A day for reflection

You want to be the catalyst for good. You want to inspire positivity. You want to be part of the reason your child prospers. Yesterday's visit to Quinn's preschool was a bit eye opening for me. I was meant to watch him in his normal classroom. Instead, it turned out to be gym day and I watched the arduous process of getting kids dressed, lined up in handholding pairs and walked across campus to the gym. My normally obedient and mellow son became someone a bit more impetuous and rebellious. It started small. Little things that he might do that weren't a big deal but that deviated from the teacher's directions, all done under the watchful eye of his mother. I didn't want to be his mother in this scenario and discipline him and I think he knew that. This was his territory. He ran from the group in the gym, inspiring others to run freely. He got upset on the return trip to the school because he wanted to run and then insisted on being carried by me. On our way back into the school for lunch, he determined that he wanted to hold the door open, even though another little boy has been assigned that task and then proceeded to weep in dismay because of that loss. His teachers had never seen him upset or acting this way. Ah, the influence of his mother. My conclusion is that with me there, he could be vulnerable and test bounds and assumed that I would advocate for him. His friends stared at him shocked while he cried because he's never cried at school. Wild. SO, I won't be returning to observe any time soon because he is more content to live in one world at a time. I was happy to see the patience and care of all his teachers and no one was rash or angry or frightening in his presence. I am glad for that. He has a sweet group of boys and girls that he is happy to call his friends. And, I feel quite sure that within five minutes from my departure, he was back to normal. I say this because he went on to eat almost his whole packed lunch. Luke and I had some good discussion about the day's events, though I should mention that none of what happened surprised Luke. I avoid situation where I have to discipline Quinn if I can. He has pretty good reason to think that if he wants something that I will try to make that happen- somehow. I don't think of myself as a total push over and Quinn remains physically safe in my presence, but he has a good deal of latitude with me and I need to reign that in- for his sake. I'd rather make changes now than when he's 16.

One terrific moment from yesterday was when I walked into our bedroom after Quinn's nap and saw Quinn and his Dad ticked into the bed with their chests showing above the sheets, reading a book together. The pair looked so content and so like one another that it warmed my heart. Quinn loves storytime and I love that he loves it:) See, I do some things right:) We've picked up some new books this week that are fun, though Quinn is newly in love with The Frog Prince continued and The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs. Luke tried to improv the actual 3 Little Pigs for Quinn last night so we has some sense of the original.

Quinn ate three bananas yesterday. Awesome.

Quinn's father is wonderful. Luke is the yin to my yang. Take for instance, his approach to bath time. Luke has taught Quinn how to pour water over his head to prep for washing his hair, how to scrub all his parts with soap and wash and rinse his hair. After Quinn's bath, Luke folded his little son into the towel and swung him around to the absolute delight of Quinn who then wanted to wrap me in a blanket and swing me. Not happening:) Though, Luke allowed him to try and we giggled at my lack of momentum. We all have our strengths and gifts and in Luke I see a person who is ready to teach his son new skills as often as Quinn is ready for them and I really like that. Goodness knows I have loads of patience for Quinn and oodles of love, as does Luke, but I must miss those windows when Quinn is ready to learn and grow up and Luke is keenly aware of them. Thank goodness we're a team!

It's been the first snowy week of the fall and Quinn needs new boots, new snow pants, essentially- the works. In some things, he's even sprouting into 4T clothes. Gracious.

I love storytime with Quinn. Even though I am sometimes exhausted from the day and ready to hit the sack I cannot resist him when he asks for more books. Plus, he's newly invested in linking the illustration to the words on the page and asks question after question about what he's seeing. In the past, he was content to hear our voices and passively follow the story- or so it appeared. It turns out he has passages and phrases memorized from most of his books:) Nowadays, he is very precise about wanting to understand cause and effect in the picture, characters and action. Nice:)

Quinn continues to love his Eggo pancakes and waffles, but he's a new fan of chicken tacos from Trader Joe's. He also continues to love suckers and his Halloween stash of candy provided a supply of M's, as he pronounces them. Alright, must get ready for school. More details about Quinn soon, I hope!