Out of the Mouths of Babes

Last weekend our three year old was sick with a fever and feeling lethargic. I was amazed how quickly she bounced back on Sunday, but by Monday the baby was feeling a little warm and had a stuffy nose. Daughter #1 quickly pointed out that the baby must have caught her choke (what she calls a cough) and warm beaver.

Hidden Talents

I'm constantly finding myself thinking and rethinking how I behave as a parent and the effect that has on our daughters. One thing I've frequently been pondering lately is the difference in how I parent the two. At the moment Daughter #2 seems to get away with murder just by blinking her big blue eyes and giggling or crying (whichever she deems most appropriate at the time). This doesn't surprise me one bit as I've watched my younger sister (and parents) behave the same way. What does surprise me is that my sympathies don't always seem to lie where I would assume they would, which is with Daughter #1. Maybe that's because she's a self proclaimed "Daddy's Princess."

That said, I've been trying to pay more attention to Daughter #1 this past week and found that she has a few very bizarre hidden talents. We'll get to those later. What I've also discovered is a very sweet, helpful little girl whose probably needing a few more cuddles than she admits. I've always thought of her as an independent little gal whose had a mind of her own ever since she was a tiny baby, and somehow I've seemed to fail to appreciate her sensitive and caring side.

Here she is making Valentine's Day cards.

As promised, Hidden Talent #1 is that she always seems to have a song in her heart and can delightly "rearrange" lyrics to make them more appropriate for whatever task is at hand. Just this week, the "Bare Necessities" from Jungle Book became the "Recycling Necessities of Life."

Hidden Talent # 2 - She demonstrated this week that she does have the ability to fall asleep in a room with a crying baby. Now that's impressive.

Playing with the New Strawberry Shortcake that she earned by using the potty.

And lastly, Hidden Talent #3 is that she apparently is able to pee horizontally out of her little potty chair (past the splashguard) and onto the floor a foot in front of her.

Note to Grandparents: This is NOT something that is open for discussion or to tease her about when she's older. I was just shocked that it was even physically possible and then a little ticked that nobody (meaning you Our Dear Parents) never fully explained how many gross things kids do.

Random Thoughts

Let's just say that I was doomed after all of that talk about shining the dull side. Last week was one of those weeks when I wasn't feeling very blessed. It really felt like I would take 1 step forward only to fall about 5 steps back. To top things off, Thursday was Valentine's Day and Thursday was probably the hardest day of my week. Doesn't conger up all those warm fuzzy feelings of love now does it? But it did make me think of the verses in 1 Corinthians 13 that describe the attributes of love. Just the first alone will give me plenty to work on for the next several weeks. Love is patient or Love suffers long.

I say all that as I think of how my 3 year old frequently says, "I want to listen!" as we chastise her for not behaving. Lately she has been having trouble obeying simple rules and we have stepped up efforts to enforce the rules as I've realized I'm starting to sound like that other mom that always annoys me by saying, "No, no. If you do that again, you're going to get in trouble." (Side note ~ as we stepped up the discipline, I've also made an effort to make sure she gets some extra loving and one on one time as well.) But how often does God feel the same way about us? I don't know, but I often feel like I'm quick to say "I want to be a good wife" or "I want to be a good mom" only to NOT really want to put in the effort that it geniuinely requires.

One of my uncle's favorite sayings is "Same Stuff, Different Day." (Edited Version) I don't particularly like the saying, but it has been running through my mind quite frequently as we deal with poo disasters on a very regular basis. I've decided that the person who first coined the term must have had small children. I wanted to thank my Pops for making me laugh in the midst of all this mess on Thursday when he quite accurately decided that I must be stuck in "Groundhog Poo."

Notes to Self

1. Continue to learn to trust your judgement. You are not stupid and lazy as you have a tendency to tell yourself. If you're too tired to go to the store, don't drag yourself and your babies there as you will find the only person in the store leaking bodily fluids and only stress yourself out more. Your husband didn't seem to mind the fact you ordered pizza that night.

2. If the chaos around you seems to be too much to bear, go do something fun with your babies. Believe me, the chaos will still be waiting for you later. And you can get more accomplished during a few hours in the middle of the night than you can during the course of a regular week. Tap into that.

3. Make a note of things not to do to annoy your own daughters when they are grown and have their own babies. Remember that what is helpful to you may not be helpful to them.

Out of the Mouths of Babes....

I'm finding more and more pleasure out of the things that our three year old says.

GRUMPY - Just today her daddy asked her to pick up the baby's toys in the living room while I was in the other room changing the baby's diaper. When I returned to the living room, I put the baby down and proceeded to hand her some toys.

3 Year Old - I just picked up.

Me - And then I went and got out more toys. How does that make you feel?

3 Year Old - "GRUMPY"

I just had to giggle. We all know that she hasn't realized yet that it works the other way around also.

Now why didn't Fisher Price think of that? - On Friday dear daughter wanted to know if we could get her a "play bathroom." She wanted a pink one. When I explained that they didn't make such a thing, she rightly noted, "But I have a play kitchen."

