Sometimes there are things that kids say or do that as a parent you never, ever want to forget.  I struggle with where to file these things.  In my journal?  (Which is mostly story outlines and drawings of jewelry)  Print them out and tuck them away in a photo album?

Ah, a blog post.

So here you all go-

1. When my daughter was really small I would pat her on her back to calm her down when she cried.  It became so reflexive I’d find myself doing it when she was already calm, too.  One day she did it back to me.  Now the back-pat has become mother-daughter lingo for “I love you.”  My son has started doing it, too.
2. Both of my kids find themselves praised so often that they think that if you like someone, you praise their efforts.  So whenever I’m fishing for a word and think of it, “good job!”  Whenever I manage to get food on the table in front of them without tripping over my feet, “good job!”  Whenever I read a book, “good job!”
3. My son has become a real trickster.  He was starting to yell “BOTTLE BOTTLE BOTTLE” and throw his bottle at me when he was thirsty.  When it became clear that I hated him doing that, he started doing the same thing more often.  So when I would grumpily say, “oh, you think I’m going to get you a bottle?” he’d fall over laughing and say “no!”
4. My daughter got so used to me correcting her pronouncing “t” as “d” and saying “with your teeth, T”, that she has started doing it to me as revenge even though I pronounce things correctly.
5. My son will eat anything I tell him I don’t want him to have, including red onions and raw garlic.  I’m considering saying “that’s really not to eat” when I put his plate on the table, just to see what he does.
6. My daughter got a flower girl’s dress at a garage sale two weeks ago, and has worn it every day since.  She says she feels like Princess Ariel on her wedding day.  My husband always corrects her by saying, “prettier than Ariel.”

It’s easy to get caught up in everything that you don’t have.

It’s wonderful to learn to remember everything you DO.