Things have so calm around here lately. I feel like we are in a good season of parenting lately. We are taking some really good steps to protect the calm, but the kids are also just in these really good phases right now. I realize that this has little to do with us as parents, but I’m taking the win anyways.
We have been much better about saying no and dialing back our outside commitments. This has been a mission of mine this fall and I’m seeing the benefits. We love our friends and family but it feels so good to prioritize our little clan and really relax. Thanksgiving weekend was relaxing and refreshing for the first time in basically forever. I skipped the mall on black friday and went for a hike with my sister and the girls instead.
Endless.Patience.
Aunt Molly’s nature school
Bonus: my sister is endlessly patient with the kids and answers allllllll of Olivia’s questions. This is not a task to be taken lightly. Sometimes when she gets going I feel like she has a serious shot at a career in the FBI. She will even catch you in a lie or lazy answer and hammer it home until you break. Yes. My four year old has broken my will to converse.
Walked four feet from the car and didn’t earn a snack.
Abby. #somethingsneverchange #toddlerprobs
But she really did have fun though.
Forest Gump Voice: From that day on, if I was going somewhere, I was running.
Is there anything better than your progeny in a bunny hat? I think not.
Saturday we spent the whole day as a family. We walked to the park, set up the Christmas decorations, and just generally hung out. We even played the floor is lava with the kids at the park. Oreo tried to play too. Various degrees of success.
Sunday we spent the whole day with my family doing a late Thanksgiving. So back to this season of parenting: I barely saw the girls all day. They spent the majority of the day playing peacefully by themselves. They were generally pleasant, respectful, fun and fairly independent. I actually got to sit and talk to other adults. Uninterrupted. The girls are getting along so well right now. They tell each other they love the other. Olivia calls Abby her best sister and friend.
Olivia is suddenly a little adult, and it’s amazing and a little jarring. I’m not quite ready for my first baby (cue tears) to be growing up so fast. The other morning she woke me up and she was totally ready for school. She was dressed, hair brushed, socks and shoes on, everything. And then she went downstairs and started unloading the dishwasher. Lately she’s been doing these things on the regular. This is super helpful and reduces my workload and stress, so I’m not necessarily complaining, it’s just hitting me like a load of bricks that she is capable of doing so much.
She is also just super thoughtful lately and wants to make people (including strangers at Costco) feel loved. Warm fuzzies inside.
Abby is…. less helpful. She is solidly and definitively two, she is also stubborn and opinionated by nature. She does not remind me of myself… stop laughing! But she is so freaking funny lately. She has a little sense of humor, and her language is exploding enough to express it. I’m cracking up at statements like “I’m not feeling well, you need to take care of me”. She also learned the phrase “I want to snuggle with you” so basically my life is complete. I can never resist this, and so she uses it whenever she is in trouble. Example: I found her sneaking a sucker from the pantry and when I scolded her she looked me right in the eye and declared her snuggle intentions. HOW CAN YOU STAY MAD AT THAT???
I’m not trying to brag or pat myself on the back. I know (from hard experience) that life comes in waves no matter how hard you are trying. I want to put it in writing though, because when this season transitions to a hard one, I want to be able to remember that seasons eventually change. I know that I have little control over some things. I have a kid with a chronic illness and have gone nine rounds with PPD. But I also know that the only way to get through those things is to… just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming.
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