Rules

As I exclaimed to my pouting toddler today that "the rule is if you want to eat taco bell you have to sit in your chair" I realized I just made up my own rule (and it was about taco bell)! I have never been one to be defined by rules. My mom used to have this rule that the day the cleaning lady came our rooms had to be picked up. Now that is a dumb rule I always thought to myself? If she is coming why can't she pick up my room? But what happened this Tuesday morning while I am running around getting ready for work? I am straighting up the house and barking at Bradley to put his dirty clothes in the hamper because the cleaning lady is coming!!! I am sure Bradley was doing that eyebrow raise I talk about! I guess what goes around comes around.

I know rules are in place for a reason but I have never been one to be a stickler for them. Now don't get me wrong, I am not a rebel without a cause, I just don't think that because there is a rule written down somewhere you have to do exactly what it says. Be an independent thinker. If you want to question what is written, do your research and come up with a solution that works. Note: I was never able to come up with a solution to straighting up my room, neither was Bradley on Tuesday morning! I know someone is probably rolling their eyes right now and thinking-"this girl doesn't even know what she is about to get into being a mom of a toddler, you can't be encouraging all of the flexibility". Maybe someday I will figure out they are right but for now I will go on with my crazy ways.

I was president of a sorority with 200+ girls, I think I can handle one toddler, right? And I probably had to deal with some girls that acted exactly like a toddler at some times...don't worry, I am not talking about any of you that are reading this!!! And just to clarify-none of the girls in the picture below every acted like toddlers-maybe! We did have fun this day though-Graduation Day in Oxford, how can one day be so fun and so sad?There are so many different opinions and rules about raising kids. Everyone is always willing to offer their advice. It is up to you what you decide to absorb and not absorb. In the end it is about your family and what works. Like this one below-she refused to sit down in the rocking chair today. She can ignore you like it is no one's business. Notice how she refused to look at me even though I am repeating her name. Then I thought maybe she doesn't know what "sit" means yet. Maybe 1 year olds don't know that word-it is not on baby sign language! So I took her out of the chair and said "sit" and I sat down in the chair. The only problem is that those little baby rocking chairs are not made for normal size adults and it was a bit of a tight fit. I didn't think it would be that tight b/c I had seen Bradley sit right down one time-but then again I guess Bradley is an exception to the normal adult size! No moral to the story. I didn't give her a chance to see if she learned anything-it was time for a nap. But I thought I would try my teaching by example belief.

When I was running for president of the sorority I went into my interview with a quote in hand...yeah I was that prepared and I don't think anyone even ran against me. Does that mean no one wanted the job or I was so good they knew I was a shoo-in? haha. The quote is by Dwight D. Eisenhower " Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. " That was my motto as pres and I still remember today (though I did have to google to see who said it). I guess I have rambled enough and included some pictures of the little miss. Hope everyone has a good weekend lined up. We have plans to hang out by the pool, cook out and attend a crawfish boil! Some of my favs-friends and crawfish-can't beat it-unless you were in New Orleans or OXFORD (because everyone know that is the best place on earth)!