Proud from the begining

Wanting to tell everyone about my new grand kids but not wanting to annoy people by starting a conversation by saying "have you heard about my new grandchildren, there are two of them" I took a different approach by photographing you and your brother and made 3" photo buttons which I wore every day for about a month. I never had to start a conversation about you. Your Mom made me a new sweat shirt with your and Joel's hand prints in it. White shirt- red and blue hand prints. I still wear it proudly and when your Mom found out that I still had it she made another one last year-I haven't worn it yet and will hold off until have a new set of hand prints added.

Tale of the "POO" reprise

I remember the telling of the tale of the "poo". But another I vividly recall was that your dad's brother discovered a way to "pee" without leaving his room OR bed. The Headboard was a metal frame. The post had caps on them. Removing the cap, Uncle Jack used the post void to "void" and replaced the cap. Soon the distinctive odor of urine began to come from his room. Then we discovered a puddle of rusty water under that post. Stern corrective word were issued and out of both of your hearing and sight MeMee and I had a great laugh. Remember the Scout motto of "Be Prepared" and expect your kids to surprise you in original and challenging ways. It's part of the vaulted title of PARENT and life with your children is to short to spend it upset over the small stuff.

A Family Grows

Grandmother & I were were living a peacefull life, just the two of us in a nice sized 4 bed room house when all of a sudden things began to change. Your Dad graduated from Baylor University and your Mom & Dad decided to move to Kansas City, get a job and settle down. Grandmother & I suggested that they live with us until a job was found. We knew that your Mom was expecting but when we found out that it was not one but two that were on the way it was decided that everyone should continue at our house where it would be easier to care for the double trouble we were expecting. God works in mysterious ways. With this arrangement Grandmother & I had an opportunity to get to know our new son-in law who we had not been around very much and to welcome our first grand childten into our lives. From the two of us we quickly grew into four then into six. Our lives were changed forever, all for the better.

?nwod edispu daer uoy naC

That's backwards because I'm not aware of an upside down font.  And if your backward reading skills are a little weak the title is "can you read upside down?"

Before you all could read for yourselves I would read stories to you pretty much every night before bed.  Frequently we'd sit together on the couch, but other times we'd read on the floor and you and your brothers would be on one side of the book and I'd be on the other – thus the need to read upside down.  I became pretty adept at it – especially with sans serif fonts.  Word of warning Dr. Seuss books are a bit of a challenge.

Not earth shattering, nor resume building (although useful in contract negotiations), but a useful skill nonetheless.

Enjoy your kids being kids

I was reminded of this story when Mom was talking with Joel earlier this week.

When you all (Joel and Jonathan) were very young, still in diapers and cribs, Mom put you two down for your afternoon nap one day and after a few moments of commotion and then quiet, she figured you all were asleep.  After your reasonable sleep time Mom entered the room to a big surprise.  There you two were asleep in your own cribs, with your respective diapers removed and laying up by your head.  Not so bad.  The poo smeared all over the wall and thrown around the room, though?  Not so good.

Mom was able to take pictures of you two (none posted here, yet) before she got upset, woke you up, and reprimanded the behavior.

What to learn?  Yeah, it's a pain to clean up a mess like that but you were babies.  And babies like to explore things.  Everything.

Lots more stories we could share, but remember to enjoy your kids at whatever stage they are in even when the behavior may be *immature*....enjoy feeding them, burping them, washing them, reading to them, playing games with them, listening to them read, helping them with homework, lending them the keys to the car, getting beaten at games by them, seeing them get married, have kids, etc., etc.
 

Intentional and Accidental Impact

Jennifer asked me what is something you deliberately did that had the biggest impact on the kids?  And what is something you accidentally did that had the biggest impact on the kids?

I'm not one for superlatives as they tend to be too subjective.  So rather than saying the 'biggest' impact, I'd offer up some things that had a 'big' impact.

Intentional actions

1- Reading to you pretty much every night before bedtime, or listening to your reading when you were older.

Of course I also remember times when I was so tired I would fall asleep while reading to you...or just start mumbling words because I was falling asleep.  Then one of you would poke me and ask what I was doing.  No excuses, just tired.

The original "Peter Pan" is a fantastic book for reading out loud to your kids.  The sentence structures are great.  The story is great, etc.

I was really happy that Mee-mee and Paw-paw gave us the blue Bible story books when you all were young and we could share those together.  I remember reading those bible story books as a kid and it was great to share them with you all.

2- Individually praying for you and tucking you into bed every night.

We prayed for you when you were too young to pray and then listened to your prayers as you got older.  It was great when you would request us to pray with you and for you.

3- Being involved in your activities

Music was probably the biggest intentional thing we shared.  It was so fun to watch you all grow in your musical abilities and see you bless others with your abilities.  Accompanying you all at numerous IHSA events or other auditions is another great memory.

While none of you continued with sports, our few years as coach / father / son in baseball and basketball was an intentional activity we shared.  Of course I won't go into detail in this posting when Jonathan was an umpire in little league and umped a game where I was coaching Peter's team.  That's part of another book.  It was a growing experience for both of us.

Who knows what your kids will do, but intentionally be involved in their life.  And don't wait till they're at 'the right age'.  Start from the time they're born.  Make it a priority.

Accidental Impact

- Boy scouts

That pretty much sums it up.  I didn't have good experiences with the short time I was in scouts as a kid and had never thought about getting you all involved in scouts.  However, I'm very thankful Jennifer got you all going as Tigers.  And as all three of you are Eagles, I'd say you are glad too.

Scouts is a great program that can teach great life skills - if you have the right adults involved.  If you have sons I hope you can share scouts with them and you'll be one of those adults who can help lead your sons and others.

While only Peter was interested in doing Philmont, that was a great time together.  We'd both go back to Philmont in a heartbeat.  And none of us will forget the Klondike derby sleeping in tents in -6 degree weather.  Watching all three of you lead the whole troop as the Senior Patrol Leader was an incredible experience.

Shared experiences - that's one of the things scouts can provide and I hope you can share with your kids.  If not scouts, shared experiences, that's a great thing.

Ideas for posting

1. Ways to serve
2. Are you a leader or a servant?
3. Be a super model, not a talking head.
4. How do you model being a husband to your kids? 
5. What scriptures have helped you as a Dad (and provide some examples, anecdotes, etc.)? 
6. How do you balance work and family? 
7. What do you do when you’re trying to relax and your son wants to play? 
8. How do you help your kids learn to make decisions? 
9. How should discipline change as kids grow? 
10. How do you teach your kids to make good decisions?

I'll be sharing about these in the coming weeks / months / etc. and welcome you to join the conversation.