Sunday, September 5, 2010

Half a week of Excellence!

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After only four days of observing my kids' excellent qualities, I am starting to fall in love with them all over again. Especially Boo, as my love for her has been so earned. I could spot excellent qualities in the other two any given moment, but my special challenge has been to catch Boo doing what I want her to be doing. And this week has already helped change that.

On Wednesday, Boo took initiative to plant some flowers. On Thursday, I realized how much she does to entertain Lulu when she's home. Now that she is in school all day, Lulu is not quite so content.

Side note: I just last week figured out Lu's name for her sister: Momo. So close to Mama I almost missed it. When I told Boo, she glowed with pride. I love making that girl glow.

On Friday, we decided to adopt the Captain's brother's #2 kitty, Luna. Theirs is the house where my new little Light Princess recently came home to live. Between two kitties and now two kiddoes, their little kingdom was growing a little crowded. The Light Princess' mama started to discuss finding new homes for the kitties.

Then we had a mouse in our house this week. After four days of taunting us with his chewing noises, he finally got bold enough to run on my counter. So the Captain set up a death tunnel for him, and it worked the first night. Friday morning, I mentioned how I was a little disappointed we had caught the mouse so well, because I had been hoping to make a case for adopting Luna. Strangely, he looked at me with a new expression (besides the usual, yeah, you know we don't really want a cat).

Together we decided that Boo has been really wanting a cat, and we really love cats, and maybe it's time for this family to have a cat. It took the remainder of the day to work out bringing the cat home.

Right before bedtime Friday night, we covered the kids' eyes and brought them into the room where a pet box awaited. I asked, "What is one thing you want more than anything in the world?" And she actually responded, "A pet." Right on cue, Luna meowed from the box.

As soon as she realized that we had indeed brought home a kitty, Boo immediately burst into tears and flew into her daddy's arms, saying, "Thank you!" over and over. The fact that she already knew this kitty just provided icing for the cake. For the remainder of the evening, she choked up several times as she repeated, "I have wanted a kitty so much for such a long time. I still can't believe it!"

About the most gratifying experience for a parent is to give your kid a really good gift and have them be appropriately grateful. She totally delivered on this one.

I was reminded that God also loves to give his children really good gifts. And as one of his children, I can make his heart happy by being appropriately grateful for those gifts. Healthy children. Really a pretty nice house. Two cars. A husband who loves me devotedly. It's a ridiculously good list, truth be told.

Luna perches on the back of the couch at her previous home,
above Angus, who did not come to live with us.

After a very full Friday, Saturday was pretty quiet around here while we prepared for some friends to come for dinner. Once the friends arrived, Boo did an unusually good job of following directions, especially the one about leaving the kitty alone and not taking her friends in the laundry room to visit.

Late last night I spent a few moments reflecting with the Captain about how this week has helped me fall in love with my firstborn. In so many ways, she still is not where I would hope her to be. Yet, in so many ways, she exceeds my desires. She truly has no interest in the common "Hannah Montana" mentality of many of the kids around her. She would much rather be reading her science encyclopedia, planting lima beans, or finding caterpillars in the back yard.

This wild and beautiful creature lives in my house. I love her more every day, and every day I get a little more excited about where her life's journey will take her.

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