A Lesson in Patience

Carter is constantly wanting to do things himself. Turn the light on or off, flush the toilet, put on his shoes and socks, lock the door, put away his toys (yeah, not arguing that one), etc. Sometimes I'll turn out the light in the bathroom when he's done, and he'll freak out until I turn it back on so he can do it himself. There have been countless times that I've had to shut the door again after I'd already opened it, so he can do it himself. Or put puzzle pieces back in the box, so he can take them out and "set them up." You get the point.

I was discussing Carter's independent streak with my mom yesterday when I had what Oprah calls an "A-Ha Moment."

His independent streak is not just a learning opportunity for him, it's a lesson for me as well. A lesson in patience. I'm always rush rush rushing him to our next task or destination, when the reality is that we're not in a hurry. An extra couple of minutes is not going to make a difference in the grand scheme of things, but it WILL make a difference in his sense of worth and independence. I need to take a breath, sit back, and let him do things on his own without offering help. He needs to learn to ask for help when he needs it, and to be proud when he can accomplish something on his own without Mommy constantly intervening.

So what if it takes him longer, or if he makes a bit of a mess. He can do it himself. He's told me many, many times.

What a lesson.

Pink Eye

Last week, Carter had a sheet of paper in his school folder that indicated that someone in the school had pink eye and to keep an eye on him. The next day, he looked like he had a sty on his left eye. I asked my mother-in-law just to confirm that's all it was and she agreed and said pink eye would manifest more quickly than this had. It was basically just a bump on his lash line. No ooze, no goop, nothing gross about it, really.

Fast forward one week. The left sty had healed, but now there's a bigger one on his right eye. We go out bowling with friends and his lash line has a large red bump, but we still think it's a sty. Still no ooze or goop.

Fast forward 12 hours. Carter woke up and couldn't open his right eye. This is what it looked like:



Off we went to the doctor and whaddya know...pink eye! AND an ear infection. Poor kid was falling apart but you'd have never known. He was happy as could be and just wanted to play and read and have his usual good time.

Part of his treatment was antibiotic drops for the eye. Man is it awful having to wrestle your child just to get an eyedrop in his eye. I was able to get it in there the first time after much coaxing, but then the second time he got so hysterical that he started gagging and heaving and almost puked on me. Since then, I've done it when he's sleeping, or tag-teamed him with Chris with us holding him and just doing it. Poor kid. But his eye is much better today and he's back at school after being on antibiotics for two days. The good thing is that the antibiotics for his ear infection are also helping with the pink eye.

I just felt terrible for our friends that we went bowling with because I didn't know it was pink eye, and it's so contagious. But my friend Janet was totally cool about it. She said it's a rite of passage and no big deal. I love her for that.