Obsessions & Addictions

Last week we during the adult session of Stake Conference, a member of the presidency talked quite a bit about obsessions. There are good and bad obsessions and it made me start to think about obsessions each of us in our family have. I decided that since I spend lots of time with Mayci, I would start with some of her obsessions.

My shoes. She has learned how much fun the shoes are to wear through the house. They make such a fun clomping sound as she walks on the hard wood floors. She tries on all of my high heel shoes and parades around the house all morning. She just recently discovered these fabulous glasses to add to her fun. She will wear these glasses for long periods of time in the house. She even got mad at me the other day because she had to take them off to have a nap.
Each morning, Mayci watches me get the girls ready for school. As soon as the girls leave, I do up Mayci's hair and then she demands to have her teeth brushed. She must hear me ask, sometimes beg, the others to brush their teeth before they leave. She knows that once you do your hair, you need to brush your teeth. She knows exactly what drawer the toothbrush and toothpaste is in. (She even sneaks into my bathroom and gets it out when I'm not looking. Then she hides and eats the toothpaste. It was the infant toothpaste and too easy to open. I threw that away to eliminate the mess of toothpaste all over my bedspread, wall, dresser.) As soon as I open the drawer, she squeals and starts dancing. She LOVES to brush her teeth. Hopefully this addiction sticks with her as she grows.

I love that she has had great examples in her life. She always sees someone in our house reading. She has found a couple of Clifford books that have become her favorites. She has an obsession with dogs. I hear her bark all day long. Her favorite thing to do is jump up in the big brown chair with whomever is reading and read a book too.

She likes to read the books to me somedays.

Other days, that's not the case!! (She just learned how to make this face and it's too dang cute. It makes me laugh every time she does it!)

She loves to put things inside things, like hampers. She'll fill something up with toys and then drag it around the house. She just realized last week that she would fit in a hamper. She puts her toys in it then asks me to put her in. "Inside?" She'll ask me. One day this week, she spent about 30 minutes in it. She just sat and talked and played while I showered and got ready. Who needs toys when you have a big hamper to sit in!

I find my kitchen like this ALOT!!!!! She loves washcloths. She loves to have a wet one while I'm cleaning and she'll walk around wiping things off. She mainly sucks on them though. Lately, she has discovered how much fun it is to put all of the washcloths on the ground and lay them all out flat. She then puts stuff on each of them or puts them on top of items. The rolling pin was a great toy the other morning. She rolled it over each rag. Occasionally she will help me clean up this mess. Other times she'll completely ignore my plead for help.

Mayci has many other obsessions/addictions but these are the one that take up most of her days. Since stake conference, it's made me stop and think about those things that are consuming my life. Are they making me a better person? Do they help me or hurt me? Do my kids have addictions that are healthy or hurtful? How can I create a place where my kids find positive addictions to get involved with? Satan has his ways of making little things seem harmful at first. Then before you know it, he's got ahold of you in a strong way.

For now, my kids are doing a great job at having positive addictions. I pray that I will be a good example and give them many opportunities to keep up their choices. I feel for those that have a negative addiction and don't have the support or courage to let it go. Hopefully my family will know that they can always turn to me for love and support if something consumes them that is hurtful to them. I love each of them so much and I love seeing their fun obsessions that are in their life right now.