rewards

I could never describe to someone the complexity of being a stay-at-home mommy. It's really a see for yourself kinda occupation. I LOVE what I do and choose to stay home with my kids, no one makes me. But man! I was never warned what a difficult job it can be at times... and we haven't even hit the teenage years. At times I feel like I've bitten off more then I can chew. My mom made it look SO easy. Not only did she make it look easy, she had ONLY good things to say about her occupation as "homemaker".

Well as a mother of two children, one two year old and a two month old, I'll be the one to tell you it's anything but easy. Oh, wait! There are occasions where things seem easier or more calm throughout our day. I call those periods of time "nap time". Although this chosen occupation of mine is anything but easy, I continue to love what I do.

Along with the intensity of this job comes vast and constant rewards. No, I'm not talking about chocolate, clothing (shoes), or even money. Those are things of the past (seen as how I choose to stay home & therefore forfeit my income). The rewards I'm talking about are seen in my children. I get to see my hard work payoff.

I have many examples to use, but just most recently is one about learning manners. My mother taught us great manners & I choose to instill the same in my children. The thing with children (or my child) is you have to tell them something about 500 times in order for them to understand. This can be very testing, discouraging and make your efforts seem unaccomplished. But just as you reach that point where you wanna throw in the rag cause you're tired of telling them something for the 499th time... they 'REWARD' you. This reward comes in all shapes and sizes but in fact at the PERFECT timing.

Now for the example...
I've been trying to teach Tyler to answer someone with "no thank you" if he doesn't want something instead of just plain "no". Not a big deal, I know... It just sounds nicer. Well at two years old the poor kid just learned thank you, & I have to go switch things up on him. I asked him to get up to the table for a snack and proceeded to ask him if he'd like one of his usual snacks to eat. Drummmm roll please..... "no thank you", he answers. Eureka! One mommy reward granted! And the pleasure of seeing my work payoff was great.

So a small step, I know! But I count every single one of them and I'm thankful for them ALL! My two year old has great manners (for a two year old). Don't get me wrong... he's only two and still working on them. But he's a pretty sharp tool... a bright crayon... if you know what I mean!