Reminders from a 9 year old

Reminder #1 Be proud of what you do.

For Valentine's Day each kid in Isac's 4th grade class was suppose to decorate a box at home to put their Valentine's in at the class party.  Not having alot of time to micro-manage everything Isac does, he was turned loose on this project all by himself.  I thought he was quite capable of doing it on his own.  This is what he came up with.  It is about the size of a briefcase or small suitcase, covered in brown shipping paper, regular tape, and my personal favorite-duct tape.  He cut a flap out of the front and fashioned a handle on top out of duct tape.  Then he really jazzed it up by drawing a big heart on the back in pencil that is barely visible and spelled out his name in stickers on the inside of the flap and put 4 heart stickers in various places.  He was and still is so proud of his 'mailbox'.  He made Emily one out of a shoe box and they had fun mailing letters to each other.  The next day I had a hard time letting him go to school with it.  Kids can be so mean and I didn't want him to get teased but I didn't say anything.  So after Ryan took him to school and I saw the box sitting on the kitchen table, forgotten, I wasn't about to rush it up to the school.  Little did I know Isac would realize he left it behind and promptly return for it.   So the briefcase box made it to school and served it's purpose, and came home filled with cards and candy.  And Isac didn't get teased.  When I asked him if anyone said anything about his box he said totally indifferent "Well I didn't exactly get any compliments on it."  Why was I so worried?  Now I don't think I want to throw the thing away....

Reminder #2 Don't worry about what you wear.

Last week Isac came upstairs dressed in this outfit.  I realize it is not that bad but I have this thing about blue and in my mind there are strict rules about how different shades of blue can or cannot go together.  Not wanting to make a big deal about it, since he was dressed I couldn't really complain, I casually got him a different shirt that matched better.  After I handed it to him he looked up at me and said, "Mom, school is not a fashion show.  You don't have to wear stuff that blends all the way from your shirt to your pants down to your shoes."  I couldn't really argue with that.  So I will just be glad that for now he isn't caught up in how he looks and what brands he is wearing and hope that he can stay that way.