Day 11: Be an active listener.

In general, I think I'm a really good listener. To acquaintances, friends and to siblings and relatives.

But I'll admit I am not always the best listener to my own kids. Horrible! Shocking! Bad Mom!  At least I'm honest about my "areas that need work", right?

The first few years with young kids can be brutal. At first, you are soooooo excited when they start talking and then it's like "OMG, please stop talking". Who can relate? It's the sheer relentlessness of it.

Let's start with the fact that I am not a big talker. If I have something to say, that I feel is important or relevant, I'll pipe up. But, I don't feel the need to talk just to fill the silence. I adore silence. :)

Luckily, my first born, is like me. She can get riled up and be a chatterbox, but only in spurts. In general, she's a "watcher" and is thoughtful and tends more to the quiet side. The youngest, however, is anything but. From the moment her feet hit the floor in the morning, it's constant jibber jabber about everything under the sun. This is one of the reasons I have to get up earlier than she does. So, mercifully, the caffeine has time to kick in and I can deal. The gift of the "Neumann Gab"- that's what I call it. Jeff's mom and sister could win a championship chatter contest, whereas Jeff or myself would most certainly be disqualified (yep, the "gab gene" skipped over Jeff).

So, with constant chatter from Ms. Sydney for almost 3 straight years (yep, she was also an early talker!) - I'm a little deaf to it, to say the least. Which is not a good thing, because much of what she says is HILARIOUS. And she can be very wise. And what a vocabulary! For a not quite -4- year old she regularly uses words like "identical", "usually", "actually" and so on. I am not saying she's a genus, just very well versed in chit chat.

Anywho, I've decided it was time to pay more attention. Which led to "Unplugged Night" every Tuesday at Casa Neumann. And Jeff was just thrilled! HA!

Unplugged Night = no phones, no texting, no computers, no email, NO BLACKBERRY, no iPhone, no TV! And it begins when Holly gets home from school.

And it's really, really fun. Honest to God.

I planned the "active listener" task for a Tuesday b/c I knew it would be an ideal time to really focus on what the kids are saying to me, to one another, to the dog, etc. Jeff happens to be out of town this week  (which equates to increased level of difficulty because it was just me and the kids and no adult conversation in the mix!) so we did make an exception for one phone call with him. Other than that, it was homework, reading, playing, coloring, fighting, me breaking up fights, and a long bath followed by sprints up and down the hall (the kids, not me).  We laughed and hugged and giggled and talked. And I listened. And listened some more.

And was reminded how incredibly lucky I am....Not bad for Day 11 of my -40- in -40- day challenge. Not bad at all.