Category: kids

today, we made a mess

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As the days fly by and get shorter, I am more and more conscious of how fast time is going by.  I think it really took having kids to realize how fast it truly flies. So today, C and I took some time to paint.

We often have Pandora’s Toddler Radio on in the house (especially on weekends when we’re all home). I feel like I have memories that will remain etched in my mind today of this morning; sweet toddler music playing while little one discovered the joy of fingerpainting.

He wasn’t quite sure what to make of it at first (and yes he did try eating it, of course it was non-toxic!). But I’m guessing it didn’t taste good as he only did it once.

I think it was great from a sensory experience, and fun for he and I to do together. He made two masterpieces…which are still drying but are dated for his art bin that we’ve started.

Loved it!

a great bath toy!

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Okay so I want to share a new bath toy that mama and kiddos are both happy with!

We received these bath pipes as a gift. They are awesome.  No holes that make it hard to get water out (read: no mold); my near 5 year old loves setting them up in a way that allows her to use her imagination; and my near 18 month old can’t get enough of pouring water in the top and watching it come out the bottom.

boon bath

A really great thing about how these boon bath pipes are made is that the opening at the bottom is smaller than the top – so you do get some “watch time” after dumping the water in the top.

Definitely recommend!

Back to school knots

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When I was young, back to school time was always met with mixed feelings in my young mind and heart.  Sadness to see the summer go, butterflies at the thought of new teachers and new classmates, and the excitement at the smell of new notebooks stacks of 3 hole punched paper and pencils.

As a mom now, back to school hasn’t meant TOO much.  S has been in preschool for two years and C is too young to go, but it wasn’t a huge deal. This year, it is.  S starts kindergarten in 3 weeks and I’m sick to my stomach over it.

It’s a mixture of things, once again.  My fear of whether I am starting her too early and should have “redshirted” her.  Will she be safe on a bus that has K-5th graders on it? What if the bus breaks down? Will she eat her lunch in the 20 min allowed? Will the two small recess breaks allowed be enough for her little mind and body?

And will she be sad and lonely? And if so, will there be someone that notices in this new sea of students where the cafeteria ratio of adults to kids is something she has never experienced.

I know these are all things that may happen and if not, she (and I) will make it through. But the thought of putting her on that bus and not really knowing what is going on from 8.15 to when she returns to the curb at 4.15 has me sick with worry.

I guess I have 3 weeks to figure it out.  The last thing I want is to appear nervous or sad when she’s climbing those steps on the bus. Ahhhh letting them go is so hard!

Much, much harder than I ever imagined when I wasn’t a mama.

 

Doing nothing 

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That is what we will be doing this weekend. 
Well, other than one single swim class (that’s a non-negotiable skill for me, S goes every Sunday and C will be starting his baby classes soon). I am suddenly very conscious that we have but a few weekends left in the summer – and I’ve decided I’m not scheduling anything. 

So this weekend you will find us just relaxing. Maybe out back, maybe inside playing Monopoly Jr., but we aren’t going to be committing to anything other than unstructured time. 

I see my kids so free and happy, and I know before long there will be homework, stress about school and friends, and pressure to be the best they can. For now, I just want them both to run through the grass barefoot all day. 

Doing anything. Or nothing at all. 

our family vacation…we did it!

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We did it!

Although this wasn’t our FIRST vacation as a family of 4, it was probably our hardest. Since little C was born (now 17 months), we’ve done a waterpark weekend, a week in Mexico, and now we did a one-week rental near the beach in Saugatuck. This one was the hardest, but also I think the most important.

We met up with some of my husband’s family that doesn’t live near us, and that we’re lucky to see maybe once or twice a year.  They have two young kids as well, same age as my kids. I believe strongly that I want my kids to grow up knowing their cousins (my sister-in-law does too) – so we planned this week with our two families. 4 adults, 4 kids, and lots of chaos.

