by Heather Plett | Jun 19, 2005 | Uncategorized
If I lock her in her room until she turns 4, will I get arrested? I promise I’ll slip her food under the door, and probably even let her come out for potty breaks. Ah, c’mon… PLEASE!
It seems Maddie has become possessed by the “three-year-old-there-must-be-at-least-ONE-boundary-I-haven’t-tested-yet” demon. The fun easy kid who once was has been replaced by this OTHER creature I hardly recognize and am not particularly fond of. At this moment, Marcel has left the house, primarily because she pushed every last button he had and he really didn’t want to be found guilty of child abuse. I’m next.
Whoever came up with “terrible twos” hadn’t yet lived through the “more-horrible-than-living-with-the-tasmanian-devil” threes.
You know that advertisement where the kid in the back seat is busy emptying the mother’s wallet and tossing all the items out the window? Yeah, well, not so funny when it happens to YOU! Fortunately nothing actually left the car, but she had torn apart everything in the two bags in the back seat of the car, and hung three things out the window before I managed to get things under control. Thank God for automatic windows that I can control from the driver’s seat.
Oh, and before the “hanging things out the window” incident, I was particularly impressed when she spit at me in Zellers.
Those of you who still have illusions that Maddie is a delightful, happy-go-lucky, charm-the-pants-off-ya child, THINK AGAIN!
Anyone want to babysit? Like, maybe for a YEAR?
by Heather Plett | Jun 16, 2005 | Uncategorized
Happy Birthday Julie!
by Heather Plett | Jun 16, 2005 | Uncategorized
My dearest Julie;
You turn 8 years old today. You’re getting so grown up and so smart! Today (and every day) I want you to know how much I love you and how proud I am of you. I’m so glad you’re my daughter. I’m so glad God made you and that he gave me the privilege of being your Mom. I’m a lucky, lucky woman.
Eight years ago, you entered our family. We were so excited to see you. You were beautiful right from the start. We were happy to see your red hair. I love red hair, and so did your Grandpa. He always wanted a red-headed granddaughter. I’m sure he’s watching you grow from heaven and he’s very proud of you, his Red Bowler.
You were a real treat as a baby – so easy to look after. You didn’t need too much – as long as you got fed and cared for, you didn’t demand too much more attention. Your big sister Nikki was quite curious about this new person Mommy and Daddy brought home. She wanted to play with you and cuddle you. (I know she doesn’t want to cuddle you much now, but she used to!)
We knew from an early age that you were special. You learned to talk at a really early age – earlier than most kids. When you weren’t even 3 years old (younger than Maddie is now), the day care teachers told me that, when you saw 2 kids arguing, you suggested that they should compromise. They were amazed that you’d use such big words even though you were still pretty small. You kept learning and kept amazing the grown-ups with how many words you knew.
This carried on when you started going to school. You hardly took any time to learn to read. It seemed like one day you didn’t know how to read, and then suddenly the next day you did. Before long, you were reading chapter books. And now, 2 days before your 8th birthday, you finished the 4th Harry Potter book. Wow! Not too many kids read that much before they’re eight! I hope you keep it up because a love for books is a really valuable thing to have. It opens up the world for you – shows you all kinds of interesting things and teaches you to think.
You learned other things quickly too. Before you even started kindergarten, you wanted to know how many halves were in a certain number. “Mom,” you’d say, “how many halves are there in eight?” I’d tell you to guess, and you were usually right. That was one of your favourite games for awhile.
You’ve always been my most cuddly kid. I can usually count on you to crawl up into my lap and sit with me. You give great hugs. One of my favourite parts of the day is when I get off the bus after work and you come running down the sidewalk and throw your arms around me. It makes me feel special.
I love your sense of humour. You like making people laugh. When I was in the hospital with Matthew, you came into my room and hopped like a bunny because you wanted to see me smile. You still do things to try to make me smile. I love to see the twinkle in your eye because it usually means you’re playing tricks on me or thinking of things that will make me laugh.
I love to see determination in your face. When you make up your mind to do something, you usually figure out a way to do it, even when other people don’t think you’ll be able to. When you decide to bake, you want to do it YOUR way. When you want to learn to ride your bike, you want to figure it out YOUR way. Sometimes I argue with you, because I’m a lot like you and I like to do it MY way, but most of the time, when I just let you figure it out for yourself, you find a way. I was so proud of you when you learned to ride a bike – you made up your mind to do it, and you tried and tried until it worked. Now I love to go for bike rides with you. We have great conversations, and you’re not afraid to try new things.
You are a very compassionate girl. Often, when you have a treat that Maddie doesn’t have, I don’t even need to ask you to share because you think of it yourself. You like to make other people happy, and often that means sharing what you have with them. You even buy other people Slurpees sometimes because you don’t want to be the only one enjoying a treat.
I was so proud of you at your piano recital last night. You’ve been learning piano as quickly as you learn so many other things in your life. Keep it up, and soon you’ll get to learn to play drums, just like you want to. I’m glad you want to be unique and learn a different instrument. I know you’ll do well.
