Today I had one of those parenting moments. One of the good ones, not one filled with regret, but thankfulness that I took a moment to listen.
The boys were going to spend the day with their old teacher, while I went to a cooking class. They were so excited, I do not have the words for how much they love Ms. Erin. They have been talking about it all week, looking forward to spending some time with her, seeing her house, telling her all about their summer. Every day this summer one or both of the boys has said something to the effect of "you should send a picture of this to Ms. Erin" or "when I see Ms. Erin again..." So they love her and miss her.
This morning, I was in the shower. Now the shower is a wonderful place for me. With the fan on and the water beating down on my head, I can barely hear what is going on in the living room with the kids. I can hear yelling and screaming, but normal play, it is blissful silence. By nature I only take about a 5 minute shower, and I don't think it is too much to ask to be left alone for those brief moments. At seven, I believe that the boys can function without me for those few minutes, but alas, it almost never happens, usually in those five minutes, someone has to visit me to tell me something very important. Usually I ask before they start talking too much, "Is this something that can wait until I get out of the shower in five minutes?!!!!" 99 times out of a hundred, the answer should be yes!
Today, like just most days, I was rudely interrupted while shampooing my hair by Ryan. I could not hear him, as I started to be frustrated in my mind, I looked at his face. It was full of joy and anticipation, almost like Christmas Morning. He blurted out something about what he wanted to do with Ms. Erin's dog Huckleberry. He giggled, and went back to play.
I took a breath and spent the rest of the shower glad I did not make him wait to tell me that little bit of nothing, because it was so important to him, and that is all that really matters.
Showing posts with label Good Mommy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Good Mommy. Show all posts
Friday, August 23, 2013
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Everybody's Smilin', Sunshine Day...
Today was just one of those days. A day that made me feel like I was that Mom. No, not That Mom. THAT Mom-- Carol Brady. Shirley Partridge. June Cleaver. Caroline Ingalls. Olivia Walton. The one that handles things in stride, the one that has shiny faced little ones that do good, or at least try, and at the end of an hour, or half hour, they have learned a valuable life lesson, and everyone is smiling.
Too many times I feel harried, and hurried, and just plain worn out. Too many days I wonder, did I do enough to nurture, and stimulate the young minds I am molding? Too many days I wish I could be a perfect mom.
Now, I know I'll never be perfect. (no matter how hard I try. But gosh darn it, I have to try.) I know I will always beat myself up for something I feel like I got wrong. I know there will always be people who think I'm not being a good Mom, or that their way is better. It might be. But it may not be the right way for our family, and that is all I care about. What is right for Ryan and Evan. This was a day that I would feel none of that self doubt, or self criticism.
*****
Today at breakfast I asked the boys what they wanted to do today. (for once we had no plans) They thought about it and Ryan, today's spokesman for the pair, said "park" "Well," I said, "we went to the park yesterday, and we are going tomorrow, is there anywhere else you would like to go?" They thought about it for awhile, and Evan, very clearly said "zoo" (not a word I've heard from him, ever). Oh, I should note, that they both slept in to a glorious 6:30 this morning, so we were dining a bit later than usual. I quickly calculated all of the things I would have to do to make it to the zoo today, and decided to attempt to shift our plans to the Wild Animal Park. (it's about 20 minutes closer)
Once I mentioned the water, and they remembered the crocodile, we were set. We scurried around and left the house by 8:15. Arrived, sun screened the boys and myself, and were at the gates at opening. We did our usual, but the boys kept saying they wanted to feed the ducks. (I thought, hmm, we could have just gone to the lake 5 minutes from the house to feed the ducks, but...Okay, let's go feed the ducks)
Near the duck pond are little boat that are controlled by these wheels that today, the boys found very entertaining.
But even more interesting was the coin return and the little door where Ryan found a one dollar token, and a quarter, and Evan, not to be out done, also found a shiny quarter. You would think that they had just found a truck or bulldozer by the running and squealing. It was really cute, however, I quickly snatched their treasures from their hands (choking hazard much?) and sanitized their hands. (do you know how dirty money is? yuck)
Lunch was very uneventful (which in this house is great news) Evan ate two jars of Green Beans with very little fighting. Ryan ate all of his pasta and an entire container of yogurt.
During naps, I had the bright idea to try and cook with the boys. I've been hearing that they should start doing things like this but have been avoiding it like no one's business. I had to make some pasta for Ryan, so I decided to prep it, and when the boys woke up, we could "cook" it together.
Of course I have no pictures of this because um, you try to wrangle two toddlers in your non-childproofed kitchen, while trying to "cook" with them, AND then grab the camera too? No.
It went much better than I expected. They were so great. Evan loves the food processor, and Ryan does not, so he ground up the 4 chicken breasts. Ryan poured the chicken into a bowl, then Evan poured in the sauce. They let me stir, and package. And then we repeated the whole process again.* Each boy getting a turn at pouring sauce, chicken, noodles. They were so excited, they wanted to taste their creation!
