First and foremost…Daddy made it back home today! Woohoo!
We missed him oddles and gobs during this wacky week of ours.
We missed him oddles and gobs during this wacky week of ours.
In other positive news:
The sun was shining.
The temperature was sixty degrees.
I enjoyed a lively round of FaceTime with older bro and his hubby in Switzerland.
My iced coffee after my Barre class was perfection.
I had a fun time setting up for the Book Fair at school this afternoon—complete with friend and teacher catch-ups, and sweet hugs from my kiddos’ friends I came across in the hallways.
And BEST OF ALL, my son, who usually won’t give me hugs at school, ran into me THRICE while I was up there today, and gave me giant hugs each time. Once, he even tackled me from behind before I’d even seen him. I mean…be still, my heart!
Now.
The cherry on top of allllll that goodness sundae was discovering that hug-giving son of mine received AN AWARD today—along with a shout-out on the morning announcements that are broadcast to the entire school. :)
The award is related to positive habits that are promoted within the school, and any teacher or staff member can nominate a student who displays an abundance of any of these characteristics.
The award is related to positive habits that are promoted within the school, and any teacher or staff member can nominate a student who displays an abundance of any of these characteristics.
Let me start by saying, I was over the moon to learn he received the award (and I got to find out in person, directly from my boy, while I was up at school!), but then I cried real tears when he came home at the end of the school day and read his specific award verbiage out loud to me:
Habit #5: Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood
“Two weeks ago, a friend came into class very upset and almost inconsolable. Little Man went out of his way to check on that friend throughout the day, reassure him that everything is going to be OK, and put his hand on his back showing empathy. This is just one example describing Little Man’s pure heart! His kindness is genuine and contagious. Little Man, I’m beyond proud of you! Continue to be true to yourself by spreading love and kindness throughout your life.”
Ugh. Just…ugh.
I think this spoke so strongly to me, because it wasn’t just one of the habits that involves self-contained behavior like staying on task. This was a habit that involves kind and caring behavior towards others, and that is the ultimate goal in our family.
In fact, the hubby and I have spent the better part of a year (and I’m really not exaggerating) really harping on positive and kind behavioral habits within our household.
I mean, yeah, sure, we don’t think our any of our kiddos are mongrels or little terrors, but they often appear to save their good behavior for school, and we’ve been working on extending that behavior, and just a general sense of kindness, generosity of spirit, and good manners to all aspects of their lives (ahem, especially their home life).
We’ve spent soooo much time and attention (and head-banging frustration) trying to correct household tifts (like negative behavior amongst siblings, or just a lack of sharing and/or kindness), and I’ll just be real and admit that it often feels like a losing battle. There have been many days over many months where we feel like our crack-down is worthless and nothing is getting through our kiddos’ heads and hearts.
So this award was a beauuuuutiful affirmation—not to mention, a direct, literal answer to prayers for any inkling of a sign that all this parental effort is impacting something.
Parents the world over will probably agree when I say: it doesn’t take much! This one incredible award and unsolicited positive feedback regarding Little Man will have me riding high on motherhood life for a solid while, ha.
Every day is a new challenge and battle with these beautiful, crazy babies, but for today, I’m SO PROUD of my boy—and so stinking grateful to have turned our sad tree-loss day around!
HAPPY WEEKEND, peeps!
Over and out.
P.S. Equally as joyful as learning of Little Man’s award…
The moment I walked into the library to help with the Book Fair set up today, the librarian (who I love) told me she was thrilled to see me in person so she could share the adorable reaction Chica had when she heard of Little Man’s award on the morning announcements.
Chica was in the library, helping to run said morning announcements as part of her tech team duties, and the librarian told me that Chica’s face lit up like a megawatt bulb when she heard Little Man’s name, and the librarian would have given anything to have caught it on film for me. She said the pride was abundant and so beautiful.
Even better, Chicklet said she started screaming, “that’s my brother!” in her class when she heard Little Man’s name on the announcements, and that kind of joyful, un-jealous sibling support means the world to me. Especially amongst my twins/not twins.
So…yay, sisters!
And now, over and out again. ;)
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