Me? Trying too hard? Never!
When we were trying to find a house, we ended up making a choice between a smaller house that needed some loving in a good location with nice-seeming neighbors and a slightly larger house where the work had already been done in a slightly more upscale neighborhood where it did not appear we were going to have a lot in common with the neighbors. Obviously (you’ve seen those before pictures of the kitchen, right?) we went with the smaller house with the nicer neighbors and where Mike can walk to work and where we got to choose all the kitchen colors ourselves.
We second-guessed that decision once, about two weeks into this whole process when our house was a disaster and we had spent about 300 hours painting the sunroom. Mike said, “If we’d picked the other house, we would be completely unpacked by now.” But since that moment of weakness, we haven’t looked back. (We definitely wouldn’t have finished the kitchen without help, but that is beside the point. We were both on antibiotics, for one.)
Remember our neighbors who brought us cookies? We’ve been getting to know them. We went and wished their daughter luck before her first day of kindergarten (at Mike’s school), we chat with them in the yard all the time, and we let their kids play with Big Bunny. (Big Bunny is less impressed by this gesture.) This morning, their son was at Mike’s school (he’s still in preschool, so he was there with his mom) and he saw Mike and went over and pulled on Mike’s pants leg to say hi. Stuff like that? Makes us pretty sure we made the right decision.
May I just ask the blogosphere/universe why it is, exactly, that the children of the world love Mike? At church, at school, at random family gatherings, children love him. So much. Me, not as much. Mike says I try too hard. Apparently I am Pam and he is Jim. Help me not try so hard, internet. I just want to be loved by children like Mike is. What am I doing wrong? I play and talk! Should I weave flowers in my hair? Refuse to leave the house without a cloud of beautiful butterflies surrounding me? (Those things are totally normal and not trying too hard at all. Don’t you wear flowers in your hair all the time? Or just when you are surrounded by clouds of butterflies?)
September 3rd, 2008 at
You bribe them with food. It is the easiest way.
September 3rd, 2008 at
I should just keep cookies in my bag at all times!
(There won’t be any left for the kids. I will probably eat them myself.)
September 3rd, 2008 at
Maybe it’s because you went to Library School and you have that stern librarian demeanor. Mike, though, is the guy I’d pick to ask for directions on the street. He just looks like a helpful dude.
Kids don’t gravitate to me, either. Except, well, Stephen and Misty’s kids, but they know me pretty well.
September 3rd, 2008 at
From my experience, I’ve found that all you usually have to do is give them a little attention. They like being center stage and they will gravitate to whomever is actually listening.