Green Eggs & Ham (I do not like them, Sam I Am)

American Crafts - Thickers - Foam Alphabet Stickers - Rockabye - Leaf

Cheers

OH My Gaaaawd! Thank you for such a laff ...sorry... I needed it...I'm having a ROTTEN day with my kids ..teenagers! This is visually embracing and THANK YOU so much for including the story behind this. Man ...I wish I had your patience! :)

February 04, 2012

Green Eggs & Ham (I do not like them, Sam I Am)

Share

-
--do you know who designed the background page? please comment below if you know. thanks!--
For more information, please visit my blogpost:
http://lindseysscraps.blogspot.com/2012/02/creative-thursday-green-eggs-ham-follow.html

There have been a very few times that I have felt completely vulnerable while scrapbooking. The first time was a page I made about our tiny Matthew's first time-out and how I was learning and determining a lifetime route with discipline. The second was a full-disclosure photo of a smiling McKenna in her leg braces at just a few months old; it's not easy to admit you have a child who isn't perfect by the world's standards.

This would be another one of those times. Yes, I chose this battle. No, I don't regret it. I do hope it will make us both better people in the end.

Yes, I realize that this layout is completely erratic and chaotic. I was hoping it would be! It's pretty much how I felt inside, however it might have appeared that I had it all under control in the house that morning.

Journaling:

This is my Sam-I-Am.

McKenna is at the age where she has just started reading Dr. Seuss books - the kinds with the real words, of course. The night before I took this picture, we read Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Suess.

The next morning, feeling like a champion mother, I made sure to get out of bed early enough to cook breakfast for everyone - green eggs & ham. Surprise!

Daddy-I-Am liked them.
Matthew-I-Am liked them.
McKenna-I-Am... Well...

She refused.

I quickly asked, Lord, should I choose this battle? He answered yes, you should choose this battle. We had forty-five minutes until the bus arrived and my mood considered, I chose that battle. I had the time and energy (and therefore patience) so onward we marched. Trying to set aside the fact that I was utterly disappointed that my surprise fizzled faster than the bath salts the kids got for Christmas, without factoring in my own dissatisfaction from not feeling appreciated today, we began. I put the priorities in order: (1) You have to eat a good breakfast before school. (2) This is what I cooked, therefore this is breakfast. Period. These are normal meal rules around here, so I didn't make them up for my own satisfaction. (I was well aware of my own discontentment and I was reallllly trying to keep myself out of this situation - making sure it was a parenting technique, not something for my own gratification.)

By the way, she loves "regular eggs and ham. You know, the yellow ones, Mommy?"

Fast forward 45 minutes and I told her if she didn't eat her breakfast (after which she brushes her teeth, puts her shoes on, and gathers her lunch and backpack) she would miss her bus.

Well wouldn't you know it?

The bus picked up Matthew. Not McKenna. And man, did that set her into a tailspin.

However.

Ten minutes later, she ate almost all of her green eggs and ham, apologized to me, finished getting ready for school and I drove her to school (making sure there was no fun music or entertaining conversation in the car). Fortunately, she loves school and loves riding the bus even more, so using alternative methods for our morning routine did not reward her at all. I emailed and forewarned her teacher of our morning and her teacher replied saying she had been self-managed, good-mannered and all-around well-behaved that morning.

Perhaps it's generational.

Gee, Mom? Are you listening? Whatever that situation was that led me to be sitting at the dining room table unwilling to eat my spaghetti until at the earliest ten o'clock pm, I fully and wholeheartedly apologize for it.

*sigh*
Every day I question, analyze and review my thoughts and actions as a mom and man, do I have a lot to learn, a lot to practice, and a lot to fix. This was a battle not for winning. This was a battle so that one day she could remember what her mom taught her when her daughter is left sitting at the table refusing...

By the way, she loved the green eggs and ham.