Navigating the hilly terrain of motherhood
On Saturday morning we made blueberry pancakes for breakfast, as we typically do on the weekends, but this time a fairy princess helped me in the kitchen… I am hoping that she comes back next week in time to wave her magic wand and help me out with the dishes. She is cuter, and much more helpful, than the scary lion.
This weekend, we were visited by a scary lion. This scary lion read us a story she wrote herself – something about big rocks breaking the windows of our house, I think. Scary lion also treated us to a special dance performance, and then tried to recruit a mini scary lion, to no avail. Thankfully, scary lion failed to notice that the mask she was wearing was not, in fact, a lion, but actually some sort of freaky African tribal mask.
It is a fact that Grace does not like to sleep. She has never liked to sleep. As a tiny baby, she would cry and cry instead of sparing us hours of agony by simply closing her stubborn little eyes. Adam and I both have many memories of walking in circles around the house with her, or bouncing on the exercise ball, or singing songs in the middle of the night – trying anything possible to get her to fall asleep. On the other hand, Tess has always been a good sleeper – at least, she has been ever since I figured out that she just wants to be placed in her crib and left alone (what, no rocking, singing, or swaying??). This is something I have always appreciated about her. And then today, something magical happened. Something I never thought I would witness with my own children. After she finished her lunch, Tess started going up the stairs, saying, “Night-night, pease… Mommy… Night-night, pease.” I love that child.
My mom has always told me that I loved to sleep as a young child, and that before I could talk, I would stand by my crib when I was tired, waiting for her to put me in it. I always chalked that up to nostalgia – surely that wasn’t true, surely children don’t really ever do that – surely as the years passed my mom started remembering things differently. But now I realize that her memory could actually be accurate, and I thank my lucky stars (and the magic of genetics) for having at least one child who likes to sleep as much as me!
And what did she feed them for breakfast??
(Yes, those are socks on their hands. And yes, those are underpants on Grace’s head, with a plastic star on top for added beauty!)
Saturday is now officially pizza-making night at our house. This new family tradition was Adam’s idea. It gives us a good activity to do with the girls while also giving me a night off from cooking – brilliant! The best part is, Grace makes her own pizza, and she’s really into it (see her tossing her crust alongside Adam, above). And being the great big sister that she is, Grace set Tess up with a piece of play pizza and the play pizza cutter. So everyone had fun – and the pizza was delicious!
4:00 pm: As I type, the girls are playing – quietly – in Tess’s room. With the door closed. I am not sure which makes me more nervous – the fact that they are quiet, or the fact that the door is closed and I am not sure what’s going on in there. However, I am trying to encourage them to play nicely together without supervision, for a couple of minutes at a time (so I can put a load in the washer, or run and answer the phone, etc) so I am going to have to trust them. I am pretty sure there aren’t any sharp objects in there. And I’m pretty sure there aren’t any markers (I know this because a minute ago when I checked on them, there WAS a marker – in Tess’s hand, with the cap off – but the offending object has since been removed from the room). So I will just listen carefully for crying. For now, though, I hear happy laughter – from both of them. This is a nice moment. Too bad I have to go in there now and see what they’re really up to…
Ha! They emptied out all of the drawers in Tess’s dresser. Although I am annoyed by the mess, it was harmless, good-natured fun – and no one got hurt! In fact, they seem to have had a nice time reading together while reclining on the drawer liners. I suppose I’ll let them play without me again – just as soon as I recover from having to reorganize all of Tess’s clothes.
Every morning when Grace gets ready for school, Tess gets ready too. She asks for her boots, hat and coat and tries to put them on. She seems to have a hard time understanding why Grace gets to go “bye-bye” and she doesn’t. Then she realizes that she has all of the toys to herself, and she completely forgets about her sister.
Grace isn’t the only one with a funky sense of style – check out Tess’s cool shades!
Tess has decided she is a big girl now and no longer needs a bib. I disagree, but she is stubborn.
It’s amazing how a day that begins with joyful spinning can end in such misery…
My tricky four-year old has figured out how to fool me into thinking she is asleep at naptime, just long enough for me to leave her alone. Then she starts jumping off her bed repeatedly for an hour during her forced “quiet time.” This afternoon when I went to retrieve her, she was wearing her swimsuit and goggles, and had spread her beach towel out on the floor. I suppose that if this no nap thing continues, I’ll have to put some actual toys in her room. Or a swimming pool.
Travelingjenny 