After we finished, we drew pictures of what we had just done in the kitchen. Okay, I drew the pictures, they told me what to draw, and the colored over them. This gave us a chance to talk about what we had done, just a little reinforcement of concepts. Plus the boys were as always happy to color.
Okay, perfect mom award to this point. An outing, a cooking lesson, an art project, all. in. one. day. Feeling really smug and proud of myself for not taking the easy way anywhere in this day.
And then dinner. Evan threw up, argh. Ryan decided to moisturize in yogurt when I turned my back for a second.
Still, pretty good Mom, I grabbed my camera, snapped off a couple of pictures of yo-yo baby, and Evan ate 2 more jars of food, post vomit.
I'm not sure why today was so great. The boys were in a great mood all day. (provided that Row-Row-Row- Your Boat was on the ipod) It all just seemed EASY! I can't believe I just said that, but yeah, it felt easy. The boys behaved and listened perfectly on our outing. They were really great in the kitchen, and even when they didn't share, or when there were little meltdowns over the song playing, it was easy. Maybe someone spiked my Luna bar with a Valium. Or maybe the boys are growing up a little bit. =( What ever it is, I hope we have many, many more "Sunshine Day(s)"
*I make two pounds of pasta at a time and freeze it in portions for easy meals and while I have a huge bowl that could mix all of it at time, somehow it's just easier to divide the batch in half and use a handy smaller bowl.
__________________________
A couple of asides.
I read in one of my Parenting Magazines that the average parent argues with their toddler 20 times an hour, some as many as 55 times an hour. Huh???? I think I need a definition of argue. Oh maybe I need to be very thankful.
Ryan said his first three word phrase yesterday "Big, Truck, Book"
and Evan today "More, Music, Please"
Words, and two word phases are coming rapid fire these days, they are parrots, they are sponges, they are chatty Cathy's.
Ryan woke up after about an hour of nap today, but instead of screaming for me to get him up, he sat and played with his babies. (he now sleeps with no less that 15 stuffed animals, who go almost everywhere with us, if I allow it) The conversation went like this
"baby, yup"
"pha, pha, yup" (Snoopy)
"ty-ty, yup" (tiger)
"mon, mon, yup"(monkey)
"Fwog, yup" (frog)
"Baaaaaa, yup" (sheep)
"ma, ma, yup"
"Da-di, yup"
"EV-an, yup"
and then he fell asleep. and I sat laughing so hard I cried.
Evan has been recognizing his letters, both in print and with signs. It's crazy! I usually do the signs when we are singing the alphabet song, but never really tried to teach them the signs. A couple of days ago, Evan started doing some of them and telling me what they were. He'd say E and I'd look up and he had his hand in the E shape, I think he knows about 15-20 of the letters. He's always loved looking at the letters on our T-shirts, and we'd tell him what they were, now he tells us.
The "fist bump" is our new favorite show of accomplishment. However the "high-five" is still a close second.
And finally a couple of other pictures from outings in the last few days.
I just missed the perfect shot of the two of them looking at me with a huge fish over their heads.
There's some PG-13 shots that are not for the web, of these two buck nekid boys, taking a sun shower on the street by the Marine Room after our Saturday morning in the surf. I honestly don't think there is anything cuter than baby butts. (that doesn't make me creepy does it?)
Too many times I feel harried, and hurried, and just plain worn out. Too many days I wonder, did I do enough to nurture, and stimulate the young minds I am molding? Too many days I wish I could be a perfect mom.
Now, I know I'll never be perfect. (no matter how hard I try. But gosh darn it, I have to try.) I know I will always beat myself up for something I feel like I got wrong. I know there will always be people who think I'm not being a good Mom, or that their way is better. It might be. But it may not be the right way for our family, and that is all I care about. What is right for Ryan and Evan. This was a day that I would feel none of that self doubt, or self criticism.
*****
Today at breakfast I asked the boys what they wanted to do today. (for once we had no plans) They thought about it and Ryan, today's spokesman for the pair, said "park" "Well," I said, "we went to the park yesterday, and we are going tomorrow, is there anywhere else you would like to go?" They thought about it for awhile, and Evan, very clearly said "zoo" (not a word I've heard from him, ever). Oh, I should note, that they both slept in to a glorious 6:30 this morning, so we were dining a bit later than usual. I quickly calculated all of the things I would have to do to make it to the zoo today, and decided to attempt to shift our plans to the Wild Animal Park. (it's about 20 minutes closer)
Once I mentioned the water, and they remembered the crocodile, we were set. We scurried around and left the house by 8:15. Arrived, sun screened the boys and myself, and were at the gates at opening. We did our usual, but the boys kept saying they wanted to feed the ducks. (I thought, hmm, we could have just gone to the lake 5 minutes from the house to feed the ducks, but...Okay, let's go feed the ducks)
Near the duck pond are little boat that are controlled by these wheels that today, the boys found very entertaining.
