Sandpaper

I pulled up my blog and could not believe that it has been 7 days since my last entry. Where does the time go? I want to do better. I hope to do better. I envisioned having more "free" time with Reagan in school and it just ain't happening. Gracen apparently is feeling the loss of her sister and wants Mommy to "sit" with her all day, regardless of what she is doing. She is constantly saying, "Come sit Momma, come sit." I know all you moms out there who are further along on this journey would tell me to sit and enjoy the time because it will be gone before I know it. So, I have been sitting and soaking up her desire to have me near. We were painting a picture this morning together on the back patio and she looked up at me two different times and said, "I love you". I tell you there are no sweeter words.

Reagan is loving school. She comes home every single day saying "school is awesome". Of course, her favorite thing to talk about is PE, but I trust that she is learning academic things too. Her teacher called me last night to tell me that she was doing wonderful and that she was very well prepared for kindergarten. She shared a weakness though. Reagan is slow about getting things done. I knew this about her already but was hoping that it wouldn't show itself at school. It takes her 10 minutes to put one shoe on in the morning and I wish I was joking. Mrs. Miller thinks it is mix between perfectionism and procrastination. I would agree. She is very particular about writing her letters and coloring, but she also has a hard time focusing on the task at hand and just getting started. I am glad that she wants to do such a good job on her classwork, but I want to encourage her to speed up and I am not sure how to that.

This problem shows itself at home too, especially in the mornings. Our morning are difficult because she is SLOW to get moving. We wake her up a little after 6:00am and Gene takes her to school at 7:30. You would think that a 5 year old could be ready for school in an hour and a half. But it is like pulling teeth to get her to do anything. I am probably exaggerating but it feels like it takes 1o minutes to put on her shirt, 10 minutes to put on her shorts, 10 minutes to wash her face and brush her hair, 10 minutes to potty....You get the idea. And don't even get me started on eating breakfast. She has yet to leave the house finishing even half of her breakfast and she is given more than enough time to eat it. For every step in getting ready I have to stay with her and stay on her or she won't do anything. And I have tried walking away. It is ridiculous! I am finding that I am a complete grump by the time she leaves at 7:30. Who knew that this season of getting her out the door on time would be so diffcult. Again I had visions of getting up and getting ready and eating a family breakfast together followed by a family devotion. I would kiss Reagan on her cheek and send her on her way. (I have a lot of visions of the way I would like things to be.)

I read somewhere recently that your children are the sandpaper that God uses to rub out the rough edges in the lives of the parents. I think that is so true. Being a mom has shown me my own weaknesses in too many ways. I see something ugly in one of my children and it scares me because I know that they learned it from me. Like this whole "slow" thing that is coming to the surface with Reagan. I probably taught her this. It takes me two hours to get going in the morning. Not because I am not doing anything, but because I really like to have a long quiet time with God. The truth of the matter is that Reagan's hour and a half battles in the morning are taking my time with God and it is irritating me. Again, I am reminded of the post I wrote not too long ago about laying down my life for my children. I know God is showing me my selfishness and I have to lay down my own desires to meet the needs of my children. I have to learn ways to teach them to overcome their own shortcomings and that is hard when I am such a work in progress my self.

Any suggestions on how to motivate Reagan in the mornings and how to encourage her to work more quickly would be fabulous!

And I know I have said this a thousand times, but parenting is NOT for the faint of heart!

Until next time...