The girls have been extra silly at bed time the past few days. My tolerance for the silly is lower than normal, which of course is a bad combination. Instead of yelling and acting like a crazy person, I decided to be proactive Sunday night. As I tucked them in for bed, I instructed them that it was LATE, over an hour past bedtime, and they needed to go to sleep. I could see the energy in their eyes and I knew this could be a LONG process. So I had to think quick.
We talked about how late it was, and how early we were getting up the next morning (we were taking Wes to meet some friends for golf) so they NEEDED to sleep. We talked about being silly, and how there was just no time for that tonight, so we needed to put our sillies on the nightstand and we could pick them back up in the morning. Bekah played right along, and pulled out her sillies. Ashleigh kept ‘trying’ to pull her sillies out, but they were moving around. She would grab one side of her chest and they would move to the other. It was a crazy thing….or we just have crazy kids….
Either way it seemed to work, they were asleep pretty quickly and NOT happy Monday morning when I put them in the car.
Sometimes toddlers say the funniest things….Today I wanted to get a few recorded lest I forget in a moment of frustration how funny and silly my kids really are.
In the car this morning….
Bekah: Oh no, oh no MOMMY!!! I just ripped my book to pieces!!
While eating some lunch this afternoon…
Me (handing her a package of goat cheese medallions): Bekah, will you please put these cheeses back in the fridge?
Bekah: No Mommy. Jesus does NOT belong in the fridge.
Me (chuckling): Right. Now will you please put this cheese in the fridge?
It’s been a strange day around here, and when I was making dinner at almost 7 o’clock right on time this evening Ashleigh and I had the following conversation-
A: (whining) WHEN is dinner ready?
Me: I really don’t know. I’m hurrying, but I defrosted the wrong spaghetti sauce and I’m waiting for the water to boil for the pasta and then I can put the bread in the oven and I’m so sorry I’m apparently having a rough day and I just can’t seem to get dinner right. (sigh)
A: Mommy, would a hug help? How about 6 hugs?
Me: 6 hugs sounds perfect. Thank you.
A: Ok, 12 hugs it is.
She gave me my 12 hugs and went downstairs to play in the playroom. I went back to trying to defrost and heat the spaghetti sauce, rush the water to boil, and getting everything else ready to go.
A few minutes later I was given a card. A card my special little girl made for me.
And the translation (with her spelling since she is only 5, she spells phonetically and isn’t big on spacing or punctuation):
Dear Mommy,
I love you. I am sory tate you are haveing a ruf day today. I love you so much il never stop loveing you so much.
Love,
Ashleigh
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Yeah, as I read it my eyes filled up with tears. When I start to get frustrated with the lifestyle we’ve chosen, and the fact that our parenting style means I don’t get to leave my 2 yr old who still needs me to head away to Vegas for a girls’ weekend. It also means that I’m still up at night with the 2 yr old who needs me at 2 AM. Sometimes I get burnt out and exhausted. Moments like this just remind me why we parent the way we do, and that it really is all worthwhile. I’m such a lucky mom.
Ashleigh and Bekah were lucky enough to be the recipients of a very cute Princess Playhouse. They are very happy that Aunt Beth & Uncle Roy love them so. Ashleigh wanted to give a tour of the playhouse, so I handed her the video camera and sent her to it. Be warned, it is a 5.5 yr old at the camera. If you get sea sick, you may want to look away.
