My Little Kingdom

A day in the life of me and my kingdom. Thoughts of a mother of four amazing little boys, a wife of an incredible husband and a woman trying not to forget about herself.

October 26, 2005

Who We Are

Everybody has them whether they want them or not. Quirky little behaviors that make us uniquely our own person. Some of us seem to have more than our share while others seem to just be more obvious than some. While I like to think of myself as being laid back enough as to not to have to claim ownership to any quirky little habit. I’m sure I have one or maybe two.

I’ve come to witness the quirkiness in my own children. Some of which has been inherited by default and some strangely and uniquely their own. For instance, some of the quirky little habits we cherish and at times endure include things like:

Every door/drawer/lid/top/cabinet…. Must be shut. C-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y shut. There is a sixth sense in our home, the ability to sense a door that is ajar in an entirely different room. And every thing must come to a stop until it is closed securely. Once, a disgruntled little boy in an effort to show his mother how much he disapproved of her at that moment, went through out the kitchen opening every cabinet, and drawer as wide as it would go. I was in the laundry room listening to the stomping of feet, the huffing and puffing along with the swoosh of each door and clang of each drawer. Trying to conceal a smile I peeked around the corner just in time to see him stomp out of the kitchen with a furrowed brow. I knew how much it bothered him to have one door the slightest bit ajar so I knew how miffed he was with me when even the dishwasher, fridge and oven were open. He got his point across.

Socks and Seams. I’ve never thought twice about the seams in my socks. However, there is one young man in our home that is obsessed with them. And now I wonder why do we have to have seams in our socks, is there any possible way to make socks without seams? I’m even searching the stores for the sock that has the least seam. The seams have to be aligned just so across the toe. The seam cannot be positioned in anyway that may bring notice to it as the shoe is placed over the sock. Seams and socks…need I go on?

Dinner and the bathroom, or maybe it should be dinner in the bathroom. Since, every time we sit down for a meal we have to suddenly out of no where go to the bathroom in droves.

Sleep overs. One of our boys is a tosser and a turner when it comes to sleeping. he has a double sized bed and he makes good use of it, in fact he still often ends up on the floor. Whenever he stumbles into our room at 2 in the morning and climbes under our covers he's only there for a short little while. Long enough to snuggle in the warmth and then he gets up on his own and goes back to his bed where he has room to roam the mattress the rest of the night.

Toe Jam. Another sweet child of ours has a favorite blanket. This particular blanket was handmade with lots of love. It is woven with big fluffy soft yarn that he loves, I mean loves to jam his little fingers and toes through the loops of yarn. He has done this since he was a newborn. And to this day you can still find him asleep with his toes and fingers poking through the little holes. It's fun to watch him as he drifts off to sleep while weaving himself into his blanket.

A humdinger of a habit. When this little guy begins to grow tired his timer goes off. He begins to hum. And the sleepier he gets the louder he hums. Not only does he hum himself to sleep, but he hums himself awake. It's not a bad little set up alarm.

A hug and a kiss is just that. It is a hug and a kiss and must be delivered in that order and in the proper way, not backwards, not at the same time, not slightly off centered or altered in any way but simply a hug and a kiss.

Then there are the countless quirky little smiles and giggles that we adore. So I suppose having a quirk or two isn’t so bad. After all, it is who we are.