a beautiful moment and an amendment.

I want to clarify something from the previous post, i didn't give any background to the 'switching to formula' comment and i realized after i posted that without the background there are many ways it could be taken. My sister, along with the medical community, recommend infants have breast milk or formula until 9-12 months. I have been talking about weaning jasper for awhile, especially since any trace amount of egg in the breastmilk causes his eczema to flair up, and i'm a) still learning and b) sometimes slip up and eat egg. So the discussion has been what to switch him to. So it wasn't that she was arguing that i should switch from breast milk to formula, but rather that after weaning him switching to formula was her suggestion  (again, one supported by the entire medical community).
fin.

And i had an amazing moment today.

I spend alot of parenting energy talking to the kids about their emotions and helping them name them and recognize them and express them in a productive way. I was going to move onto recognizing/receiving and blocking other peoples emotions when we had gained some ground on the first part. Tall order for a 5 and 3 year old, right?

I am empathic and in varying degrees both of the older kids inherited that. Hunter got a big, big slice. I once saw him start crying in response to someone who was in that split second silent moment before the ugly cry. Before she changed her body language or made a sound, Hunter was up crying and running to his room. It took a lot of calming and talking before he could relax.

So we talk about 'letting out' the feelings, about good way and bad ways and i always emphasis any way to let go of the emotions, to express them is better than not, while recognizing that there is a range of ways to do it, and some ways effect other people negatively.

Off my rocker right?

Today i walking into the living room, Sage was crying and Hunter was upset. Then they both calmed down and Hunter said "Sage was letting her sad out by crying at me, and i used my shield to block the sad so i didn't get upset."

OK. First i had not talked to either of them about blocking other peoples energy much less using a shield, the perfect example for Hunter. Second Sage was only crying while releasing the emotion. She was using the technique to feel better.

I have never been so proud of them. Not just because understanding their emotions is a priority for me as a parent, but because they showed such, maturity, a willingness to try new things, and Hunters insight and positive coping strategy for something that is likely to effect him for the rest of his life....it just blew me away. A purely awesome parenting moment.