Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

From Wednesday Mom – Janelle:
As a military family, we have lived all over the United States, but we grew up in the North Eastern US. So, when the north east was faced with the first major Hurricane to hit the Atlantic coast in several years, we knew how close this could hit to “home.” We had the misfortune of living through Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and several widespread tornado outbreaks in 2011. We have seen the absolute worst that nature can offer. We have gone weeks without power in 2005, and we saw vast areas and lives devastated by F-5 tornadoes across Mississippi and Alabama in 2011. As we watched the weather forecasts last week we did not know if the storm was the mega-storm that the media warned of or a storm that my diminish into nothing as it moved north.

Despite the hype surrounding the storm, we know even minor damage can have an impact on families. We have friends in New Jersey and New York who were directly affected by the storm. We have spoken to them, and they are doing better  – but many are still without power and basic services. Many of those people have small children. We have been very lucky to not be displaced from our home by mother nature. The thought of explaining water soaked stuffed animals to my children is a heartbreaking thought.

My husband has prepared our family for disasters. I laugh at how proactive he is, but know in my mind it’s better to be safe than sorry.  We’ve been through several close calls and learned to have a tornado alarm and safe location. We have food and water ready before the weather forecast turns sour. We warn our children about the dangers of fire and electricity. We try to educate  them about the dangers of weather without scaring them, although I’m a nervous wreck every time.  We also teach them the importance of preparedness and how it can make a difference.

There are some situations that no family can be prepared for, but we hope that every family effected by Hurricane Sandy has the support of their family and community.  I’m happy to hear Friday Mom and her family are safe and are getting the help they need.  Tate’s preschool is collecting supplies and donations for victims of the storm.  I’m happily donating items to help out those who were effected so they can return to a normal life.

From Monday Mom – Neetika:
I try to be a patient person and a patient parent, but it isn’t always easy. Despite my best efforts, there are many times when I have “had it up to here” (imagine me giving myself a salute) with Haley. Often, I just can’t wait until my husband walks through the door and I can transfer responsibility to him and get a moment to myself. I wonder if all stay-at-home-parents feel this way. Perhaps there are some who never feel frustrated. Maybe their kids are laid back—what one might call “chill.” Well, good for them. That’s not Haley, so there’s no point in thinking about that.

Haley loves to act up. Just the other day, she flung her sippy cup of milk. I calmly retrieved it, wiped up the mess (whoever tells you sippy cups are leak-proof is either lying or has one of those “chill” children), and told her sternly that we don’t throw things. As soon as I handed it back to her, she threw it again, only harder, with more splatter, while laughing manically. I took a deep breath and decided to employ a “time-out” punishment. I placed Haley in her play yard, which she doesn’t care for, and ignored her yelling for about two minutes. When her time in jail was up, I tried to get through to her about why what she did was wrong, but you can only get so far with a one and a half year old. She was mad when she got out, so she grabbed what she could find—two remote controls on the coffee table—and launched them across the room. By the way, during this fiasco, my husband’s contribution was to stifle his laughter by putting a blanket over his head.

I don’t like to say Haley is “bad”, but that’s the best way to describe her behavior sometimes. I know she’s just learning, testing her limits, blah, blah, blah… but practically, it’s difficult to always be so understanding! If you pull your child away from touching a hot stove, you really don’t want to be bitten for your trouble. I love Haley more than anything and I wouldn’t change her personality at all. (And when she acts up, it is pretty funny. I’d be laughing if I weren’t about to cry.) But I do need to vent about it. So thank you, readers, for allowing me to let off some steam. I hope that as time goes on, I gain more wisdom and skill at handling my child. In the meantime, I’m gathering the material I intend to embarrass her with when she’s a teenager.

From Friday Mom – Jaime:
I want to start off by saying that my family and I are all alive and well.  The storm was pretty bad, far worse than we had predicted. But let me repeat  – we’re all alive and well.

I’m saying it again, in part to reassure my family, and in no small part to reassure myself. It’s been a rough couple days.

So, the bad news is that like most of Morris County and New Jersey as a whole, we are still without power.  It’s challenging to entertain a 4 year old without it. But so far, we’re managing.

We have a fully charged portable DVD player, a stack of puzzles and books, board games galore. And so far, that’s holding Andrew just fine.

We’re also currently residing with my parents while the damage to our house is being repaired… I won’t get into all the gory details, but the repairs will be significant, as will be our time out of the house.

The good news though, beyond the fact that we’re all safe, is that everyone has been wonderful so far. My parents took us in Monday night in the middle of the storm, have been watching Andrew and somehow have managed not to throttle me, no matter how much of a pain I’ve been.  Our insurance company has been awesome. Friends I haven’t talked to since high school have hooked us up with tree guys and other repairmen. Neighbors we’ve never talked to before have gone out of their way to try and help us. People across the country have been offering us their support and help. It’s been pretty amazing.

I think Andrew has come through this better than all of us though. He is such a brave kid.  I was pretty badly shaken when we got to my parents Monday night (who wouldn’t be having a couple trees punch through their house?) and promptly excused myself so I could lose it away from him.  Andrew grabbed a big flashlight and walked around the house to every room before giving me a huge hug and reporting everything was safe.  Even when the power went out, he thought it was “cool.”

He started coloring lots of pictures of houses and trees. At first I thought this was yet another source of concern, but I’ve been reassured it’s perfectly normal and actually a very good way for kids to deal with traumatic stuff that is outside their control. Apparently on paper, they can make the uncontrollable controllable.

The house is whole. The tree is upright. They’re both full of bright beautiful colors. And everyone, inside and out, is safe.

That’s the story Andrew keeps telling in his pictures… And what I keep reminding myself.  The trees will be gone. The house will be whole again. But in the meantime, we are all safe and together.

Have a good weekend everyone. And to those of you who were also affected by the storm, stay safe, stay warm and take care…