The Curse

Just now during breakfast there were a couple spills, so far that is.  They are still eating... I know you are thinking it was Little Girl who just recently decided she is too big for a lid on her cups.  You would be incorrect.  In fact the most likely candidate in our home would be Little Boy.  The poor kid suffers from impulsive clumsiness.  I love him like my luggage, but there is a dark dark spill-cloud hovering over him at all times.  It's comical really.  Comical, and sad, and frustrating for him.  Today as luck (bad luck) would have it, he opened a new box of those individual sized packs of instant oatmeal (cinnamon roll flavor).  After getting the box open without incident he went for a pack from inside the box.  Wouldn't you know that the package he selected was already open!?  A bad seal from the factory, or a  mad prankster working at Quaker- you decide.  And of coarse he had to pull it out so that the opening was down and all the contents went spilling out from counter to sink to floor.  The spills around here are never contained to one small area.  As we cleaned it up I couldn't resist in commenting that this kind of thing just had to happen to him.  I asked if his curse followed him to school too.  You see, my curse is my lack of a filter.  I am working on it.  It probably wasn't the best timing on my part.  So we get the mess cleaned up and he pours a new packet of oatmeal into his bowl and goes for the milk.  Not sure how this one happened, but he dropped the full container of milk to the ground, and now we had milk spilling out all over the floor.  Good thing Abby (the dog) likes licking up milk : )  I am afraid this mishap elicited a full on exasperated cry of his full name with middle included.  But we cleaned it up and moved on ending in a hug and a promise that I loved him no matter how many times this happened and could he please forgive my shortness with him?  It's all good (until next time).  And that is just it, I am sure there will be a next time within the next couple hours.  Don't even get me started on all the broken items in our house courtesy of Little Boy.

Yesterday morning, while he was eating his German Pancake he impulsively grabbed it so fast on his fork (the entire thing, not just a bite) and it went flying to the floor.  More food for Abby.  The saddest thing about this spill is that I had just finished telling the kids that I hadn't made the usual double batch, so they couldn't have their usual gluttonous portions.  I thought I noticed a small tear filling up in his eyes as he watched the dog lap up his breakfast.  We gave the one remaining extra piece to Little Boy.

So today, as I wiped up milk from the floor, I pondered the sadness of this situation and a new thought crossed my mind.  You see, Little Boy is a unique personality.  He is a highly worried, determined and self motivated kid.  He's spent his entire life running to catch up to his two older brothers and it's made him stronger than steel.  He is also a great student.  Last night on the first night of summer he had his math packet out doing his self-imposed goal of '2 pages a day.'  Then as he was reading his new library book (another summer assignment) he asked me to please remind him to practice his violin tomorrow as he had skipped it on accident that day.  I had purposely been giving my kids a break from practicing since they don't have lessons for a couple weeks.  I mean seriously, what kind of kid does this?!  And then the whispered answer came.... "The kind of kid who has been faced with lots of trials, and turns out all the better for it."  With every put down from his brothers he rises again, with every challenge of a physical nature he gets up and goes at it again, and with every spill, he gets mad, and then cleans up the mess even with a mocking frustrated mother.  This curse may actually be his blessing in life. Amazing!  I just need to recognize it.

Right at this moment (as I type) he is in the next room trying to teach algebra to his 7 year old sister.  I can hear solving for X going on... that is Algebra right?  Don't ask me.  They aren't even out of their PJs yet and they're solving for unknowns.  I don't mean to brag- but this 3rd son of mine is truly a gift from the Gods.  A gift with a curse.  A blessing/curse.  That is how I am going to try and look at it from now on.

PS Now he is unloading dishes (his brother's job as Middle Boy is at youth conference) and 

singing "keep your eye on the grand ol flag"  Oh my heart!

Little Boy about 5yrs ago