Noah | Six With Sticks

He’s relentless. Doesn’t he get tired of hearing himself? “I want ice cream. I want ice cream.” That was what he said tonight the entire time the rest of us were eating birthday cake. He didn’t get any dessert.

Now we’re sitting in bed. He is in our bed. “I’m hungry. I’m hungry.” This could go on for another few minutes. Maybe he’ll wear himself out. But, we’re not giving in to this behavior. It actually becomes easier and easier to ignore. He’s been doing it the entire time I’ve been writing this blog. Maybe I’ll let him do it a few more minutes before I put him to bed.

“Stop it Whoah!” Maggie has had enough. “Stop it, stop it, stop it. Mom, he not stopping. He stop!” “I’m hungry.” “Shh. Shh. Shh.”

Some days it tests your patience to be a parent. You hope you aren’t being too harsh on them. “I didn’t get to eat. I’m hungry.” He did, in fact, eat. He had pasta and bread and some salad. I’m not starving my child. He just didn’t like the dessert that was served.

He’ll eat a good breakfast in the morning. Time to put the boy to bed. “Night, night, Noah, sweet dreams”

I’ve recently been putting things into perspective. Thought it would be neat to start a diary to record some of my thoughts.

We just spent a great weekend in Rhode Island. Jane married Tom this weekend. It was a great event. It was a relatively stress-free weekend too, which is kinda crazy considering all the hours we spent in a car. The kids danced a lot at the wedding! Elizabeth danced with her godfather and learned some new moves. Eden already has moves, apparently. George tells me I’m in deep shit! Maybe he’s right.

This morning, in bed, Maggie said her name. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever heard her say Maggie. I asked her what her brother’s name was. “Whoah”. What about your sister, pointing to Eden. “E-ee”. So sweet her little voice and she laughed.

I read a really great quote this morning. “Life is for participating, not spectating.” Got me out of bed wanting to have a great day. So I took the kids for a run this morning, Elizabeth, Eden and Noah. Noah made it a block, Eden went about two blocks. Liz, of course, ran the whole way.

Later I took the kids up to Hillcrest. This was the first time Elizabeth rode without her training wheels. One of the moments in life I wish I had a camera, so proud. “I got past my fear Dad”, she said as she flew by me on the bike. “I realized it’s not as hard as I thought.” She got frustrated because she couldn’t make the turn on the short end of the parking lot. She tried it about 6 times unsuccessfully, and looked like she was going to cry when she ran into the curb and scraped up her leg. I told her that I guarantee that she’d be able to do it the next time we come up here. “No”, she said, “I’m going to get it now.” And she did, on the next try she started a wide turn from all the way to the right of the parking lot and nailed it!

Eden rode her bike the whole time. She’s gonna kick the training wheels before long. Noah rode his big wheel all over Hillcrest, with Maggie chasing him. They got disinterested before too long, and started playing with dirt and rocks. I didn’t mind, because they all were having fun.

Tomorrow I’ll be 33. Before we know it, we’ll have a fifth. Boy? Girl? We’ve kept it a surprise. Marcia has put up with a lot through this pregnancy. I’m hoping she makes it at least two more weeks so she can get her beach vacation…