Lessons we are learning

• MOOOOOMMM. My girls will yell at me from all parts of the house. The expectation is that I will come. This is my fault because I usually do. No more. I am not a servant and those silly girls don't need me every time they call, they just want me. So we had a talk about respecting people's time. One way you can do this I explained is to not expect people to wait on you, to not scream in the house but rather go find the desired person and ask the necessary questions. The breaking of this screaming habit is going okay. Really, it is such habit for me to respond that I am the one who is doing more mental work with this problem than they are. So this morning, in the shower, H started screaming, "MMMMMMOM!" I stayed put and didn't answer. Didn't even move from under the warm stream. I had told her I would be in the shower and Tom was home. She finally came and found me. She left, leaving the bathroom door wide open (another thing we are working on because all the wonderful warm air escapes). Not even a minute went by and K started screaming for me. She screamed "MMMMOM!" at least six times before I heard a precious knock on the shower door. A knock...how quaint. I answered her question and she left, closing the door behind her.
• H is obsessed with learning to do a headstand--doesn't matter really where she is or what she is wearing (my girls like leotard and swimsuits and tutus and run around in our cold house wearing only the required garments for modesty all the time). I regularly walk into a room to find her falling from a failed headstand attempt or upside down in a funny tripod position.
• K is working on obeying right away. I swear the girl doesn't know the meaning the word hurry. I am regularly late because I forget to account for her pokiness. Once in a while she has a victory and gets ready quickly. She then seeks the appropriate praise. I guess if she knows to seek the praise, then she must know how to hurry!
• H is a romantic by nature. She loves all people, never wants anyone to leave, loves to hug and kiss everyone (she makes many of her friends uncomfortable), and sees potential in all things, whether flesh or plastic. For over a year now she has been fascinated by cursive writing. She thinks it is beautiful. Until her teacher made her stop, she would put curlicues on all her letters. Today I taught her to write "I love you" in cursive.
• I am learning to let go, a continuous lesson that goes on all the time in my life. Right now I am learning to let go of food. By nature I am a penny pincher. But the people I admire are the ones who give, who can allow others to consume their resources freely without regret. At K's preschool I volunteered to bring cookies for the Valentine's party. I was excited that every kid in the room would have a cookie that looked just like K's on his or her plate. I love it when K can feel normal (I am not sure she really cares). So I bring the to-die-for chocolate chip cookies I can't stop blogging about and anxiously wait. I didn't know that there would also be chocolate cupcakes, heart -shaped sugar cookies and candy on each plate (except K's!). Well, while the gluten-free cookies are yummy, they weren't attractive compared to the other things on the plate. Most of the class never touched the cookies. Those little kids were stuffed! Most of the cookies went in the garbage. If no one had been looking around, I would have dug them out of the garbage. I wanted to scream, "No wait, those were handmade, not store bought, and the ingredients are expensive, you have to try them." But I stood there, smiling, chatting and trying to hid my angst. "Let it go Laura," I tell myself. "Focus on what is important. "