Downright Silly.

You know THAT guy? THAT kid? THe one who ALWAYS wears shorts, even in the dead of winter and you silently wonder if he is really crazy or if his parents really let him out of the house like that or WHAT is going on? Well, THAT kid is now Christian. Believe me, I don't like it. I get cold just LOOKING at him. YET, the shorts remain. Even when I deliberately keep them in the laundry room longer or put them at the bottom of his drawer, under every pair of pants that he owns! And when I ABSOLUTELY insist that he MUST be wearing pants to go with me in the car, he hangs his head, says "oooooh kay", and comes back down the stairs in pants - with his shorts right back on top!!! It is really quite silly.

And then today and he and his friend Eric decided to do some decorating and building with some boxes that came home with me from Costco yesterday. And Christian made his into and bed. AND insisted that he needed to sleep in it tonight. So that is exactly what he is doing. Literally sleeping in a cardboard box. Silly, cute boy!

In a matter of 2 weeks Clark has gone from beginning walker to professional climber.  Yesterday I found him standing ON TOP of this desk!  I only got a photo when he was on his way back down.  He is trying to scare me.  And its working!

On a more serious note, now that we are more than half way through the first month of 2010, I finally got some of my goals on paper. Since I have been focusing on 'baby steps' for me, doing just a bit each day, I have also been inspired by my older sister Jennifer's "one step" journal so I have combined my ideas with hers and today I put together my one step victory book. My 5 categories of focus are:

Household Management

Relationship Building/Communication

Return to Me/Self Improvement/Creativity

Service and Nurturing

Health and  Discipline

I have a section for each where I have described in detail what the category means to me and what I would ultimately like to achieve. Then I have many blank pages left in which I hope to record little baby step victories I/we as a family make on a regular basis. I was thinking today I will also put one together for the kids. Don't you think it would lift their self confidence to read a book all about what good listening skills they had, how they did their best, ways in which they excelled this year? I know my children could greatly benefit from that and I'm positive that there are days when I need to read about how wonderful they are as well.

I chose a book that is small enough to keep at hand and carry with me if needed so that I will actually record the ins and outs of our life and small improvements this year. My hope is that it will serve me as a daily reminder of the work I have to do and the specific areas I should be focusing on. Life really is much more manageable one little step at a time!