A Day to Reflect

As I sat at my computer this morning, my 18 month-old son ran around the kitchen in his fuzzy blue pajamas, looking for something to climb on. My 4 year-old was busy watching "Curious George" on PBS and drinking her chocolate soymilk. This is the norm for my mornings.

Just as I got an idea for my first blog, I heard the kitchen chair behind me start scooting across the floor. I turned around to see my son standing on the chair at the cabinet, digging in a box of vanilla wafers. Vanilla wafers...hmm... not the best choice for breakfast, you say? I agree. However, this was not the first food I offered him for breakfast.

I started my Monday, as usual, with a new weekly goal. You see, this year I decided that I would set weekly goals that are more attainable, rather than stress myself out with some New Year's resolution that I would end up breaking by January 15- my usual day of defeat. So far, the weekly goal thing is going okay.

This week's goal: to eat a new healthy food. The food: Kefir (a liquid-type yogurt very high in good bacteria). My first response to kefir was to gag and spit it out. I hate milk products. I like cheese, but anything that resembles milk makes me sick. However, my son thought the kefir was delicious. I even added fish oil to it to give him DHA, which is good for his brain (I'm secretly hoping that he'll be the next Einstein). Poor kid has no idea!

So... after giving him the kefir, I also gave him a bowl of completely organic fruit salad left over from our Easter lunch on Sunday. For some reason, he loved eating it yesterday, but decided to throw it all over the floor today. Then, when I took the tray of food away from him, he threw his cup of kefir on the floor, too. What is a mother to do? Answer: feed him vanilla wafers so he won't go hungry and fail on day 1 of this week's weekly goal.

Bummer!

Even though I have failed at my goal for the week, I reflect on my life's successes. I realize that with every moment I felt like I had failed, there is another moment when I felt like a total success.

My son may have eaten vanilla wafers for breakfast today. My daughter may have watched too many hours of television while I sat at this computer. And I'm sure that if I thought about it, I failed at something while my 2 older daughters were getting ready for school this morning. However, I am raising 4 beautiful children who look past all of my faults and love me just because I'm Mommy.

As I sat with my family in church on Easter Sunday, I cherished the love I had for each of them, dressed in their Sunday best and sitting like perfect little angels. My husband held our 6 year-old on his lap and I held our 4 year-old as we watched a beautiful illustration of Christ's death and resurrection. I can't imagine anything more successful than raising a family.

So... today I focus on the successes of my life. And since I failed at my weekly goal to eat a healthy food, I eat a piece of chocolate candy from the Easter basket.