Day: May 3, 2006

Butter on too much bread

By / May 3, 2006 / 16 Comments

In The Fellowship of the Ring Bilbo Baggins talks about feeling stretched or faded like butter that has been spread across too much bread. I know that feeling. I have four kids. Each of those kids has a whole loaf’s worth of wants and needs. It is the best I can do to cover the critical pieces. No matter how thin I spread myself I cannot butter all that bread. I cannot meet all the needs that my children have. This is why it takes a village to raise a child. I have to rely on friends, parents of friends, teachers, neighbors, and acquaintances to all help meet the needs of these developing people.

But oh how I wish there was more of me to go around. I wish I had more time/energy/desire to read stories to kids. I wish I could always be kind and cheerful while requiring chores. I wish I could spend time playing the piano with Gleek. I wish I could concentrate on helping Patches master potty training. I wish I could sit for 30 minutes each night and listend to Link reading aloud. I wish I could spend more time playing games with the kids. I wish I could always keep the kitchen clean. I wish I could be better at cooking healthy meals. I wish I could be better at controling all our diets. I wish I was smarter, better, faster, stronger.

It hurts to see things that they need which I can’t supply.

Hope of America

By / May 3, 2006

Ushering four children who are over excited and up past their bedtimes through a crowd of 20,000 people is not my idea of a good time. And yet I got to do this last night. I also got to coax Gleek and Patches up and down several sets of bleacher stairs in quest for a place to sit. Then I got to entertain Gleek and Patches during the moments that they got bored. It did not help that Patches has definitely entered a “pushing the limits” phase of development.

Why did I do all of this? Because our school district puts on an annual patriotic program and broadcasts it to troops in Iraq. Kiki and Link have been practicing songs for this program for months. Kiki even brought home a CD of the songs so she could practice at home. Gleek is a sponge for anything musical and so she’s learned the songs too. Even Patches knew that “hope of america” was a big deal and something to be excited about. I believe it is good for kids to learn the ideals our country is founded on. I think it is good for kids to learn to love our country. Then as they get older and learn how our country so often fails to meet it’s ideals, they may feel inspired to make this country into the place we all wish it could be.

I’ve known for months that I’d be attending this program with Gleek and Patches and sans Howard who had a conflicting event. So yesterday I packed appropriately with a backpack full of stuff. We had water bottles and sandwiches and snack food and blankets and a couple of stuffed animals and binoculars and a camera and wallet and keys. It was wise of me to pack as if for a backpack trip because the event started with a hike uphill from our parking place to the event center. Then we dropped Link and Kiki off to their separate rendezvous and went in quest for three seats. Usually the “harried mother with two small kids” persona nets me some help, but not in a crowd this size where everyone else is as harried as me.

Gleek and Patches loved the experience. They loved watching the dances and songs. Gleek loved singing along. True they did get bored at times, but mostly they loved it all. Kiki and Link loved participating. Gleek wished she could have been down there dancing and singing. So I definitely put this in the “Things I wouldn’t choose to do if left to myself, but definitely worth doing for the kids” category.

Spot the Tayler Child

By / May 3, 2006 / 2 Comments

Hope of America Hope of America
Our local school district sponsors a yearly patriotic event at an indoor stadium. 7000 children, 15,000 adults all in the same place. As you can see, our seats were about as far up as it was possible to go. Here is your chance to play “spot the Tayler child.” Link is on the floor in front of the letter ‘Q.’ Kiki is up next to the flag wearing a yellow shirt.