Morgan The Star

Morgan was chosen as the Austin All-Star for Mrs. G's class for the 2nd six weeks. She gets to go to lunch tomorrow with all the All-Stars at Mr. Gatti's.

AND I got a note in her backpack today informing that Mrs. G's substitute earlier in the week said Morgan was "very helpful" to her.

Way to go Morgan! :)

potty training!

We've been steadily working with Athan to go on the potty. We're not there yet, but today we had a big milestone: Athan wore the same underwear and pants from morning to bath. No accidents! We still have to take him to the potty every once in a while just to make sure, but we didn't change clothes or use a single diaper or pull-up today. Woo-Hoo! He wears a pull-up from bath to bedtime (which is dry so far), and then a diaper at night.

Way to go Athan Bear!!

a happier snippit

Tonight the kids and I spent an hour just chillin in the back yard. Athan decided to be "Athan Bot," inspired by a Sesame Street skit. He spoke in only two pitches, with halting syllables, called me Mama Wobot, and ended every sentence with "beep, beep." Apparently, Athan Bot's primary function is to retrieve pecans one by one from Mama Wobot and take them to the yellow bucket.

Meanwhile, Morgan found a Magic Stick, which had many functions. It could distinguish between good and bad pecans, it could locate smallish Magic Twigs that were saved in a pile for later use - namely turning oneself into Tinker Bell, and it rediscovered various Lost Treasures which were collected in a bucket.

It was a good evening. :)

i missed it.

There was a Window into my daughter's soul this morning, and I missed it.

It was a frustrating morning. We woke up a little late, and many of you already know that trying to rush a groggy 5-year-old through a morning routine doesn't really work. She lingered too long over breakfast, complained about her clothes and shoes (bringing long pauses before each item was finally on her body), and then whined through most of the brush-n-fix-the-hair process.

As I twisted the rubber band around her ponytail, she tearfully reported this to me: "Mom, I'm just sad because my friend M_____ at school always fixes her hair prettier than mine."

I was frustrated and we were in a hurry, so I threw some empty words of pseudo-encouragement at her, ignored her tears entirely (assuming them to be just an extension of our grumpy morning), and hustled her down the hall to grab the jacket and backpack and run to the car....

Then later, when the house was quiet and I faced 7 long hours before I could see my Morgan again, I cried a little. Partly for my morning fumble (which will require me to apologize to my daughter later today). But mostly, the tears came for the fact that it has already started for Morgan. This silly thing that women do - petty competition with one another to be the prettiest one - has started at age 5. Sans intervention, it won't stop for a long time, if ever.

So I prayed. I confessed. I asked the Lord if there's a better path through this for Morgan than I can see, and if there is, would He please point us both toward it?

And now I'm asking you, our community, to help me, too. Help Morgan know what real beauty is, and how to pursue it. Demonstrate celebration of the beauty of others WITHOUT putting yourself down in the process. And pray with me for the Holy Spirit to tell her these truths in ways none of us can.

It takes a village, right? :)