This weekend we had two of those "aha" moments. One is the good kind, you hope can be repeated. The other, well, not so much.
Last week in our house we talked about taking initiative. How if we are capable of doing something, then we should see what needs to be done and jump in and do it without being told. Our eldest is the kind of kid that would let you help him with everything his whole life, so pushing him beyond his comfort zone is difficult at times. He's a perfectionist, so doesn't want to even try unless he can do it to perfection. But, he seemed eager to listen and seemed to understand what we were talking about.
All of last week was spent tending to a sick baby girl, and the boys were feeling rather neglected. They have a habit of coming in bed with me to cuddle once G leaves for work in the morning and that morning I had both of them in my bed wiggling about. I quietly asked them to leave, since it appeared they weren't going to be falling back asleep as they often do. They went to read books while I shut my eyes for a few more minutes, since I'd been up a good portion of the night with baby. When I did get up, L told me that J had to go to the bathroom and that he helped him get his fuzzy pj's off and helped him in the bathroom, so that they wouldn't wake me up. How sweet. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall to watch that procedure, and to hear the dialogue it contained. He was so proud of himself, and has been noticing things that need doing and just doing them ever since. That's one of those good "aha" moments, that he figured it out and just got in there and did it. We've also been singing "I Washed My Hands" lately which has a line in it that says, "I told my ears to listen, quite closely all day through, For any act of kindness, such little hands can do", so hopefully that is sinking in as well.
The other "aha" moment came last night. When something on the floor of the van looked strangely familiar to mouse evidence. After further investigation, aha, mice again. They seem to get in every once in a while, and we can't find where they do to stop them. So, today was spent cleaning the van from top to bottom, vacuuming and washing everything that had been in there. We did catch one last night, and have the trap set again tonight. Those are the "aha" moments I could do without.
