The Enlightened Parent

Well, I went back and read my last update and I didn't mean for it to sound like such a downer. Maybe it calls for an amendment... It really wasn't all that bad (or maybe my happily selective memory is kicking in =] ).

On Valentine's Day (while awaiting my slightly postponed date with Dave) I got together with two other moms and we got a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's. I also got adventurous and (in between several breaks to nurse and dish up pizza) made a flourless chocolate cake. No, this wasn't trying to be low-carb and healthy... it was basically two melted dark chocolate Lindt bars with sugar and some eggs to give it enough body to bake.... yum!! On the upside, things have been going pretty well this week. Dave is almost back to his normal 8-8 work schedule (at least most of the time) and Jackson is almost starting to get into a routine... sometimes.

The ward choir Easter program is approaching with alacrity and despite my repeated recruitment attempts, our typical turnout is marginal at best and abysmal at worst. The all-time low was during Dave's week of craziness... he had to go into work that day so I was on my own to begin with. Then we had only a handful of people and several of them were, shall we say, those who contribute to choir with their spirit... and not their voices. By the end of rehearsal I was very discouraged and despairing of ever pulling off any performance, let alone an Easter program. But, not being one to go down without a fight, I decided to make one last stand- one desperate attempt- before accepting that choir would forever go into the annals of mediocrity and oblivion. So, I went to the post-Valentine's day clearance at Target and bought massive amounts of candy and treat bags. I assembled 50+ treat bags and tried my hand at poetry to produce the following verse for the flyer:

Ode to Choir

Ward Choir is off to a sluggish start
With barely two people to a part.
Try as I might to get more to come,
Eight people is our total sum.
You may think you don't have a splendid voice,
But if you came I would think it cause to rejoice!
You don't have to be great; please don't be shy,
Just come on out and give it a try!

On the lovely Saturday afternoon mentioned in my previous update, I set out to deliver these to our ward (which is luckily fairly small geographically) with Jared as my runner. An hour and a half later, they were all delivered and Jared said, "That was really fun, mom! It was like Curious George delivering newspapers to people. I want to do that again!" I am disappointed to report that we did not have 50+ people at choir the next day... but we did have a good turnout and a good rehearsal. While I was hoping to get some new people to try choir (and there were a few new people) most of the people who came were people who used to come to choir or spouses of current attendees... oh well, I hope all the other people enjoyed the candy. But this week we still had a good turnout as well as a low-key performance (simple hymn arrangement) and so choir is looking up.

This past week I decided to finally do something with the kids' room. Their bunkbeds had hand-me-down matching denim bedspreads, but they were so heavy that the kids didn't usually actually sleep with them and it was really hard for the kids to make their own beds. Solution: I went to Target and got three different bedspreads to decide which would be the cutest for the soon-to-be cute room with new matching bedspreads. While we were on that fateful trip to Target, Jared's life was changed: he fell in love. He saw, on that aisle at Target, something that he never knew existed: a Transformers Bedspread.

Now in my wise and enlightened parenting, I know that cartoon characters are evil marketing directed at children to get them to become a consumer group that can bend their parents' purchasing decisions at will with the use of whining and nagging. And any enlightened parent knows that it is so much better to decorate a child's room with something timeless and classic instead of a cheap marketing ploy with lesser-quality design and materials. But Jared is not an enlightened parent... and he was in love. And he didn't really whine for the transformers bedspread... he just tried to make it clear HOW MUCH BETTER he liked it than anything else he had ever seen. I narrowed my selection down to cute blue and white pottery-barn style quilts or solid red quilts. Jared said, "Mom, I REALLY like the transformers bedspread. I REALLY like it the BEST!!" I thought maybe I would compromise and go with the red quilts and then let Jared get Transformers bedsheets to go under them (where I wouldn't have to see them). I compared the three classy quilts that I brought home and Jared, hanging on to the thread I gave him, begged, "Please, mom!!! Can I open the Transformers sheets??"

Finally, after much debate, Dave suggested, "Would it really be so bad to just get him the Transformers bedspread?" The enlightened parent in me balked, resisted and refused. But the parent in me who was once a kid (who was in love with Rainbow Brite, Care Bears and all kinds of other hideous and tacky things) relented and said, "You're right, it's probably not such a big deal." And so the Transformers bedspread found its way to Jared's bed-- he proudly shows it first thing to any friend who comes over. Camryn, although she agreed it was cool, was not in love with the Transformers bedspread. So instead she picked out a "Happy Flower" bedspread, a bright and cheerful assortment of marshmallow-cereal-colored patterns with quilted flowers and butterflies. So, after spending money to "do their room," it looks less put together than before, their two bedspreads do not match at all... and the kids both love it. (Now if only they would make their beds....)

Karen

Quotes of the week:

Camryn: "Goodbye daddy! Have a good day with your teacher at work!"