I’ve written, though it’s been a while, about how sensitive Max is. He’s been better but still cries if you cut his toast, don’t catch his kiss when he blows it or give him a red shirt when clearly he wants a blue one.

Still, I felt better at soccer practice. Day 1 there was a 6-year-old sobbing like someone was beating him because he did not want to play soccer. I watched his mom coax, cajole and threaten him out of the corner of my eye and I wanted to hug her. Because I understood. Max has done the same thing. (That kid is now the best player on the team a few weeks later).

At their first game, the son of a couple I’ve befriended started crying on the field. He wanted his mommy. She might have been embarrassed, but I knew how she felt. They eventually pulled him and took him home.

He’s not the only one.

When you have one child, you don’t have much to compare to. You can look at other kids but it’s the behind-the-scenes stuff you can’t measure. Is it normal? Are you handling it right? Know what I mean?

By the way, Max is ROCKING at soccer! He’s not the fastest, but he’s dedicated. Sigh of relief.

So I recently told you that I’m Buddhist. It’s not something I shout out loud, simply because the majority of people around me are Christian, and I feel like they think I’m weird. And I don’t need any help in that department. I thought I’d take a post to tell you a little about Buddhism if you don’t know anything about it. Please don’t take me for the expert on the subject, because I am not.

• Buddhism has been around a long time. Like since 500 BC.
• Christians are surprised when I tell them there’s a lot of parallels in Christianity and Buddhism. Essentially we don’t harm others and do the right thing just like you.
• We do not worship Buddha. He is a figurehead, a prophet, much like Jesus. He came up with a lot of the stories and parables that are now in books, so he is one of many figures in Buddhism that teach us. (But he’s dead; you got that from the first line, right?)
• The fat Buddha symbol you see above stands for prosperity. If you’re fat, you have money, riiight?
• I don’t attend a temple. Hello? I’m in Arkansas. But there are temples in other places. I used to go to special ceremonies at a Thai temple in Orlando.
• We can meditate to clear our minds. I should do this more, but I always add it to my ever-growing list of things to do and never get around to it. I meditate in yoga instead.
• Buddhism is practiced heavily in India and China.
• I was actually raised Catholic, but as a teen, found it wasn’t for me. I became Buddhist sometime in college.

This was a light course. If you want to learn more about Buddhism, visit these sites.

Somehow the first part of this post got cut off…and I don’t remember what it said! I guess just that I’m excited about my new endeavor, GiveDaddy, a giveaway blog where we have a daily prize. It’s been a ton of fun to get new prizes to give away! Please support me by going there and entering lots of contests (one a day).

• FuzziBunz Cloth Diapers
• Soy Delites Candles
• Boca Beth CD
• Pinkabella goodies

A lot of these we’ll be doing multiple giveaways for, so if you haven’t stopped by to win a daily prize, I highly recommend you do so now!

PS In an effort to keep this blog solely about parenting, I will be moving the majority of reviews over to that blog with a few exceptions.