Something I Learned from the Navy (part 2)

"Can go beach today?" I told Rylee we would go (and we did!) just because I was so happy and surprised that she put a whole sentence together. It amazes me how children pick up language. They go from crying to cooing to "dada" to "Can I have ice cream for breakfast?" It also amazes me at what words they find important. Rylee went through a whole stage where she said "maybe" all the time. "Rylee, do you want some milk?" "Maybe." "Rylee, is it time for a nap?" "Maybe." Haha Well, I began to realize how often I had been saying "maybe" myself!

Words are pretty powerful. I was so inspired by the words I found in the Navy writing guide that I was ready to make some changes in my life. Proverbs 18:21 says that the tongue has the power of life and death. If that's really true, I want and need some words of life in my life, not just words of inspiration. 

My attention was drawn to Philippians 4:4-9 (you know, the "think on these things" passage)  and decided that would be a great place to begin. Here are my new inspirational bullet points:

Faces all situations with joyfulness

Possesses a gentleness that extends to others

Quick to avoid needless worry

Dedicated to prayer

Experiences an incomprehensible and supernatural peace

Epitome of proper thinking

Reputation for practicing what is preached

I think these are some words worth putting on the fridge and being inspired by... I know I am particular about what I don't want said around Rylee because I don't want her picking it up, but what good things are being picked up? I want her to know the principles I aspire to and where they come from. Hopefully I do/say them so often that it is only natural she starts repeating them.

Something I Learned From the Navy (part 1)

I am not in the Navy, but my husband is, and no matter how hard he tries, a little Navy creeps into our home life every now and then.
Recently, Mike has been writing up performance reviews, recommendations and the like for work. He doesn't mind it and mentioned it to me recently. That is why I was not surprised to find "Navy and Marine Corps Performance Writing Guide" on his dresser. I was interested in finding out what was in that book. A bunch of grammar? Formatting? I cracked it open. General rules... write in third person, don't use the usual abbreviations, but write them out, examples of letters. Seems like the usual stuff. Oh, lists of words one should use, lots of action words and adjectives to describe personality, humane qualities, and speaking and writing abilities. Ok, gotcha, make things easy for the guys writing, pick a few words, that describe Smith, and get on with your day.
Then, I found it, the bullet point phrases. At first they seemed silly, "Can do enthusiasm," "even tempered," "elegant manner?" So Navy! hahaha
But then I read on... "composed, not easily excited under stress or pressure," "instills motivation in others with relative ease," "proficient and industrious in performance of duty."
WOW! What I wouldn't give to have those said about me! I got to thinking about the funk I've been in since the start of summer... sleeping in, letting Rylee watch TV most of the day, wanting to be entertained, not work. Blah, what a terrible review I would get!
I was inspired! I want to be better. I decided to chose a phrase, post it on the refrigerator and be it! I would embody the value I posted until it was natural, then chose a new one.
OH, BOY! I chose "maintains an atmosphere of pride and accomplishment." Should be easy, right. I'm always praising Rylee for a job well done and I think I let Mike know that I am proud of him. Enter: potty training!!!! Pride and accomplishment. Pride and accomplishment. "Okay Rylee today we are going to wear big girl underwear!" She somehow managed to stay dry for an hour while I got us ready for the gym. She has to wear a diaper to the gym, so she's off the hook for that part. Pride and accomplishment - she stayed dry a whole hour! Mike got home and I got to tell him the great news! Then, back in underwear, Rylee got really quiet and I found her in a puddle of pee! Pride and accomplishment. Pride and accomplishment! This is okay, let's try again, you stayed dry for one hour this morning. Another pee puddle. I feel the frustration bubbling up yet again. Back to diapers. How can I maintain an atmosphere of pride and accomplishment if I'm not proud or accomplishing anything? 
I am still inspired by the sterling phrases from the "writing guide." Sometimes we all need to be inspired. Maybe a list of guidelines and goals is not for you, but at times I find it comforting to have a direction to follow, to know there is something higher than my day to day sweatpants level of achievement to strive towards. I crave the reaching forward and upward that lets me know there is more to life than PB&J's and cleaning pee-pee puddles; that what I am doing now will affect my future after preschoolers and potty training. I wondered, though, should the Navy be setting my aspirations? As a Christian, shouldn't the Bible be setting my standards? Wouldn't it be easy to have a "Bible Performance Guide" with bullet points that I can post on my fridge? Then I got to thinking... (to be continued)  

I want my Mommy!!

This post should have been written several months ago... Like August/September. Oh, well.
So, over the summer my hubs, Rylee's dad, was on deployment. So I filled my days meeting other moms and their kids to hang out and just pass time, which was way more fun than sitting at home. Plus, bonus, real adult conversation! Rylee was really starting to use more words and even knew the name of her closest (like down the street close) friend. So cute.
Now, when I was growing up, pretty much all of my Mom's friends were from church, so she told me to call them Sister So-and-so, or Brother Whats-his-name. And at the least, people older than me were "Miss" or "Mr." This was the basic manners for respecting adults. After contemplating if this was still a manners thing, or, totally outdated, I settled on calling my mom friends "Miss" whatever their name was. I got excited that Rylee might start calling them by name as it appeared she was recognizing my friends when we met up. Unfortunately, to my horror, Rylee started calling all my mom friends, "mom." WHAT!??!! I'm "mom"!!!!
Rylee didn't call me anything. No "mom" in the middle of the night. No "mommy" when she got a boo-boo. Nothing. And she didn't have to. I was the only one around. When she cried, I was the one who came. When she fell, I picked her up. A dear friend pointed out that there was no dad around to be calling me mom. Rylee didn't know what to call me. I was just there, and I was just sad.
Fast forward a few short months and Rylee finally caught on. How my heart burst to hear, "Mommy!" when I picked her up at daycare at the gym. How I teared up when she said, "nigh nigh, mom." Oh, how precious, that one word out of her sweet, tiny mouth.
It is almost hard to remember those touching times now, as all I hear is, "mom, mom, mom, MOM!!" O!M!G! "I am RIGHT HERE"  I say. She will do it if I'm reading a book and she wants to point something out. She will do it if I'm taking a quick moment to send a text. She will do it even if we are making eye contact!!! EYE CONTACT!!!
I laugh to think of the total paradox in feeling that changed from one extreme to the other in so short a time. I thought about the proverb, "be careful what you wish for." Then I wondered, what was I really wishing for? Just wishing she would call me mom and be... correct?
I think at the time I was really just wishing for the hard mom times to be over and for that small word to show me that she realized all I was for her and all I was doing for her. The sleepless nights, alone, rocking her because she had a cold and she was so congested she couldn't suck her thumb to settle down and sleep. The days of guilt wondering if so much TV was going to cause permanent damage. The long, boring days when I was just sad that hubby was not with us. I needed to know she knew it was me.
Mom. The word means so much.