Just Enjoying The Ride
I’ve been wanting to get the kids a box or a small trunk — something to store things that are special to them (or me). I told my 5 year old about my plans today. She was curious about what kind of stuff she would be putting in there. So I told her it could be anything, special pictures or things that they want to remember as they grow up. She looked thoughtful and finally said, “Mommy, when I’m older and don’t have to wear glasses anymore, can I put my glasses in there?”
Our two year is at that stage in life when tantrums are a daily occurrence. Lately though, he’s been interjecting his own lyrics and words into his tantrums. The other day he starts jumping up and down hollering over some injustice and he yells out “BOING! BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.” And then last night, as Nadia is cleaning the room with the kids, he got angry over something his sister did and started hollering away. In the midst of his hollering they hear him scream “BAD TO THE BONE!” and then continue screaming. (the lyrics to his favorite Megamind song). That one may just be a rock star one day.
Justin and I have been really busy over the past 2-3 months. We’re working. We spend our free time building businesses. We’re still setting up our home, landscaping the yard and planting trees. And then… there are our two wonderful children.
Before I had kids, I envisioned being a stay at home mother who lived for her kids and made childhood fun. I would get have all the latest schooling materials and have organized school time. I would play with them, take them on excursions to everywhere but the moon and have a great time just being “Mom.”
Enter reality and guilt at the end of each long day after the kids go down as I think think about all the things I DIDN’T do with them.
The other night I was indulging in that guilt a little as I cleaned and organized the room after they’d gone down. I decided to sort through the pile of their artwork that has been building up for the past 3 months. As I’m sorting and looking at each picture, it dawned on me that they were all pictures of happiness. There were pictures of princesses, castles, our happy, smiling family, mountains, rainbows, LOTS of cats. There was even what I’m pretty sure was a portrait of Spiderman by the little man himself.
Looking through those pictures put things in perspective and helped me realize that even though I may be failing in attaining those high standards I set for myself, the kids are okay. They’re happy. They’re enjoying life. They’re experiencing the freedom of childhood. They’re discovering the world for themselves as they poke around the yard, run through sprinklers, chase lizards, tackle each other, build pillow castles and tents, play make believe games with their their horses, knights and dragons, and yes… draw plenty of happy pictures. It reminded me that much of childhood just happens – if we let it.
We finally got out the door to go camping last week. It was just overnight to a park about 20 minutes away, but the kids (and Justin and I) loved it. The only problem was… it happened to be the one night in the past few months that a cold front blew in. We still had fun and that went well, so we decided to go camping again tomorrow night. We were all set to spend a few nights at my in-laws camp ground only to find out that… surprise, surprise, the drought of the past 3-4 months is taking a break to drop some rain/heavy storms on us. Maybe if plan more camping trips, Houston would get over it’s drought. Heh.
Our two year old idolizes his older sister and copies everything she does. Yesterday they were playing hide and go seek. We kept hearing these girly shrieks and screams. So Nadia finally tells him, “You are a little boy. Can you scream like a boy?” He didn’t think twice as he belted out a loud and terrible “BBBBOOOOOOOOYYYYY!!!!!” scream. That one gives us some good laughs.
Our little girl loves ice cream. Last night’s birthday the ice cream was definitely the highlight of her evening. At the end though, as we’re getting ready to head home, she decides to save the last little bit of ice cream for her little brother who hadn’t come along. I figured once she realized it was all melted, she’d realize saving ice cream wasn’t really doable. Well, her little brother was asleep when we got home, so I didn’t think much more about it. First thing this morning, our daughter comes into the room all sleepy eyed and tells her brother “I saved you some ice cream.” Sure enough, there was her little white cup on the shelf with about half an inch of melted ice cream in it. Jude was thrilled and gave her his most enthusiastic “thank you” “thank you, sister!” as he carefully ate the melted ice cream, or “hot chocolate” as he called it. — I’m going to miss these days.
It’s official! Uncle Alex got baptized on his birthday today. Alex and Renee go to little church now called Life Spring Baptist Church. Violet and I attended to support Alex as he enters his “new life” although Violet was more interested in the birthday ice cream after the baptism. Everyone seems very nice and friendly and their music was fun. Of course, I kept picturing Justin up there. It seemed wrong to have a band without him in it. Ah, well. It helped remind that I’m married to an awesome musician that needs to be reminded of his musical side. I’m going to have to organize a “pass the guitar night” one of these days so we can all enjoy his songs and so the kids can hear their daddy sing.
With a daughter fast approaching school age, finding the right school and set up is one of the big weights on my mind. It doesn’t help that every day a new article blares the news that the school budgets are being slashed, teachers are being laid off, extra-curricular activities are be cut and so on. This article from the Wall Street Journal entitled “If Supermarkets Were Like Public Schools” is amusing and makes me hope and pray that the day comes soon when major (positive) changes come to our Public School System.
This year I realized with some sadness that having an April Fools baby successfully ended my April Fool Day pranking career. My pranking has now taken back burner to very important birthday plans. Ah, well… at least all my friends should feel safer. Nyahahah
My little girl turned 5 on April 1st (no joke). Time sure flies and it’s sure been an exciting ride thus far. We celebrated in true princess style with a ball and a never ending princess moviethon/sleep over with a few of her fellow princess cousins. You’re only 5 once. Happy Birthday, Violet!