You’re a fun, interesting, smart, kind, beautiful girl. You make my life better. You bring something very special to our family. God made you unique – different from anyone else. He gave you special gifts and talents and you’ll find great ways of using them. I know you will always make people smile, you will show kindness to a lot of people, and you’ll continue to love learning just like you do now.
Thank you for being my beautiful daughter. I love you. Happy Birthday!
Love Mom.
by Heather Plett | Jun 15, 2005 | Uncategorized
She just needed to find Middle C.
We arrived early at the piano recital. Her first piano recital. Nervous energy straightened her spine and made her twist the ring on her finger. “Mom,” she whispered, “what if I can’t find Middle C?”
Only a few people had arrived so far, so we walked to the front of the room where the imposing grand piano stood. “Which one do you think it is?” I asked. She pointed. “Can your remember where it is?” I asked. “Yes – it’s just below the letter F in the name.”
Her turn didn’t come until far down in the program, but when it came, she walked to the front, sat down, and played flawlessly. She found Middle C. She grinned a shy half-grin of pride as she walked back to her seat.
She’s not alone, I thought. We’re all looking for Middle C. We all need to know where our starting point is – our point of reference. Once we figure that out, we can move forward with confidence. Once we know where our security is – our centre – we’ve got it made.
by Heather Plett | Jun 15, 2005 | Uncategorized
A body is not meant to function with only 3 hours of sleep. At least not my body. And certainly not on a day when I have to sit through an 8 hour board meeting. Where’s that intravenous needle? I need CAFFEINE!
Some day, soon, I hope, my children will all be healthy again, and I will get to SLEEP!
by Heather Plett | Jun 14, 2005 | Uncategorized
I’m not particularly fond of catchy little sayings. Especially Christian ones. You know what I’m talking about – “Jesus is the Reason for the Season”, “WWJD” – I can’t even think of any more because I’ve blocked them from my memory.
This mild dislike bubbles into pure loathing when I see these “pearls of wisdom” etched into Christian kitsch. Walking into an average Christian bookstore makes me shudder. Wading through the clap-trap of “test-a-mints” and Christian bobble-heads to get to the books is too painful to endure. So I very rarely set foot in those places. My dear friend Michele says it makes her want to do her best tae kwon do kick and destroy all those glass shelves of Christian mockery. (If you want to read a good book about this, check out “Addicted to Mediocrity”.) If you share my opinion, you might enjoy a perusal of “Truth is Stranger than Fiction” at the Wittenburg Door. Or check THIS out for a good laugh.
While the principle behind it may be reasonably sound, I hope no one EVER gives me a bracelet or bumper sticker or t-shirt with the letters “WWJD” emblazoned on it. What would Jesus do? Well, for starters, I don’t think he’d wear one of those bracelets! Or etch his name on plastic bobble-heads. He made trees and mountains, for God’s sake, why the heck would he want to associate himself with PLASTIC?
That’s my rant for the day, but that’s not really what I wanted to talk about. On the topic of WWJD, yes, I DO try to live by Christ’s example (or at least on my better days), but often I find myself thinking in terms of WW(fill in the blanks with the name of one of my friends or family)D. When I’m struggling with being a parent, I consider the super-mom in my life, and ask myself WWCD (what would Cathie do). When I’m stressed out with how messy my house is getting, I think about the clean freak and wonder WWDD (what would Diane do). There’s a long list for me…here are just a few…
taking a good photograph, hosting a party – WWCD (Cynthia)
making people laugh, understanding politics – WWMD (Marcel)
planting/caring for flowers, crafting word pictures – WWDD (Dwight)
doing computer-techie stuff, buying stereo or computer equipment – WWBD (Brad)
interpreting scripture, questioning “truth” – WWDD (Dad)
crafting a poem, initiating conversation with a stranger – WWSD (Sue)
coming up with teaching ideas for my kids, being a gracious hostess – WWLD (Lorna)
being a fun uncle/auntie, pleasing people – WWJD (J-L)
baking a cake, showing lots and lots of love – WWMD (Mom)
showing compassion, making people feel valued – WWLD (Linda)
being authentic, making kick-ass soup – WWMD (Michele)
On my more self-judgmental days, I can interpret that as weakness – that I don’t have enough confidence in my own abilities to trust my own judgment, or that I’m not relying on God enough to lead me. But on my better days, I like to think of it as letting people impact and inspire me.
There are lots of significant people in my life, and I like the fact that they inspire me. I think we should be open to letting people touch us, teach us, and change us. I don’t think we were meant to figure it all out on our own.
That’s part of the reason I like blogging and reading other blogs. I like sharing my moments of inspiration, and letting other peoples’ moments of inspiration touch me. It helps to know that there are other people trying to figure out some of the same things I’m trying to figure out.
And now that I’ve gotten to know a few blog friends, my list of WW_D will get longer. Thanks for that – but don’t expect me to put it on a t-shirt!
