When Life Gets a Little Too…..LoLo

Hi.

 

………………

 

I’m cheating. I’m writing this Sunday evening, but you’ll see it on Monday. Don’t worry – I do this all the time, but I just don’t always let you know. *shrug* It’s what I do!

 

Today in church, I was able to attend our ladies class (Relief Society) for the first time in AGES. I’ve been snagged nearly every week this past month to go and work in the Primary with the kidlets. Don’t get me wrong, I love the kids…but I also really look forward to my hour every week with my ladies. I got double lucky today, because my favorite lady was teaching.

 

Favorite Lady talked about relationships we have with other people in our lives, and had us map our relationships out and then stand back and take a look at it. Are we where we thought we were? Do we have all of the Loving relationships we thought we did, or are there some weak ones that need work? (It’s called a Genogram, and it was pretty cool!)

 

It made me think about my day to day life in general. Does it look how I want it to look? Not really. I mean, kind of. Ten years ago, if you’d asked me where I’d be ten years after graduating from high school, I would have given you a rather vague, “graduated from college, home, married, with kids.” That much has come true. (The secret to success? Set really realistic goals.)

 

But when I think about the day to day things…my days don’t look how I want them to look. What I mean to say is, the kids are kicking my trash right now. There is no schedule. No order to the day. No graceful flow. It’s just one long stumbling slope from morning to bed time.

Ming Wai has all the charm and sweetness of a doll, and all the social graces of a….well, let’s just say “Socially Graceful” isn’t how we’re describing her right now. “Socially Anxious” would be a better description. Also “Prone to Crying” comes to mind. (As do Loving, Helpful and Affectionate, just so you don’t think I’m completely disenchanted.) The children in our congregation gave a presentation today during our Sacrament Meeting. This happens every year, and it was Ming Wai’s first year participating. She’s in the Sunbeam class, with the other four year olds, and is one of five students in that class. And do you know, four of the students in the class stood up today, at the microphone, and recited their memorized lines. They also stood up and sang songs with the rest of the children. Guess which one sat by her grandmother at the piano, ate string cheese, and attentively watched everyone else doing their thing? Yeah. (At least she’s honest. This morning she told me that yes, she would sit on the stand with Grandma, but no, she would not sing or deliver her lines. *sigh*) Yes, I know she’s four. I get it. BUT. What are the chances that out of five four year olds, only ONE of them would not be able to participate?

 

And let’s not forget Siu Jeun. At the beginning of the meeting, while I was still on the stand conducting the opening music, Siu Jeun was sitting with his father. When we sang the opening hymn, that little dude opened up a hymnal and let out a loud SQUAK at the beginning of every phrase. LOUDLY. He’s also recently discovered tantrums. He has them at least twice an hour, usually for indiscernible reasons. He asks for help getting into a chair, you help him, and suddenly he’s flailing and beating himself, wailing “I do iiiiiiiittt!!!!!!!” *sigh* Looks like the Terrible Twos have struck a few months early.

 

Ok. And yes, let’s just admit right up front that kids are kids. And kids are noisy. And kids cry. (And don’t forget the snot. They seem to have an endless supply of that.) It’s just…how on earth do I slow down and enjoy these days, like all the grandmas tell me to? Where’s the magic fix that shows me how to run the home I dream of, and raise the children I dream of, while dealing with the day to day stresses? For right now, the closest I can come is systematically Siu Jeun – Proofing the house and trying to include Ming Wai in my daily chores as much as possible. But what do I do with Mr. Destructicon? (Seriously. Last week, he snuck into my room and destroyed a video game controller. Drooled on it, as near as we can tell, to the point that it…doesn’t work anymore. When I got out a screwdriver and moved door handles around so that I could lock my bedroom up, he snuck past me and started pulling leaves off the lemon tree that’s in the bathroom, and then started digging through my makeup, looking for something to throw. He was in there for 45 seconds!)

 

Mamas of boys (Debbie?), help me out here. ‘Cause I’m trying. Really, I am.

 

(And, one more thing? Ok, my name? Aunt LoLo? Was inspired by the movie Lilo and Stitch. If you haven’t seen it, go watch it. Now. Then come back here. And then I will tell you – SIU! JEUN! IS! STITCH! That is all. Have a great Monday, y’all.)

PS – Wow. San Francisco.

 

PPS – If you know what I’m talking about in the PS, you get 10 LoLo Points.

 

PPPS – Two years ago, today, I found out that my Grandmother had passed away. She fought with ALS (or Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and that’s something that nobody ever wins. I visited her grave this weekend. I didn’t take her anything. I was going to take flowers, but the kids were out of patience, which meant I was out of time. I don’t recall her particularly liking cut flowers, although Grandpa did…but she always loved Lemon Chicken from the Ranch 99 market across the street from her house. I almost took her some of that, but I thought the gardeners wouldn’t think it was as funny as Grandma would have. I miss her. And if she were still here, I would be taking my Destructicon and my Socially Awkward Butterfly to her house every Thursday afternoon to play with the same toys I played with as a child, and to sit on her bed and watch cartoons and eat all of Grandpa’s pretzels. And I would chase Siu Jeun all over her house while he tried to find new ways to a) destroy things and b) hurt himself. And she would say something like, “That Siu Jeun sure is busy! Glad you’ve got the energy!” And then she’d do this funny clicky thing with her tongue. She’s always done that, as long as I can remember. *click*

 

Grandma passed in the middle of the night. I was pregnant with Siu Jeun at the time, and was living in Connecticut. Unlike my first pregnancy, Siu Jeun was an angel at night and always let me sleep. Not that night. Half an hour after Grandma passed away, Siu Jeun kicked me awake. It was 3 in the morning. Maybe he was just waving as she passed through on her way to Heaven.

 

Grandma Mary, we miss you. And I love you. God bless.