context mean little, but strike you in a pondering sort of way? This sort of experience happens to me often. But this morning I actually heard MYSELF utter one of those phrases. "Spencer, sometimes loving someone means you do it in their way." I was just trying to help him understand that mauling me may have been his way of showering me with love, but from my standpoint it was quite bothersome. It set my mind to thinking and I haven't really left it all day.

Love is an interesting thing. The Golden Rule says to "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." According to this principle, Spencer was right on. I have long since believed that if you watch how people treat others, and how they treat you, it will be quite evident how they would like to be treated -- how they would like to receive love. Of course, there are books upon books written about love languages and what not, but this belief of mine hasn't really gone wrong yet. Nothing is fool proof, of course, but I have found that I show the greatest amount of selfless love when I do it THEIR way and not the way that I intuitively and naturally would. The reciprocal is true also...I FEEL very loved when someone goes out of their comfort zone to love me in the way I feel it most. Hmmmm.....deep little topic over being mauled by a wild 8 year old this morning.

Of course, teaching a Health class that happens to be on this same topic doesn't help with stifling the pondering.

I used to write Scott notes....because I like receiving them. They didn't mean much to him. But when HE started writing little notes to me....and I started doing it HIS way....much better. Life is a learning experience, now isn't it?

On to other topics....HOMEWORK! It could be a 4 letter word in our house. Jordan, who rarely has homework has become the hater of homework. It used to take all my energy to get Spencer to do his, but now he gets right on it (most of the time).....even Cody has little worksheets where he writes his name and such. But with all the efforts I have spent in getting kids to do homework (which is minimal compared to some of you) I have never heard this angry response (not even in all my own years of trying to get out of it...or my siblings trying either). Anyway....his response was that homework kills trees! I had to hold my laughter. That's all he could come up with ... his teacher is giving more homework lately. It's not hard...just homework. He has been pretty spoiled with lax teachers who don't push his intellectual side much. Poor kid needs to learn to study and do homework. *sigh*

It is snowing...still! I DO love the snow....it makes the world around so much more beautiful. If it is going to be cold, it may as well be pretty.

And right now...on to keeping kids in bed. It's been 30-40 minutes. It is a bummer to me that if I am in MY bed then they usually stay in bed. But if I head down to the computer or to do anything else....they are out of bed all night. Maybe I need to be less selfish with my time...and just lay in bed and read a book. We'll see.....

And if you made it through Denise's long list of ponderings.....congratulations!!!!