Coffee CubBuster

Be your own person. Have an original idea. Don't be a follower. Find a new angle. Be set apart. In many households, as well as classrooms, one is encouraged to be a leader and not look like everyone else. Although, there is a fine line between not copying others and standing out too much, in which case you appear to desire unnecessary attention for yourself. It all depends on the context. In writing, originality is of utmost importance; I stressed the importance of understanding plagiarism in order for my students to avoid it like the plague. In fashion, many people seek to wear what the media deems "in style," ultimately copying everyone else, unless you are truly unaware or avoiding garment trends altogether. At the end of the day, I believe the verse that claims, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun " (Ecclesiastes 1:9).  Really, mimicking is one of the first forms of learning. For that re...

Silas had some terrible, two tantrums way before turning two, and now as he approaches three, he's already in that wonderful inquisitive "why" phase. While my educator heart loves to explain, I find that many of his "whys" are posed at concepts that have no understandable response. It's not the easy questions pouring from his mouth that frustrate me, " Mommy, why does that water go down the drain? Mommy why do we have to sleep? Mommy, why do we talk in an inside voice?" Nor is it the more abstract ones that press on my patience, " Mommy, why do we have to be good? Mommy, why do we pray? Mommy, why do we need to forgive?" However, I do begin to grumble curt, cantankerous answers at his unanswerable recitations: " Mommy why is this my hand? Mommy why is it Saturday and not Tuesday? Mommy why are people, people?"  I finally understand the indefinite "BECAUSE, just BECAUSE!" While this phase like any other will come and ...

I grew up with parents who didn't know what a glass half empty looked like. Thus, my ever-positive mindset comes rather naturally.  I am grateful for this perspective, but I am also human. There are times when my thoughts are not so Rosie the Riveter. Sometimes it feels as though Levi's progress is slow as molasses. It pains me to watch him struggle through every normal and otherwise automatic development. Fixing one thing simply delays another. We must try and address every potential issue, but sometimes I wonder if he'll ever grow. Then I am reminded that I've bought into our current state of instant gratification thinking. We simply aren't used to waiting for anything for more than about five minutes; anything that takes longer loses our business quickly. Levi will have such a leg up on his family members when it comes to patience. Hopefully, his tolerance for waiting will be ingrained in his development. I am trying to read through the Bible this year from a...

You know that scene in the movie Titanic where Leo is teaching Kate to hack up phlegm? You know..."spit like a man!" Well in our family of mostly men, and my not-always-genteel self, we all know how to "spit like a man," except for poor baby Levi. I had this "motherly instinct" (if you can call it that) when Levi was in the hospital, that told me he just needs to become Kate Winslet, and I need to become Leonardo DiCaprio and remake that scene. The poor boy seems to cough and cough trying to and clear some thick mucus from his throat until he spits up his meal. (He also seems to throw up whenever he's done eating because he feels so full that he's nauseous, but I'm not sure what movie has that scene for reenactment purposes.) Well, my instincts were confirmed after our past couple of doctors appointments. The GI scan was both good and bad. It was good because apparently everything gastro-related looks normal. His fundoplication is still in t...

--> As a former high school teacher, I swore to myself that I’d never overly inflate my children’s egos, never coddle, never act as their safeguard against necessary failures, and always push them to figure things out on their own two feet. I just saw too many parents who obviously felt that their child’s performance, behavior, or even personalities was somehow a reflection on them, so they’d do whatever it took to cover up flaws and focus on the phenomenon that was their child. Of course, I’m far from high school aged children, but it’s incredibly humbling to see how quickly I have subconsciously wanted to show off my son’s skills. As a full time mommy, I think there is some part of me that regards my children’s abilities as my personal end of year position analysis. Whether I get that raise or not depends on how well my kids behave and whether they’ve advanced in their intellectual and physical abilities. Even typing this nauseates me a little because I don’t believe any...

Normally I am very sad when the holidays come to a close, but I'm realizing that the quicker they leave, the quicker they seem to return. As life moves forward, so do the sweet changes in life. We ended up changing Levi's feeding routine just before Christmas because neither medicine seemed that effective; now he gets a slow drip for 12 hours at night, decreasing the amount of food he eats during the day. While this is a step in the wrong direction, it seems to be helping his spitting issues and hopefully his weight gain. We have another GI appointment on Monday, so I'm anxious to hear thoughts on our progress. However, Levi seems to be changing almost daily. He's rolling much better, sitting up for extended periods without assistance, and constantly smiling! Does everyone have happy babies, or did I just luck out somehow with mine? Also, Levi seems to be making some good progress with his feeding therapy, as we desensitize his mouth and increase his tolerance to vari...