Above, below, and in between!

When I worked at a preschool I noticed that there are 3 types of moms. 1. The moms who think their kids are amazing and above average in everything they do. Normally their kids were not! 2. The moms who think their kids do everything inccorectly or think their kids are below average in everything. Again, normally they weren't. 3. Down to earth moms who are chill about everything and realize their kids are above average in some things and below in others. Normally those moms had about 4 kids and had chilled out over the years of child rearing!

With all of the "types of moms" I had gotten to know over the years I have tried my hardest to not be mom 1 or 2. Its hard man!! When your son first arriving in Peru is able to understand everything and everyone with different Spanish accents at only 18 months, its hard not to think he is a genius. And when you go to a restauant and your son screams for no reason and is unconsolable, its hard to not think he has issues. Hahaha! Its always something I tell you! Its hard not to think he is either the greatest ever or the worst ever! Its hard to see the in between times. So I try and make myself see all, the above, below, and in between.

Here are some examples from this very morning.

Above: Santi found Papi's headphones. After adorably putting them in his ears and doing a little jig he looked at me and a lightbulb turned on. I saw it! He ran into his room, unplugged the sound machine cord (not from the wall, but from the back of the machine) and attempted to plug in his head phones. I was floored. Im not surprised he knows you have to plug in the headphones, he has seen us do that a million times. Im surprised he thought of something just his height that had the same type of cord. Bless his heart he tried and tried to get the cord to fit. Sadly, it isn't the same cord so it didn't fit. But I was still impressed. Its wonderful to see his brain working, problem solving, and figuring things out.

Below: This morning at breakfast Santi was screaming for "more". He still had half a banana and half a bowl of cereal. I couldn't figure out what he wanted more of. I asked if he wanted fresas or uvas (strawberries or grapes). "NO!" What the heck does he want? He needs to learn to speak more words, not just understand them. He kept telling me he wanted "more!" Ahhh!!! Finally somehow I understood he wanted more cereal. Yeah, like I said his bowl was still half full. All that and he still had everything he wanted. Oh and another below from just this morning. He enjoyed trying to stick his tiny fingers in the outlet behind my chair. AWESOME!! My outlets have plastic covers but he knows how to take them out. So helpful!

In between: These are the times Santi sits quietly and plays with his cars or blocks or books. These are the moments that are easily overlooked because whenever he isn't doing something amazing or horrible I like to actually DO things like...go to the bathroom, load the dishwasher, fold laundry, check email, you know...fun stuff!

Oh the joys of motherhood! The most rewarding and yet hardest job on the planet!

Santi with Papi's headphones.