Oh Sweet G Man

The things I love most about my sweet Gentry David are the things I find most hard to parent.  

Just about the time I think I have a piece of this whole parenting puzzle figured out, I realize the puzzle piece itself is a completely different shape than I originally thought.  On the other hand about the time I feel like flipping the card table upside down and throwing my hands up in the air; the caring, compassionate, funny boy melts my heart with giggle filled conversation about body sounds/parts or a very serious conversation regarding why bad guys make bad choices and just don't want to be good guys, reminding me of every single reason I absolutely adore and love this little curly headed hilarious fun loving boy sitting on the couch next to me.  

I love that he is a boy who know what he likes and isn't afraid to own it!  The kid makes his mind up and doesn't care what anyone thinks, which is awesome! I never want him to fall into the trap of living life through the lens of what everyone else tells you to be.  You go boy!!  As much as I love it, it is the very thing that absolutely drives me bizurk!  Have you seen my kids hair!!  Youzers I'm not gonna lie it's killing me!!  He is dead set on having "long surf hair" and refuses with a capital R to cut his crazy hair.  For the most part I don't mind his long cute curls, but we have passed the point of tolerating for me, especially cause he won't let me style it, which means he flattens out the front making it cover his eyes and then likes to fluff the back so it has "just a couple of curls", or it is just as wild (when I say wild I mean wild like "Where the Wild Things Are", yes that wild and maybe even 10% more wild than that)  as the spirit inside his little body...either way it's driving me crazy!!  Dear Lord please help me to always encourage him to have the confidence to be who you created him to be, and give me the strength to productively tame this wild child :)

We made G get a hair cut and you can see the  look of disaprovement on his face...you can't even tell the kid got a hair cut, he's got nothing to frown about, those blonde curls are still bouncing in his face!

Wearing a uniform really stifles his sense of style and so every once in a while he bust out with some accessories to help him feel a little more comfortable in his own skin.

He is all boy! I love the rambunctious energy, the sheer love for life, and the brave little soul that runs in out of our house everyday whistling or singing.  On the other hand the arm pit farts, hours of loudness that radiate our house, the constant stories of bodily fluids and functions, the wrestling matches on our tile floor, and the climbing, jumping, and scaling of everything in site can literally put me over the edge sometimes!!  I often hear people say "oh that's just boys"...sometimes I just want to tell those people "ya and I'm just a mom!"  I know it's true boys will be boys, but man are there times I could just use a day without hearing a 30 min string of arm pit farts!  Does anyone else feel my pain?  God please help me to never crush his spirit, while also being able to guide him to be a Godly APPROPRIATE man :)
*As I sit here and type he is now making arm pit farts with his legs...if my computer is found in tiny pieces on the floor you will know what made me throw it*

G and his buddies Thomas and Jacob digging a tunnel right next to this disgusting dirty river beside all this trash washed down from the rain...disgusting and yet they played for hours and had the best time!  What's a mom to do?

He's just the average middle of the pack kiddo.  G is one of those kids that seems to do well at most things, while isn't usually the best, he keeps up with the pack.  I love that he feels comfortable to try most things and things seem to come relatively easy to him.  We feel blessed that he hasn't struggled in most things he has tried...that is until this whole school in Costa Rica and learning Spanish thing.  It has been the first time he is runt of the pack!  We have watched our easy going kiddo completely shut down and STRUGGLE through school.  It's been hard to watch and even harder to parent.  We knew he was having a hard time, but we didn't realize how much this little turkey was acting out at school until we had a parent teacher conference!  All of our hopes and dreams of having the perfect kiddo were literally shattered in those few short minutes of hearing stories of what a stinker G was at school!!! (I'm pretty sure on this road of parenting that dream will be shattered many times)  Thankfully we talked and cooled down before we had our come to meet Jesus moment with G, cause the punishment reel was just scrolling over and over in my head...the kid was in big trouble!  The good thing that came out of it, was we didn't realize how hard it has been on him, and since then we have been able to help him talk through what he's feeling and deal with those feelings appropriately  instead of refusing to take his head off his desk during spanish, or telling his teacher he wasn't going to write his letters again because "that's just more work and stupid" and then literally refuse to talk when spoken to!  (What in the Sam Nation are you thinking boy, who in the spank are your parents, didn't they teach you better!)

God please give me wisdom and grace to help guide G through difficult times in life.

If you knew how incredibly hard this trimester has been, you would know how much this little award for "Great improvement in Behavior" this week meant to all 3 of us!!

Whew, life has definitely been an adjustment here in Costa Rica but we truly love living here.  A 3 week break to see family in the States could not come at a more perfect time.  We are ending the trimester on a good behavior award and at this point that's all we can ask for!