The kids had a blast. At times the girls got on each other’s nerves, but that’s to be expected with 2 almost-5-year-olds.  We did the beach. We did ice cream downtown almost every day. We did movie nights. We did the park. I really do feel I gave my older one a week to remember (my younger one is probably still wondering what happened!).

I have a couple of things I’d do differently the next time, though – so something to think about if you’re planning to rent a place with another family. The space was sufficient – 5 bedrooms. Keeping the house clean and 8 people fed was tiring! Although I thoroughly enjoyed the family time, I came home pretty drained and with a backache.  Next time around I would do 2 things differently:

  • take advantage of the mid-week cleaning service the rental offers for a fee (linens, vacuum, mopping) – will save a few hours of time and make things less hectic
  • eat out or order in a few times (we cooked ALL of our meals at home…the next time, I would definitely plan ahead to accommodate preferences/allergies and find some safe places to either get take out or hit the restaurants!)

We plan to make this a yearly tradition…can’t wait!

bedtime reading

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This has become one of our favorite bedtime reads…and I love it.  Last Stop on Market Street tells the story of a little boy and his grandma on the way to a soup kitchen. It is beautifully written and allows S and I to use our imagination along the way.

One of the reasons I love it (besides the fact that it’s a break from our beloved Berenstain Bears books) is that it talks about helping others. About seeing the good…about seeing the beauty. But it does it in a way that is so relatable for young children. The entire tale takes place on a bus ride – and it gives S and I both a chance to talk about the scenery, the passengers, and what makes them unique.

Definitely worth checking out if you are looking for a new book for the kids!

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We were on a family walk today and I had a minute to observe my daughter from afar. We actually first stopped in our tracks to watch a small snake slither across the sidewalk and through the grass (I love that S is not afraid of them!). Then, just ahead, we saw a little bunny rabbit.

She scampered up ahead saying “I’m going to try to catch it mama!” but of course the bunny hopped ahead (you can see it on the left side of this photo). She started to walk a little slower, and actually got closer than I thought she would.

It was then that I took a minute to soak in the picture…she looked so tall. So big.  I remembered thinking that last night when I was hugging her goodnight. Her arms seemed so thin…her body was so long.  Gone were the days when she’d wrap her chubby toddler arms around me. This was a lean, growing girl, and she actually fit up against my body differently all of a sudden.

I know everyone says they grow so fast. I feel like when they are little, tiny, newborn babies, you lose sight of that because days and nights can feel like one big endless loop. But as the days go by, especially this summer – I feel like I’m acutely aware of just how fast my “babies” are changing.

Yet another moment when I wish I could freeze time and keep them this age forever. I’d take a lifetime of these hectic yet carefree days without a second thought. 🙂

 

my daughter was the mean girl today

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So my daughter was the mean girl at the park today.

We had a playdate at the park with some friends. In fact, their whole family came, and our whole family went. It was a day I was looking forward to – it’s hard for me to take both kids to this particular park due to size and their ages – so since my husband was off work, it worked out perfectly.  When I told my daughter S that we were going to be meeting her friend L for a playdate, the first thing she said was “I don’t want to play with her.”

The two girls are a year apart – mine almost 5, L is almost 6. During every playdate, they have a great time. They always fight. They always cry when it’s time to go home. It’s a love-hate sort of friendship, I think.  My daughter behaves a little differently with L than she does with other friends, but I am noticing a trend. She is becoming very conscious of girls that are older than her (never boys) that know more, can do more, are taller, are older.  And suddenly over the last few months it upsets her very much.

So today, when L came up to me and said “S doesn’t want to go on the swings” I walked over to my daughter and found a pouting little one. She said “I don’t want to play with her. I just want to play by myself.” I tried explaining that we were only here for a little while, and the purpose of coming was to play together. That’s when she ran off and I figured I’d give her some time.

