Most mornings Will (2) and I open the kitchen cabinet to get a snack for him, and the past few mornings, he's spotted a container of macaroons. He gets very excited to see the container and shouts "cookies!" He asks to see them. A little background here: Will is allergic to coconut so he can't eat these cookies, which causes much hesitation in me to show the cookies to him in the spirit of trying to avoid a frustrating situation for him. Much to my surprise, every time we open the container, he picks one up and says, "Mommy, you want one?" So I gladly accept this morning treat (What else am I supposed to do?) and he said, "Mommy, you want another one? I'll get a big one. Here, eat it! Is it yummy?" After a couple, we put the lid back on, and I relish in this sweet moment with the little guy. He amazes me: that he gets that these cookies would make his tummy feel yucky, accepts this reality and shares so joyfully.

This morning I asked Will how he got so cute, and he said, "I'm not cute. I'm special!" Then I asked how he got so sweet, and he said, "I'm not sweet. I'm green!"

Gabe is on his second whole apple and Will just ate an entire carrot. There are few things that make my heart this happy!

Humbled. Again. Just when I think I'm doing a great job being a mom to these precious boys, my brokenness grabs a hold of me and swings me around. Jon is out of town for the next couple of days and I was really looking forward to a special time with the boys. We had a great morning and after nap time seemed promising. Will started spiraling toward crying every few minutes, Gabe took advantage with a few pushes and shoves and taking toys away. It angers me to see Will hurt by Gabe and vice versa. Emotions were running high and instead of pausing and remembering that I can tap into asking God for some help and reconsidering my perspective and engagement with the boys in the middle of cooking bacon that took an hour – instead of the projected 12 minutes on the package – I ended up throwing my own temper tantrum. After some talks and apologies, it seemed that we had all emptied ourselves of the needed emotional release. And now, determined yet again to love these boys well, the forecast is looking good for sunny skies ahead.

Help ban BPA in products for kids

Despite all of the media attention about the safety of kids products over the last year; the toxic chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) is still found in products that kids use every day, like baby bottles, sports water bottles, the lining of formula cans, and sippy cups.

This is a real problem because more than 200 studies have linked BPA exposures at very low doses to breast and prostate cancer, obesity, diabetes, altered development of the brain and immune systems, lowered sperm counts, and early puberty. Growing children are especially at risk from BPA because they have smaller bodies. In fact, BPA is so toxic that even very small amounts have been shown to cross the placenta and impact prenatal development.¹

Together we can change this! Urge your members of Congress to co-sponsor the Ban Poisonous Additives Act, which will prohibit the sale of food and beverage containers that contain BPA.

Use this link to act:

http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/t/1546/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27254