2 books

I just read two books to my kids as they went to sleep tonight.

While today, for me, has not been a horrible, no good, very bad day - I have had my share of days like that. It's a very well written book that really captures the build up of all those little things that can make an entire day hard to get through. I have a friend that anytime things are rough she'll post "some days are like that, even in Australia," and I think that idea and concept can help us to get through those horrible, no good, very bad days.

A runaway - at dinnertime tonight, my 4 year old Eli was standing on the chair as usual and so I told him I would take his chair away so he could stand on the floor. I'm not the best mom at sticking to what I say and actually doing it but once in awhile I will follow my words and tonight was one of those times and Eli found himself without a chair. His solution was to go up to his room but instead of the typical tantrum of screaming, wailing, gnashing of teeth and slamming of doors, he calmly came back down with his backpack he got for his birthday and said he needed someone to drive him to his "other real house" and that he was going there with the clothes he put in his bag. Now my mother-in-law loves to tell the story of how my husbands sister "ran away" from home to her grandparents for a week. So I asked Eli if he wanted to go live with Aunt Nikkie and Grandma but he replied "No, my other real home doesn't have any adults." I found this rather amusing and after talking a bit more Eli calmed down and went to looking at books. After dinner I called my mother-in-law to tell her all about it and give her a good laugh, Eli came over and I explained what I was telling grandma and she had me tell him how she would be sad that she couldn't see him. His response was that his other house had a phone so he could call. We all laughed and thankfully Eli was ok with it tonight and didn't get angry for my laughing.

The other book I read tonight was

This book hit home for me tonight. I often struggle with feelings of being a "bad mother," and sometimes this is due to comparing myself to other mothers and what they do or don't do. In the book "Just Like You," a little mouse and his mother pass by a bunch of different families and they overhear the moms and dads talk about the wonderful things they do for their kids. When they get home, the little mouse is troubled and ask his mother what she could do for him since she is just a small mouse and can not fly or run faster than a fox. The mother mouse then goes on to tell how there are lots of things she can do like read him stories or get him good food or even get upset when he does something he shouldn't (the illustration that goes with this one is of the little mouse painting on the door and the wall) but most of all she loves him and that makes him very special. Then, as the mother mouse leaves the room of her little child he calls out to her and says "Just like you," thus telling her that she is special too. I know I'm not the only mom out there that feels like they're pretty worthless and are doing a crappy job at times, but even if all we can do is get ourselves out of bed, feed the kids and then sit with them while they play and watch movies in a dirty house, as long as we love them we are special and so are they.