Payton with his Baked Potato

I keep forgetting to write about some of the cute things that my kids say and do. I think that I will always remember these things but in time you forget. It was on an evening just before Christmas and Chad was teaching a class at TCC that night. The kids were just getting home from school and I told them we needed to head to the store to get Payton some new shoes. My kids get home from school every day and are starving. I have been trying to hold them off by having earlier dinners since they like to snack so much that by dinnertime they are not hungry anymore. That evening we went to look for Payton some new shoes. We finally found a pair that we both liked, but they didn’t have his size, so we headed to a different store. By then, the kids really were starving and Payton was having a meltdown in the backseat. I asked the kids where they wanted to get something to eat since I was not prepared with dinner that night. Payton quickly replied Wendy’s. We arrived at Wendy’s and I asked the kids what they wanted to eat. Payton replied” a Cheesy Baked Potato and Chicken Nuggets.” I had Savannah sit down by Payton while I ordered their food. I walk up around the corner with their food and Payton sticks his arms out and screams so the whole restaurant can hear him, “Potato, come to Papa.” Everyone was laughing and thought that it was the funniest thing. He keeps me going in life. I never seem to have a dull moment with my little guy.

Now it is Savannah’s turn. Savannah is quite the comedian herself. She is very shy and reserved at school, church and in public places, but when she is around her family in her comfort zone, she cracks us up. We have decided to do a three strike system with Savannah. She starts over every day and if she misbehaves or is mean, then she receives a strike. If Savannah strikes out then she loses her privileges such as watching TV, playing with friends, or playing webkinz on the computer. Savannah had struck out one day and was not very happy. She comes home from school and says can’t we come up with some other way to discipline me; I really don’t want to lose my privileges for the day. I respond, no Savannah, you cannot take a strike back, but tomorrow is a new day and you can start over again. She walks away for a minute and thinks about it and comes back with the response of Mom, “Can’t you just kick me in the butt instead, that will only hurt for a minute and me losing my privileges is hurting me all day. I then realized that I had found the right trick with her. Every kid is so different and what works for one doesn’t always work for the other. I love my kids. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t look at both of them and think about how grateful I am to have them both. I never realized that being a mom could be so challenging at times, but so rewarding at others. I am so blessed.