Yes Mom

You may or may not have heard of the true story of "Yes Man" who decided he was missing out on too much in life by saying no to practically everything.  Well, long story short, he started saying yes to everything for a certain amount of time and it changed his life for the better.  He ended up with a way better job and met/fell in love with his wife this way.

Today I woke up and felt like I needed to become Yes Mom.  But only to Skyler.  You see, Skyler has severe Middle Child Syndrome because Lily gets to go off to Kindergarten to eat in a cool cafeteria, play on a playground, and make fun things like Leprechaun traps, all while he stays at home with boring me.  My attention is usually on my babies who both need it.  And when I'm not focused on the babies, I'm focused on actually getting something done around the house.

But not today.  I made a vow that I would say yes to anything (within reason) that Skyler wanted to do, eat, play, etc.  I thought I was insane for a second, mostly because I figured Skyler would say something like, "Let's go to the library, then go to Costco, then go to the movies, then come home and make some homemade cotton candy!"

(I was rather hoping he'd ask for the cotton candy.  But he didn't.  And when I asked if he wanted some, he said no.)

(Lame.)

Here's a rundown of our day:

He wanted part of my banana.  Done.

He wanted to play in the backyard.  In the 35 degree rain.  In our soggy, poorly drained, and practically grass-less backyard.  Check.

He wanted to cut down a tree.  I handed him a saw.  He sawed.  He decided that a sapling  tree was too difficult to saw through, so he decided to saw a twig  branch instead.  Success.

He wanted to play in the water from the gutter.  Soaked.

He wanted to play BINGO.  He won 4 out of 5 rounds.

He wanted to cuddle on the couch and watch A Dolphin Tale.  We cuddled.  And selfied.

When we got home from a trip to Target, Skyler asked if he could play in the driveway.  Yes Mom said yes and we were back out in the cold rain again.  Ella was thrilled to be awake this time around.

Skyler enjoyed levitating  jumping in puddles.

I'm not sure how many times Skyler and Ella rolled that ball down the driveway but they sure did get their workout.  Speaking of work outs, I didn't get mine today.  So my abs are a little flabbier, but my heart is a little stronger.

We did other fun things today like watch Frozen when it finally was delivered to our house and we ate the waffles for dinner that Skyler requested.  And the day wasn't perfect.  Skyler still had his usual meltdowns and I still had to say no to certain things.  Um, no you don't get to sit in the front seat.  Sorry, buddy.

But I learned something important from today.  I thought he was going to ask for something extravagant and totally out of the norm, but what he really wanted was quality time with me.  He didn't want me to focus on washing dishes or on ridding my muffin top.  He wanted me to love him more.

I don't think that there are going to be tons more Yes Days in our future, but I'm sure there will still be a few.  But one thing's for sure.  I got much more out of today than Skyler did -- a lesson I truly needed.