It's the little things....

It is the little things that make me feel like I'm doing an ok job at this Mom gig. 
A big thing happened the other night too.  Poor DS just had a meltdown. I think quite a few things just built up and he let it all out at once.  He so very rarely cries and he cried on me.  We talked and talked it out.  I got FG involved.  DS said a pretty serious thing that made my heart break into a million pieces. It wasn't about me or FG or anyone else but it showed the depth of how upset he was.  At one point during our talk FG said, "Buddy, you are only in 3rd grade.  It can't be that bad."  I reminded FG that while we tend to think of DS as a mini-adult, he isn't.  This is what he's living.  He doesn't know anything past 3rd grade and being 9 so yeah, this is as bad as it gets to him.  FG wasn't trying to blow it off at all, he was struggling just like me with the right things to say to comfort DS.  All seems to be ok now.  I let him know that we are behind him, here to talk to and protect him always.  I'm going to have him go in and talk to the school counselor because he seems to like that.  I sense therapy in his adult life, he really feels better after that. 

Anyway, the little things yesterday were....
I picked the kids up from school. I rarely do that unless I'm already at school.  I don't often leave the house to go sit in the parking lot because it's so small I have to get there early to get any sort of decent parking spot.  (Hello run on sentence).  The bus lets the kids off on the side of the house and they don't ride it long.  I just don't see a big point in going to get them every day.  But they like it, it was nasty weather yesterday and I wanted to see them. I've started working on Tuesday nights as well as Wednesday nights so I knew I wouldn't really get to see them much.  It took some of my "me" time away but it was worth it.

Earlier in the day I had picked up some library books for all of us.  DD knew one was coming - she had been waiting for it since we reserved it.  Instead of just putting them on their beds to find I decided a scavenger hunt would be fun.  So I made up 7 clues and hid them in various places.  Not too long ago, DS made a mailbox and we hung it outside of his bedroom.  We pass little notes back & forth in it (he raises the red flag when he has "outgoing mail" for me or FG to read).  I put the instructions and the first clue in there.  They had a blast!  They only spent about 10 minutes or so reading, solving and hunting down the clues.  They finally found their library books hidden in the dryer with a "Good Job!" note. 
They both thanked me about 20 times for that silly little scavenger hunt.  It was the last thing they both said when they went to bed too.  After I left for work, DS made up one for FG and DD to follow.  So it continued on well into the evening.

Then I made the night of a child shopping in the toystore last night.  Just another little thing but he spent his allowance money on something small while his sister made up her birthday registry.  They were in the store for quite awhile.  All of a sudden he came up to me at the counter and exclaimed, "I lost my tooth!" and proudly held up his tooth and showed me the hole.  Now when someone comes in with a cast on, they get a desginated present.  So I felt we just HAD to do something for this little boy.  We have these little tooth fairy boxes and I asked him if the tooth fairy comes to his house. He said yes. I asked him if he has a little box and he said no.  So I led him over to the display and told him to pick one out.  With big round eyes, he said, "Do I have to pay?"  I told him nope, I was going to give it to him.  He was thrilled.  His father had stepped out of the store to make a phone call and I told him to make sure he told his dad I let him take it for losing his tooth in the store.  I later overheard him tell his dad, "She's a really nice lady, isn't she dad?"

Now I'm about to go do another small thing for a store customer.  She called for the second day in a row asking about instructions for a kit that were not in the box.  Her daughter wants to make the kit for a school project.  I just happen to have the same kit at home.  When she left her name, phone and email asking that the store owners Please call her soon, I told her I would just email the instructions to her today.  She was SO thankful.  So I'm going to scan the 3 pages of instructions and email them to her.  It will probably take me 10 minutes.

All of these little things have made me feel pretty good and hopefully made others feel good. I know my kids were happy with me, I know the little boy will probably remember losing that tooth over some of the other ones and hopefully this mom will help her daughter who will in turn get a good grade on her project. 

Will you do something little to make someone's day today?