This is my question for anyone I encounter that has lived in Bern longer than us. My Colombian neighbor that has lived here for years swears it will still snow again. The Swiss say we can count on another snow by April or even into April. What???? Let’s hope these snow-loving people are so wrong. Because I NEED Spring. Yes, I said NEED. I need some regular sunshine and time outside of this house. And so do the boys. We have had some really nice days this week and we have gotten out each afternoon after nap.The gardeners came and cleared out the old grasses and plants, revealing tons of tulip, daffodil looking plants! So exciting! I keep telling myself that the gardeners would not have cleared the winter plants away until winter was over. Right?!

Earlier this week when the weather looked promising we dug out some outside trucks and the t-ball set Aunt Sara and Uncle Thomas sent Jackson a while back. Spring training you know. Well, Owen, in case you all weren’t aware has some very promising baseball skills. The fact that the boy knew how to hold the bat, place the ball on the tee, followed by a vigorous and well-aimed effort to hit the ball off the tee, is amazing to me! Walking has given him a whole new lease on life.  He feels so liberated to try to keep up with Jackson.

sneaky guy

Jackson is also loving the spring fling. He is out the atrium door before I even know he is gone. Often half in pj’s and without shoes.   He is in teacher mode with Owen these days, showing him the ropes on the big boy bike, ball throwing and rock skipping. Owen is usually receptive. Usually.  Jackson is also staying busy with his English playgroup. We added a morning last week so he now goes Wed and Fri mornings. He loves it. This week they have been preparing for Carnaval that begins this weekend. We will be going to the kinder parade tomorrow afternoon. Pictures of that to come I am sure! Below is his clown mask he made!

Wait, stop. This momma isn’t gonna buy anything. or at least not a string of things to keep you feeling happy if one thing breaks.

We have sung this song a zillion times with our boys. Well, mainly with Jackson when he was younger. But sometime around the time that Jackson hit his toddler prime I became very disenchanted with it. He was totally self-absorbed, as he should have been as a 2 something and spent every ounce of his energy to get what he wanted. And somehow, at some point I sang that song and it hit me that I was feeding him a message I wasn’t sure I wanted him to have. Don’t worry if this doesn’t work because we will buy you something else, and if that doesn’t work, don’t worry…we will just find something better. The other message is if you are quiet I will get you what you want.

Now just to clarify, I am not against a good bribe. There are times and places when bribes are a NECESSITY. You may not agree and that is okay. But I find there are times when a distraction, i.e. a piece of candy or something unexpected, can be both pacifying and motivating. And yes, at least in our home there are times when certain members of the family need encouragement to be quiet or motivated to obedience, whichever the case may be.

The truth is we do love to give our children gifts. And gifts are fun and satisfying. But they aren’t going to fulfill us. There is comfort for a child in knowing that their parents can provide for them. But I think we are doing our children a disservice if we let them think we can fix anything and provide everything.  Because the truth is we can’t. And I am sort of a perfectionist so this is hard to say. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind my kids being proud of their mom and thinking she is superwoman…but I am not. As Jackson has grown I have been talking to him about how the things we have are blessings. I don’t hesitate to say, Daddy has been working extra hard at work to make money for us to use and we have decided we will use some of our money to buy such and such. I don’t want him to think he can get anything he wants. Sure I want him to be happy and as a parent I do want to give him things he will enjoy but that doesn’t always mean it’s the best thing for him. I want him to see a correlation between work and earning, and I want him to see the joy in unexpected blessings.

And if you sing this song, sing away. But for now while my kids are in the “me”, “mine”, “all my own”, “more”, “it’s just not fair” phase of life I think I am going to look for some other tunes! Because this momma is too tired to go hunting for a mocking bird that sings, shiny diamond ring, a looking glass, a billy goat and a horse and cart.