Failed Safety Inspection

Ever since our little one became mobile at 5 1/2 months, she's been conducting impromptu safety inspections throughout the house. This mostly involves banging her poor little head on the nearest door or wall. On Wednesday afternoon her careful analysis led her to conclude that the EDGE of the hall bathroom door will IMMEDIATELY put a large purple welt on a baby's head and give her mom a small heart attack in the process.

The ensuing conversation with the doctor's office went something like this:

ME - I'm pretty sure everything's fine, but just wanted to contact you about my six month old before closing hours. You know how babies reach the stage where they are mobile, but don't have any common sense.

NURSE - Uh huh? I guess she's rolling around lots.

ME - No. She's crawling and can stand up.

NURSE - Oh, I guess that makes your life interesting.

And that's exactly why I had to call her in the first place.

Poor Hubby

And this is why I "occasionally" feel sorry for my husband.

Out of the Mouths of Babes....

Let's Send It To Africa - I guess we need to have a little discussion with our 3 year old about stewardship and generosity. Actually I think she frequently excels at these two concepts, considering her age. But she stopped me dead in my tracks as we plowed through the toothbrush aisle at Walmart about two weeks ago. We have friends who are missionaries to Uganda and we've had the priviledge of specifically praying for one of their orphans for a little over three years now. We also frequently go through our things and try to donate anything we can no longer use, including various toys. So that said, I was shocked when we bought her a new toothbrush only for her to suggest, "I can send my old toothbrush to Africa." The sweet thing is that she was sincerely wanting to help someone else.

Say What? - Just today she made me giggle as she tried to sing one of Elvis' classics. It had been background music on one of the videos that we recently rented. Imagine this charming little face singing, "Hunka Hunka Dirty Love!"

Reality Check

Thought for the Day: When Life's Bright Side Doesn't Shine, Polish the Dull Side.

After a few days of this blogging stuff, I've decided that I do enjoy the opportunity to sit and weed through my thoughts. It's been quite awhile since I've forced myself to form coherent sentences.

I've noticed though that most of the posts are somewhat "Fluffy." Normally I am not a fluffy kind of gal, but I've decided to try and apply the above thought since the first time I saw it on a billboard a few weeks ago.

The truth is that my life doesn't always sparkle and shine, nobody's does. In fact, at this stage of my life, children's poo (and I'm not talking about the kind that makes it into the diaper or toilet) seems to a damper on my day more often than not. But I'm choosing to shine the dull side and enjoy the little moments when I see this smile.

Glass Half Full

Or should I say, "Mug Completely Full." We drove my husband to work on Tuesday since he didn't feel like getting stuck in the snow two days in a row. Apparently the parking lot he uses wasn't real high on the Facilities' checklist and he had to spend an hour on Monday digging his car out of a parking space with his boot. In the rush to get two kids and a husband out the door, dear husband didn't get to drink his morning cup of tea. I let it sit all day on the cluttered countertop, not wanting to bring any attention to the fact that I had noticed it. But the full cup of undrank tea made me think how often my husband doesn't "fuss" when things don't go his way. This is totally opposite of the way I tend to handle things, but was an effective reminder of why I love him so much.

And so today dear husband I want to thank you for the scrambled eggs that are just the right size for my sausage biscuits, for the way the girls light up when you walk into the room, and for helping clean the snow off the neighbors' driveways. Love you bunches!

Saturday Morning Guest

I stumbled out of bed about 7 am Saturday morning to get a drink of water out of the kitchen. I had no intentions of staying up. The kids were still asleep and it was COLD outside. Indeed, my nice warm bed beckoned loudly and that's exactly where I was headed when I noticed him. On my way back down the hallway, I noticed a quite unexpected guest on my front porch. It was an owl. I know country folk might not be that excited about my discovery, but this was a real treasure for a kid from the suburbs. My husband thought I was an absolute nutter (to borrow a term from our British friends), but I was thrilled to get an up close and personal view of this Destroyer of Mice. I was only about three feet away from this amazing creature when I took this photo. Just another little moment that I'm glad I didn't miss.

Ready, Set, Go

So after a few weeks of consideration, I'm jumping into the World of Blogging. I'm not so sure how this will turn out, but here we go. A few weeks back a friend sent me the link to another friend's blog. It was a fabulous piece of work with witty writing and awesome pictures. But the most impressive thing it did was make me think. We're not talking about intellectual arguments or lofty ideas, but rather someone who was excited about her life and that of her kids. It made me stop in my tracks and pay attention to the things going on around me.

Suddenly I gave pause to the thought when my three year old suggested that she would prefer for the roads to be pink. How interesting would that be? Before I would of said, "Hmm" and kept driving instead of envisioning the snow covered hills brightened by the Hot Pink strip of asphalt running between them.

Right now I find it hard to believe that our life could be very interesting, much less inspiring. But if I could only have one goal for this site, it would be to encourage you to enjoy the little moments with your babies for they grow very quickly.