Revel in the basics

Posted by Melissa Baumgart
Last night, as we were about to leave Lily's trapeze class, one of the moms asked me how sign language was going.  But she didn't just ask me, she sign language asked me!  I didn't even know what she was doing at the time, that's how "not doing sign language" I have been lately. 

Next thing I know, Tallulah is chatting with her about all these different signs.  Now, I know it isn't much, but I did learn a few signs last night just by being in the right place at the right time.  Revel in the small things, right?  Maybe by doing that, I open space for more and more to pile in...instead of walking around feeling guilty about the fact that I didn't learn the dang alphabet.

I think Lily is signing, "You did it!"

Here's what I learned:
Yes
No
Good 
Good Morning
Good Night
Please
Thank You
Sorry
More

Here's what it inspired me to learn this morning:
I'm Hungry
OK
Where?
Water

And I learned a lot more from this You Tube video:

This guy is pretty funny.  Tallulah and I were cracking up at the "In your face" and "Shut your mouth" comments.
Now if I learn to spell out Seattle, I can say "I am from Seattle." or "I live in Seattle."

So, open yourself up to the little victories in life!

Wonder Woman

Posted by Melissa Baumgart
Here it is, September 18th already.  I just signed up for tennis lessons through Seattle Parks & Rec at the Amy Yee Tennis Center.  Classes are fairly inexpensive, and they offer all levels, from beginner to advanced.  Yes, you guessed correct, I am in the beginner class.  It starts this weekend and goes through October...so look forward to tennis offerings alongside all the sign language posts of October.

Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext Collection/Sportsphoto/Allstar/Cinetext Collection

Believe it or not, I was also looking for sign language classes to take in October as well.  Am I crazy?  That would mean in October I would be: coordinating all-school volunteers at my kid's school, managing my son's soccer team, going to graduate school, taking tennis lessons, and taking sign language classes.  Anything else I am forgetting?  Oh, yeah, being a mom/housecleaner/chef! Duh.

I have to laugh at myself, because just yesterday I was feeling completely overwhelmed with my life.  It's funny to feel overwhelmed and stressed about all these really good things in my life.  When I stopped complaining yesterday, and thought about each thing I am doing, I felt gratitude for every one of them.  I think a good self-care technique could be to really try to remain on task, one thing at a time.

At the beginning of each week, I can spend some time making my calendar and putting it up on the chalkboard, taking that time to look at the big picture and make sure everything fits.  At the beginning of each day, I can also take a look at that day's big picture...did anything new pop up, does someone need a ride somewhere that I forgot about, where do I have room for something spontaneous?  And then, stay focused on each detail as it arises.  Checking it off my list, one at a time.

This is not how I normally live my life.  I am typically a non-conformist when it comes to schedules.  I like my day to be a flow of activities.  That's one of the things I loved about having babies...there was no schedule, we went here and there, had groups of moms and babies over to our house, would run into a neighbor and decide at 5pm to have dinner together that night...every day was a social love fest. (Can you tell my baby is now 7 and I just might be romanticizing this baby time a wee little bit?)

Now that my kids are older, and they have schedules and timelines, carpools and homework of their own, I really need to buckle down and stay on top of everything.  Otherwise, I find myself walking around feeling like a disheveled loser that can't keep anything together.  I do plan on remaining open to my failures at "keeping it together" and loving myself anyway.  I plan on remaining vulnerable to being a beginner with this and through that, finding my own inner scheduling strength.

For some reason, I am remembering my halloween costume from when I was 6 years old.  God, I loved Wonder Woman back then.  Was I perhaps projecting into my perfectionistic motherhood future?  Maybe it's time to take off the shiny, aluminum foil belt with the red star, colored in with a sharpie.

Or maybe, better yet, tap into that character a little more...after all, Wonder Woman only tackled one villain at a time.  One episode at a time.  All while keeping the big picture of a safe world close to her heart.