A True Fra-nesh-a-nal!

Believe it or not, I entered this photograph in a photography contest. But first, the story behind the photo:

This week Charlie went to rock climbing camp. That's right, rock climbing camp. We live in a rather small city that has grocery stores, a small shopping mall, a quaint downtown area, and a rock climbing gym! Both Meagan and James have participated in this camp in past summers. Charlie, since he was two, has been dying to join them. Finally, this year he made the age cut-off and was able to go. He LOVED it...we knew he would...he knew he would.

This kid learned to climb long before he could walk. When he was one, he would crawl over to the monkey bars at the park and climb way above my head if I didn't race to grab his ankle before he was out of reach. By age two he would climb the monkey bars only intended for the big kids. I'd get looks from other parents that I just had to learn to ignore. By age three, he broadened his horizons started scaling walls and ledges. Some time last summer, while watching James at rock climbing camp, Charlie said to me, " I don't NEED to go rock climbing camp because I'm already a fra-nesh-a-nal (read"professional") rock climber, but I still want to go to rock climbing camp."

This "fra-nesh-a-nal" often gets into trouble because of his skills. Earlier this year, I let him and his older brother go to the bathroom together in the men's restroom at a restaurant. I warned them to stay together and not to talk to anyone. Then I hovered in front of the door of the men's restroom. When the door swung open, I spotted Charlie standing on the sink counter helping himself to the paper towels and talking to a STRANGER who was washing his hands at the sink. When the boys came out of the restroom, I got on Charlie's case and said, "Why were you standing on the counter? And why were you talking to that man?" Charlie replied, "Mama, I had to climb up there to get the paper towels and that man asked if I needed some help so I had to tell him "No, I don't need help because I'm a fra-nesh-a-nal rock climber." At this, I could only stop scolding and burst into laughter.

So, I had hoped to catch more photos of Charlie with my new-to -me (thanks to my sister-in-law) fancy camera. But, this was the best I could do with my limited photography skills and a subject that climbs way too fast and high for me to capture on film.

In an effort to learn some photography skills, I attended our local photography club last night in hopes of bettering my nearly non-existant photography skills. As luck would have it, this first meeting of mine, was dedicated to a photography contest where everyone in the club submits up to three photos and everyone votes on the best entries. The winners' photographs are put on display at our local library and the winning photographs are printed in the paper. I figured I had nothing to lose and I was only going to learn by trying. So I snapped some shots at rock climbing camp, figured out how to get them from the camera to my computer and then printed them at Walgreens just in time to submit my entries with the other 36 (amazing!) entries. Several members of this club are professionals and the ones who aren't are still quite talented. So, I was just in it for the education.

After I put my photos on the display table, I took a seat and introduced myself to an older gentleman, Dallas, sitting next to me. Upon learning my name Dallas said, "Nice to meet you, Angie. How long have you been a professional photographer?" I laughed and said, "About 24 hours." I explained that my kind and generous sister-in-law is a professional photographer in San Diego and that she gave me the camera with which she started her business as she had outgrown its capabilities and that I was just joining this club to see what I could learn.

I did pick up a few tips and found everyone in the club to be very kind and helpful.

By the way, if you are wondering, I didn't win the contest. But, hey, not everyone can be a
FRA-NESH-A-NAL, you know!!!

Future Fire Fighter Turns Four

Emergency! Emergency! We have a 4-year old in the house! For the last 6 months, Charlie has been saying, "When it's my bir-day, I'm gonna have a fire engine bir-day party!" Our little guy loves all moving vehicles, especially ones with loud horns and sirens. We live near a fire station, so we hear the sirens often. Charlie always runs to the window hoping to catch glimpse of the engine whirring up the road. So, we weren't surprised by his request to spend his birthday with a fire engine. I made a little visit to the fire station and let them know that my little guy would like nothing better than to come visit the fire station with his buddies. Without hesitation, the fire fighter said "Sure, we'd love to have them! I'll leave the guys a note." So, the big day arrived and we headed down to the fire station where we'd meet up with Charlie's party guests and the fire fighters, of course. Well, wouldn't you know it! Some guy in town went and fell off his ladder right as we were supposed to start the party and, you guessed it, the fire fighters had to go and be the heroes that they are. One of the fire fighters left at the station assured Charlie that barring any other emergency, we could come back in an hour or two to tour the station. So we made some emergency decisions of our own, and walked the kids to the near-by park for other party festivities. We returned to the station after celebrating with a fire engine cake, dalmatian (cookies and cream) ice cream, presents, and play time. The fire fighters were glad we returned and treated all the kids to a deluxe tour of the station and even the fire engines. It was a great time and such a fun way to celebrate our little fire fighter!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I had the best day with this little guy. Good thing because Charlie was such a stinker this weekend. We reached an all-time low with him when he earned himself three time-outs in a row. The first one was for yelling at me, his Mama. I never got a chance to ask Jeff what the other offenses were. Our little repeat offender was to serve his sentences under a tree after church where he had commited all of his offenses. He screamed and yelled and made sure everyone walking by know that we, the parents, had clearly lost control of our little cherub. Then, it took both Jeff and I chasing him on the front lawn of the church, Charlie giggling all the while, just to get him in the car. We were embarassed enough and decided not to subject ourselves to anymore humiliation and to take our little guy home to do his time. Which he did. But the day never got much better, really. Then this morning he wakes up back to his happy self saying, "What can I do for you, Mama?" I did a double-take to make sure this was the same boy causing me such angst less than 24 hours earlier. It was. We ran errands together, laughed together, and exchanged more kisses and hugs than I can count. What made today so different than yesterday. I wish I knew. Sleep is part of the answer...the rest I can't figure out. If I could, I'd write a book and every parent in the land would be lining up to buy my recipe book for parenting well. But, alas, there is no recipe. Some days are just bad. Some moments are just bad. But, sandwiched in there is a whole lot of sweetness. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Sometimes all in the time it takes to get through a meal. Ahhh...parenting. Still, give me the bad and the ugly because the good is oh so good.