Strike!

I have had the most surreal few days of my life.  I've been toying with that whole sending positive thoughts out to the universe thing that is so popular these days and whilst I would normally ridicule such malarkey, something really feels like it's shifting in my world...  Actually our (my family's) world.

Much to my surprise I received a nomination for the Barnados Australian Mother of the Year Award http://www.bamya.com.au/html/ and I am not going to talk about that right now as it simply renders me speechless to think about someone taking the time to nominate me.  I am blown away, honoured and totally shocked but also truly grateful to my friend Belinda Stanton (who is a new mum and incredibly busy herself) for doing such a lovely thing for me.  I'll probably talk about it at some stage on here but for now I'm just taking the time to enjoy the feeling of appreciation and gratitude and keeping all those wonderful warm fuzzy feelings just for me and my family.....  That was huge news but what I'm writing about now came up because of another positive universe gift landing in my lap unexpectedly.

Yesterday I literally stumbled upon a fabulous business opportunity for My Special Story Books For Special Kids (will divulge more as it pans out) and I am now sitting in the middle of a BIG MESS in the lounge room with kids running wild and fingers flying across the keyboard (also wildly) putting together a proposal I need to be ready NOW....... I've practised the old saying of picking my battles wisely today and am not sweating the small stuff (by small I mean small people) and have had a day of relaxing the usual rules and schedules we tend to follow to keep order and calm around here for the boys to feel secure.

No schedules, planned activities, outings, extending skills through play, using every moment as a teaching opportunity or anything remotely like our usual day today.  Today has been about the basics like food preparation and avoiding injury or death (basically).  Everything else has been focused on this proposal.  Now  don't normally put work first but this proposal has the potential to change our financial and therefore life circumstances so by putting work first today, I was inadvertently putting my boys first. Today I bowed to the altar of the Television God and asked it to babysit my wild boys so I could just get a few things finished by deadline.....   TV did a pretty crappy job of the babysitting in honesty but it did provide a few moments for me to knuckle down and the rest of the day I simply chose to ignore the mess being made in the kitchen as the small people delightedly unpacked the Tupperware cupboard and arranged it in their own unique fashion around the rest of the house.  I ignored toy buckets being tipped out and galloped through, I ignored the usual scuffles and bickering between brothers who always think the others grass is greener in toy land.  I ignored A WHOLE LOT.  

I am very pleased to say though, I did not ignore my son when he asked me a really important question.  I listened to him and encourage all parents to really listen to their kids even when stressed and even when on whatever deadline you might be on during your day.

It might NOT be the same question you've been hearing on repeat all day, week, month about a packet of chips, a biscuit or whatever food item they NEED in any given moment over a day of grazing. They might actually be really asking you a question you want to answer... J and H (my kids) have huge issues with sharing anything including a moment in their games as they are on the Autism Spectrum as you would know if you follow this blog. Today I was multi tasking in the usual busy mum fashion, on hold on a phone call, reading an email on my laptop which was propped upon the kitchen bench and throwing something resembling morning tea together for the boys feeling totally overwhelmed, exasperated and stressed out.

J came to the kitchen door and asked this question: "Mummy, would you like to have a turn playing bowling on the Wii with me?"

I hung up the phone, walked away from the computer and said, "I would LOVE to have a turn playing bowling on the Wii with you." I was then thrashed by the Wii bowling champion of the world whilst his little brother and my favourite cuddle bunny in the world, H,  cheered enthusiastically from the sidelines of our lounge room shouting, "Strike, YAY STRIKE" for both J and I regardless of whether we scored a virtual Wii strike or threw a gutter ball.  It was a really nice moment.

Listen to your children. If I didn't listen in that moment I would have missed it and it was a wonderful one of sharing J and H's special world.