Building confidence and self esteem

Greetings y'all:

Aww another great day with my son is in the books. A little swimming , my MRI results(not satisfied with this workers comp thing- yep it's inflamed, good luck see ya in two weeks. Return to normal duty but stay off it and rest ), and back to swimming. We watched a bit if the ravens game. Glad I don't get upset over sports especially pre- season. Even Zander remained calm watching that fiasco of a football game.

The glory of yesterday was watching my son play sweetly by himself at the pool but knowing I was watching - big step big boy! He's got the confidence to quietly figure things out but know I am there to always support him. I began to see this in him when I defended him a few weeks ago. Yesterday while we drove home on back roads with cars in front of us the gentleman behind us tailgated us, revved his engine, blasted his music and was still able show me with his hand he thought I was #1! Not sure why he used his long finger. I flashed him the peace sign ;) He was actually scaring my son and I was nervous about an angry driver behind us. I told Mowgli I felt sorry for the man but he does not have permission to take my energy. The driver yelled a few obscenities at us including the F-bomb. The lesson Zander learned was to remain calm and if some one is aggressive give space and love but don't feed into it. Don't give them the audience they seek. When we got out of the car at our destination Zander said " I wanted to punch that guy, nobody talks to my dad like that . But you shrugged it off and said nice things about him and never got angry. You're still happy "Yep we hugged, walked hand in hand and I responded " life is impermanent , the angry person needs love but doesn't have permission to make me angry, may as well let him go. I choose peace and a good afternoon with my son"

Last night was a stupendous evening. What ? A stupendous evening ? No way! Way ! I know - hard to believe isn't it? Well as some of y'all know earlier this week I disconnected and removed the tv. I am considering no tv in the Robinson household. Well when I attempted , albeit half heartily, to reconnect the idiot box I was unsuccessful. Zander , you know the boy society says is ADHD and can't focus , offered to look at it. I acquiesced . I said I believe in you son,go for it. He tried and failed , then tried and failed , then tried and failed. He said I can't do this, you help daddy. My response was I'm happy with no tv and you can and will do this - I believe in you. So he tried and failed, tried and failed and tried and succeeded! He shouted " I'm a technician " and danced!!! Ok we both danced!

He will always remember the day he fixed the tv and he was only eight years old. I know because I remember designing steps for our pool when I was about 14 . My father is pretty handy and tried several designs that didn't quite work. I tried offering my design but my dad was still working on his ideas. Eventually I just built it- successfully ! The bonus is that he rejoiced in my success! Guess that set the foundation for yesterday .

One of the things I've learned about living with a quirky and exuberant wee one is to give projects. Not busy work per se but things that the house hold and family needs and are confidence and self esteem boosters. Engagement and validity are beautiful things.

Stay tuned for our next adventure!

Thanks for reading today folks!