Yes – my kid is cute, but please stop telling HIM that….

I have 3 boys. Ethan – the oldest – is my brooder – the one always thinking, trying to do good. However, he’s easily distracted and also has a short fuse for his brothers. Give him one or two step instructions & he’ll help you get all the laundry done (& remind him every few minutes which of those two steps he was on – but still, he’ll help). Then he’ll get angry cause while he’s being helpful, his brothers are not – they are “screwing around,” playing, undoing what he just did, etc. (yeah, I know – welcome the world of being a mom, kid – mom’s deal with that all day, every day). He tries though & he likes being helpful. He does worry too much about things that he doesn’t need to worry about but he’s got a big heart & he comes by worrying naturally – he gets it from me.

Now let’s move to Alex – middle child extraordinaire – the ladies’ man, class clown, people pleaser. He’s happy to help with whatever, so long as you wouldn’t actually consider it “work” and other people can see him doing it & pat him on the back 100 times. If it IS actual “work” (that darn dirty word) or there’s no one around to see him & give him credit beyond his family, he’s going to whine the entire time & probably complain because he “always does everything”…. Uh, nope – that would be the parents and/or your big brother, kid…you do the bare minimum to get the credit. He’s not all bad – he does a really good job helping as long as it’s not really chores or if it’s for someone other than his parents – so he’s a good helper for other people. He’s also a very good “friend” – looking out for his friends & making sure someone always has someone or something to play with. He doesn’t like to see anyone alone and definitely not upset – if that’s the case, he’ll charge right in cracking jokes and sharing whatever to cheer that person right up.

Then there’s Cameron – the baby, the runt – the one for whom the rules don’t apply…ever. He’s happy to help with whatever – NEVER – under no circumstances if it’s “work” will he be happy to help. If it’s fun – baking cookies, etc. – he’s up for helping with that but only the fun parts. If that batter gets tough to stir, he’s out….if he can’t eat the dough, he’s out. I shouldn’t say “never” – he is most happy to help keep tabs on everyone else & let you know exactly what they are doing wrong….even if he’s doing that same thing with that person – he’ll continue doing it while telling you that other one is doing that thing you said not to do – Uh? You’re doing it, too…”well, yeah, but that rule doesn’t apply to me, right?” He’s half the size his brothers were at his age and he revels in continuing to be considered “the baby” by everyone cause he’s just so little & cute. We tell him to do something, he smiles & says “no”….um, what? Someone else snickers & tells him how cute he is….ummmm, WHAT? My kid just flat out said “no” to me asking him to put his dish away & that’s “cute” to you cause he bats his little eyes & you think it’s funny? That is NOT helpful to me....He was getting in trouble at school & thought it was awesome – was so proud of it – cause so many people have told him he’s “cute” when he’s in trouble. You know what? He IS cute & I think it’s great that you want to tell him that – but pick your moments. Do NOT tell him he’s cute when he’s being mean, disrespectful, or disobedient. He’ll be the cutest kid in prison one day, too, if you keep that up.

All 3 of my boys have excellent traits. All 3 of them have some traits I really wish they didn’t. I wouldn’t trade them for the world though cause they are my boys – through & through (Cameron is so much my child – it’s scary – looks like me, tattle-tale like me, bossy-butt like me … I was more respectful though – wouldn’t have dared saying “no” to my parents like he does). They have traits from their daddy, too, I don’t get all the blame/credit – Ethan looks exactly like his daddy at that age; Alex is a clown like his daddy & has never met a stranger like his daddy; pretty sure that disrespect thing with Cameron came from his daddy – his mom says it came from Steve anyway. They all like to ham it up though & are quite cute when they do – please feel free to tell them how cute they are during THOSE times 😃

Time to get this party restarted....

When I started this blog several years ago, it was to keep family & friends up-to-date on the goings on in our world. The boys were growing quickly (and continue to do so without asking) & life is ever changing for all of us. We don’t get to catch up often so this was my outlet. I’ve taken a long break from it but have decided to pick it up again.

What might this blog hold in the future? Well with 3 boys in elementary school, life is quite hectic – you’ll get some rambling recaps of special events, random conversations, proud moments, not-so-proud moments, laughter, possibly tears, random thoughts (if I don’t write them down, I’ll never remember them later), sarcasm (if you don’t speak this fluently, I apologize – my view is that if I can’t laugh at myself, someone else certainly will so I might as well laugh at myself & I often do this through sarcasm). Who really knows what this blog will hold? I’m a working mom of 3 very active kids with a husband, an extended family & a church family – there’s chaos in this house quite a bit. That will all spill out into blog form, I’m quite sure. But I promise, it’s my aim to have fun on the ride.

HA – I started to say “tomorrow I will post…” but if I say that, there’s a very good chance it won’t happen tomorrow. I’m a procrastinator & if I give myself a deadline, it’ll never happen – I’ll ask for an extension. So instead I’ll say, I’ll post a real update soon.

I wanted to go ahead & put this disclaimer out there though. I blog about what I want to talk about or share. I will question my own parenting skills in a very sarcastic manner because that’s just who I am (ie, my kids may drink more soda & eat more junk than they should; yes, I know I shouldn’t let that happen but oh well, it’ll balance out eventually, right?). I’m not asking for you to make me feel better about the choices or asking your opinion of those choices – I’m just blogging. I’m not thinking of someone else who is judging me for that when I type it so if you get that impression, I do apologize but it won’t change how I do it. If you have a comment, please feel free to share it; but if you don’t want to share it & you don’t like it, my only other suggestion would be that you not read it. I have lots of self-doubt in my parenting style & I’m very tongue-in-cheek about it. Why? Because I have absolutely no doubt that I will screw up sometimes when I’m parenting – it’s part of being human. I’m also comforted knowing that chances are good, I’m not the first one to make the mistake or at least something similar. AND I’m content in the knowledge that God has a plan for me which I likely didn’t follow when I screwed up or maybe I did & He wanted me to learn from it. Basically, I’ll tell you all about it, sarcastically most likely, and then move on – or maybe wallow in it for a bit & then move on – but either way, my family will come out on the other end of this thing called LIFE with some stories, lots of love & hopefully at least a little bit of courage & caring in their hearts.

So – welcome back to our WATERS FAMILY TIDBITS – I hope you’ll enjoy our (my) stories!


P.S. - Being OCD & deciding to restart your blog at 10:45pm is probably not the smartest move. Restarting the blog means updating the cover pictures, the overall look & feel AND writing the actual post (ok – that part took about 10 minutes). It’s now 1:00am, I have to work tomorrow & have decided it’s just going to have to do for now (so please notice I updated the pictures, etc). I blame the graphic artists I used to work with for the fact that I can’t just slap something up there & call it a day (you know who you are).