"mama - look at my stickers I made this for you"
All three books of stamps were stacked, one by one, on top of each other in a perfect-for-a-two-year-old stack. I attempted to salvage them - and the first three were the only ones that I could…the others were torn or mangled beyond use.
But in her cuteness I couldn't get mad, at her.
Honestly, I was bummed. Such a stilly thing to be disappointed about…but I was. I sincerely like to send a little bit of us home to our extended family/friends in Oregon during the holidays. Christmas is just 9 days away, and in order to get more stamps I'd have to haul two preschoolers and my sick/painful self back to the postoffice which is 15 minutes away (and then that wait in line again) for more stamps.
So I vented on Facebook.
and discovered per some comments from my friends that: at 2 years old, using stamps as stickers is just a right of passage, and I should buy her some stickers :).
Glad that others found humor in my $20 mistake.
So I brush off the stamp drama until tomorrow, knowing that if I go out again for round two of stamps my energy to get me through solo-kid wrangling the rest of the day will be shot (Paul left for SD today). If you know anything about my kids…energy is an absolute requirement. Especially around 4:40/5pm. This is the crazy hour at the Loprinzi house. The hour when the kids run around non-stop, I am not joking. They run laps around our main level for about 30 minutes without stopping. It is noisy and chaos, and if it doesn't happen, well it just isn't 5pm at our house.
Right at this time I heard a knock on the door. A knock that probably took me longer than normal to realize because of the noise drowning out that knocking, leaving my sweet neighbor standing outside in the cold forever.
In her hand….
STAMPS.
random act of kindness.
Such a sweet gesture, and one I won't forget.
In my stunned haze I didn't even invite her in, I still don't have my "southern" manners down. Though to be honest, I'm sure she wouldn't have wanted to experience the chaos that is 5pm at the Loprinzi house anyway - that or she'd need something for a headache post visit.
Dinner time came, and the usual bickering that occurs was unusually absent today. Ryk was the stellar firstborn, setting the example of behavior that amazed me. He ate, without one complaint or teasing of his siblings. Then he cleared up his plate, without me even asking. I asked him to go take a shower when he was done and thanked him for cleaning up his spot. He said "even though I don't want to right now, I'll go do it."
I was amazed.
After I read books and tucked Kip and Jov into bed, I went into Ryk's room. Nighttime Ryk/mom talks have become one of my favorite parts of the day. Tonight, he told me that his teacher was encouraging them to do a random acts of kindness every single day. He said today he chose to do two. First he helped a classmate clean up his backpack when it spilled all over when it was time to go to the bus. And for the second one
"I chose to be kind to you, all day, even when I didn't want to. Like when I just cleared up my dinner plate, or when I took a shower when I didn't want to…I just did it" Yep, I chose you!
and his smile, and my tears, oh my love for this little boy.
He is just 7 years old, and never fails to teach me something every single day.
That boy. He makes me melt.
*****
So then I took the time to explain to him about Jovie and her stamp turned sticker dilemma. And about our sweet neighbor who rescued this stamp-less mama in distress.
He was amazed that people actually do these random acts of kindness, even when their teacher isn't making them. So we talked about the feelings he got when he was doing good for his classmate, and for me. That sometimes, the person doing the random act of kindness experiences greatness just like the receiver of the act.
Today, it was good.
2 comments:
What a great end to a chaotic day! Love you, Emily
I'm totally bawling. You have amazing kids. Just like their Mama. :-)
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