Saturday, October 3, 2009

Friday Night Confessions (Saturday version)

Yeah, SO didn't get to this last night. I remembered, just plain didn't want to do it last night. We'll see what we come up with now. ;-)
  • I have a security blanket. I don't sleep with it anymore, but I slept with it all the way up until I got married. It is now folded up and stored away. It was a white blanket with a silk border around it. When I was 2 my sister destroyed it, and my parents tried to get me another one, and it took FOREVER for me to finally agree to take it. We used it for curtains on our puppet stage, we used it in building forts, and it was always there to comfort me. I took it to girls camp, or sleepovers. It is now a grey small peice of fabric. It has holes in all the corners, and it torn in more than one place. But I treasure it. I was holding one of Bubba's blankets the other day, and it reminded me of how much comfort I got from my blanket.
  • I LOVE General Conference. I look forward to it every 6 months. It's such a spiritual uplift that I need. It helps me want to be a better person, and it just plain makes me happy. You can't argue with that.
  • I guess I don't understand the concept of "picking your battles". As I am trying to raise my own little family, everyone has told me to pick my battles with him. I can understand in not picking a fight about wanting to eat by himself, or about wanting to splash around in a bath. But how can I pick my battles and teach him consistency? How can I pick my battles when I am trying to teach him basic principles of what is right and wrong? Won't he get the wrong message if one thing is ok, but something similar is not? How can I pick my battles, and have him realize that there are consequences to things that he does? And there always will be. How can I pick my battles and teach him that he can't have his way all the time? How do I pick my battles and teach him that life is hard sometimes, but that he can count on me being there for him through even the hard times? I honestly can't "pick my battles" yet, because I'm trying to teach him consistency, and that his actions have consequences. Maybe when he is older I will understand. But hopefully what he learns now will be instilled in him so later on down the road I won't have to "pick my battles".
  • I have not painted my toenails in over 6 months. I painted them the other day, and now I feel all girly again. Yay!
  • Sam's birthday is this next week. I sure love him a lot, but I am not getting him anything for his birthday. Fortunately this doesn't make him mad. So we are lucky.
  • I didn't sleep at all last night. I hate it when Bubba is sick. Hopefully he can get over this cold quickly!
OK, that's all I have energy to write. Enjoy.

2 comments:

Bryan Carter said...

Maybe there is another way to look at the "battles" you talk about.

Even if you "pick" your battles, you will still win some and lose some. Maybe we should say "pick the battles you really care about winning, and realize that the others may (or may not) be lost. In the long run the important thing is that the "war" (of which battles are a part) is won.

At this point in his life, you are teaching him more that there are reactions, than there are consequences. He measures things by how people react. They laugh, they cry, they scold, they punish, they do nothing. He learns that if he does this, you react like that, and he either is comfortable with the reaction, or not.

By reacting consistently you are in essence winning each battle. That doesn't mean you have to punish him every time, or laugh at him every time. He is also learning that some things count, and some things don't. Just because some things do, and some things really don't.

Remember, if I had "won" every battle, you would still have long hair! :)

Nicole said...

Tara you are so cute and SUCH an inspiration!!! I LOVE your cute blog and the fact that you are so honest on it!! Seriously, you give me strength to know that I feel some of the same things you do!! Thanks for writing it!!!