It's the Little Things

As a parent it really is a nice feeling to hear stories about stuff your kids did and understand that you've done all right raising them.  To learn that they actually are picking up stuff you think you're teaching them is rewarding.  I stress the importance of finding the 'little things in life', and by appreciating them, they will make you smile.  Here are a few examples of the little things in my life.

Gage loathes onions and green peppers (well peppers of any kind except hot peppers).  Like seriously, he's a pain in the ass at dinner picking through his food looking for these hidden critters.  The other day he was telling me his boss made him an omelet at work because they were too busy to get their breaks.  I asked what kind and he said a Western.  I looked at him sideways and questioned how he handled that.  He said, "I ate it anyway.  He was nice enough to make it for me, so I choked it down.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be."   Eureka!  Proof number 1!  I have always hoped that they would behave properly when out in public without me but since I'm not there (hence the without me part) I figured I'd never truly know. 

And here's another example from Gage.  He borrowed my computer last week and inadvertently left his Facebook page open.  Now I'm a mother of a 15 year old boy who I know dabbles in the marijuana intake once in a while so of course I perused his messages.  He's smart enough to have deleted his history, but luck was on my side as one of his friends had messaged him recently and therefore all the past messages from that particular kid also showed up.  At one point in the stream Gage was explaining to said friend how I busted him for something and he was in trouble.  His friend's reply went something like this, "Why is she such a bitch lately?" (About me!  I mean really!) Now Gage could have agreed in his answer but he didn't.  His reply was, "She's not being a bitch at all.   It was my fault for not following her rule."  D'aw, my kid has my back!  That's the best feeling ever, even if he had to break the rule (and the fact that I went snooping through his stuff) to find out. 

And finally, on the weekend Roan was helping me make Guacamole for the first time and while we were chit chatting he mentioned that he liked avocados.  I found this strange because aside from this moment and one other time I haven't fed him avocados or really even had them in the house.  So of course I inquired where he'd tried it.  One of his best friends (J.H) is a vegetarian, his whole family is and he mentioned that J.H's mom cut up some avocado and gave it to them to eat with spoons right from the skin as a snack.  I never thought in a million years my kid would eat that.  While I love it myself, he's a stickler on things that are different.  Out of my two children I'd have thought Roan would be the one to unknowingly be tactless and tell her he wasn't eating it.  He proved me wrong.  And for once, I like being wrong. 

I know there are tons of bloggers out there that post weekly or monthly about the things they are grateful for.  I've always thought about doing that myself but it's been shelved somewhere in the back of my mind.  Some weeks are harder than others to find anything to be grateful for and some weeks it's just so super easy.  So I guess consider this my post about some things I'm grateful for.  I make no promises that this will become routine.  I do hope my kids continue to give me reasons to be grateful though.  It's not too much to ask is it?