About 10 minutes, later, her friend L came up to me again. “S said that she’s not my friend and that she won’t be inviting me to her birthday party and that she’s not coming to mine.” Except this time she started crying. I walked back over to my daughter who was still in a crabby mood.  “S, we don’t say things like that to people. It hurts their feelings. It dips into their bucket. And, it’s mean.”

“I don’t care.” said my stubborn child.  I was SO embarrassed.  And sad for her friend, who I don’t think has ever said anything mean to my child. My kiddo was just being a rude, selfish, mean girl. Every time L would try to play with her, I could tell she would tell her to go away.

Then, when it was time to go, my lovely little girl said to L “I don’t care if we never play together again.” to which L started bawling. This was as we were walking to our cars, with me apologizing for my daughter’s behavior. I mean, what mom would EVER bring her daughter to a playdate if it was with my child, if she had this attitude? I certainly wouldn’t look forward to putting my kid in that position.

What shocked me was the lack of empathy in my daughter today. My daughter, the one who sets aside clothes and toys for donation “for the kids that don’t have any mama.” My daughter, the one who has herself sobbed when she has felt left out. Even during the short car ride home, I told her how disappointed I was in her behavior.  That we don’t treat other people that way.  She just plain didn’t care.

I’m really, really hoping this is a phase that passes. Because up until now, I was always so worried about how my daughter felt when other kids made her sad. I didn’t really focus on the fact that it could be my child that was doing the hurting.  But, I am laser focused on it now. I’m still thinking about how to talk to her about it again tomorrow. We did call L and apologize when we got home, but that’s definitely not enough.  Ugh.

to grandmother’s house we go

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Today we visited grandma for the first time in about a year.  We see her at our house about two to three times a month – she comes to help watch the kids on an occasional Monday when my husband and I both have to work. But, it had been about a year since we made the trip to see her at her house (about an hour away).

Truth be told, she was a little irritated that it took us so long. But every time I thought about packing up everything little man would need (bottles, pack ‘n play, sound machine, portable high chair, etc.) just for a day I always felt like it wasn’t worth it since we saw her a few times a month already. So now that my son is down to one nap a day, he’s 16 months old and doesn’t need that much “stuff” – we packed up a few things and went for the day.

And I’m so glad we did. My almost 5 year old LOVED seeing Grandma’s house.  She remembered quite a bit from last year – the backyard, the tomato plants, the garden, Grandma’s room, etc. But there was also a lot she rediscovered. My husband’s toys from when she was little, for example. And the lemonade popsicles Grandma keeps in her freezer for her.  My son just had fun running around her house and backyard.

I realized that we need to do this more often. Seeing the joy on my mother-in-laws face, having both her kids at HER house was clearly so meaningful to her. And, I know that she won’t be around forever. And for all the times she drives down to our house to spend time with my kids – we should be able to make the effort to go see her where she is most comfortable – her home. Especially since she is a widow (although my brother-in-law moved back in with her…that’s a story for another day!).  The company is a nice change for her.

I feel like we thoroughly enjoyed our day. On the way home my daughter said she can’t wait to go back to Grandma’s house. I have such fond memories of my grandparents’ homes – I would love my kids to have the same. So I plan to make that happen for them! I’m committing to get them up there more often, so that they can look back and have the same kinds of memories I do of my youth.

It was a great day!

 

the training wheels are off

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I put little one to bed tonight and jumped in for a quick shower before it was time to put my older one down.  I heard something outside my window and looked down to see this.

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My daughter has asked my husband to take her training wheels off.  I couldn’t believe it…I have distinct memories of my dad running after me, holding on to the back of my Huffy bike while I learned to balance.  And now here is my daughter, maybe slightly younger than I was, doing the same thing with her daddy.

I don’t have any photos of my dad teaching me (that I’ve seen, at least, in any of my parents’ albums). So I zoomed and grabbed this grainy shot so she will always remember it.  I can’t believe she’s getting so big, and how fast time is going.

Even though my little son was up last night and I’m exhausted today – I would gladly freeze time for the chance to keep them both little. In a heartbeat.