But even more interesting was the coin return and the little door where Ryan found a one dollar token, and a quarter, and Evan, not to be out done, also found a shiny quarter. You would think that they had just found a truck or bulldozer by the running and squealing. It was really cute, however, I quickly snatched their treasures from their hands (choking hazard much?) and sanitized their hands. (do you know how dirty money is? yuck)
Lunch was very uneventful (which in this house is great news) Evan ate two jars of Green Beans with very little fighting. Ryan ate all of his pasta and an entire container of yogurt.
During naps, I had the bright idea to try and cook with the boys. I've been hearing that they should start doing things like this but have been avoiding it like no one's business. I had to make some pasta for Ryan, so I decided to prep it, and when the boys woke up, we could "cook" it together.
Of course I have no pictures of this because um, you try to wrangle two toddlers in your non-childproofed kitchen, while trying to "cook" with them, AND then grab the camera too? No.
It went much better than I expected. They were so great. Evan loves the food processor, and Ryan does not, so he ground up the 4 chicken breasts. Ryan poured the chicken into a bowl, then Evan poured in the sauce. They let me stir, and package. And then we repeated the whole process again.* Each boy getting a turn at pouring sauce, chicken, noodles. They were so excited, they wanted to taste their creation!
After we finished, we drew pictures of what we had just done in the kitchen. Okay, I drew the pictures, they told me what to draw, and the colored over them. This gave us a chance to talk about what we had done, just a little reinforcement of concepts. Plus the boys were as always happy to color.
Okay, perfect mom award to this point. An outing, a cooking lesson, an art project, all. in. one. day. Feeling really smug and proud of myself for not taking the easy way anywhere in this day.
And then dinner. Evan threw up, argh. Ryan decided to moisturize in yogurt when I turned my back for a second.
Still, pretty good Mom, I grabbed my camera, snapped off a couple of pictures of yo-yo baby, and Evan ate 2 more jars of food, post vomit.I'm not sure why today was so great. The boys were in a great mood all day. (provided that Row-Row-Row- Your Boat was on the ipod) It all just seemed EASY! I can't believe I just said that, but yeah, it felt easy. The boys behaved and listened perfectly on our outing. They were really great in the kitchen, and even when they didn't share, or when there were little meltdowns over the song playing, it was easy. Maybe someone spiked my Luna bar with a Valium. Or maybe the boys are growing up a little bit. =( What ever it is, I hope we have many, many more "Sunshine Day(s)"
*I make two pounds of pasta at a time and freeze it in portions for easy meals and while I have a huge bowl that could mix all of it at time, somehow it's just easier to divide the batch in half and use a handy smaller bowl.
__________________________
A couple of asides.
I read in one of my Parenting Magazines that the average parent argues with their toddler 20 times an hour, some as many as 55 times an hour. Huh???? I think I need a definition of argue. Oh maybe I need to be very thankful.
Ryan said his first three word phrase yesterday "Big, Truck, Book"
and Evan today "More, Music, Please"
Words, and two word phases are coming rapid fire these days, they are parrots, they are sponges, they are chatty Cathy's.
Ryan woke up after about an hour of nap today, but instead of screaming for me to get him up, he sat and played with his babies. (he now sleeps with no less that 15 stuffed animals, who go almost everywhere with us, if I allow it) The conversation went like this
"baby, yup"
"pha, pha, yup" (Snoopy)
"ty-ty, yup" (tiger)
"mon, mon, yup"(monkey)
"Fwog, yup" (frog)
"Baaaaaa, yup" (sheep)
"ma, ma, yup"
"Da-di, yup"
"EV-an, yup"
and then he fell asleep. and I sat laughing so hard I cried.
Evan has been recognizing his letters, both in print and with signs. It's crazy! I usually do the signs when we are singing the alphabet song, but never really tried to teach them the signs. A couple of days ago, Evan started doing some of them and telling me what they were. He'd say E and I'd look up and he had his hand in the E shape, I think he knows about 15-20 of the letters. He's always loved looking at the letters on our T-shirts, and we'd tell him what they were, now he tells us.
The "fist bump" is our new favorite show of accomplishment. However the "high-five" is still a close second.
And finally a couple of other pictures from outings in the last few days.
I just missed the perfect shot of the two of them looking at me with a huge fish over their heads.
There's some PG-13 shots that are not for the web, of these two buck nekid boys, taking a sun shower on the street by the Marine Room after our Saturday morning in the surf. I honestly don't think there is anything cuter than baby butts. (that doesn't make me creepy does it?)
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Neglect
I've been very neglectful of my blog, and I feel bad. I'm not sure what has me in such a funk, I just find at night, when I have time to write, my brain feels all mushy and the thought of trying to put words together is daunting.
There is the 100th post that is looming (this is post 94). There have been so many moments in the past couple of weeks when one or more of the boys has done something or said something funny or adorable, blog worthy. And had 100 not been so close, I'd have stopped what I was doing and blogged a quickie so I wouldn't forget. But, alas, 100 is too near, and I have not even begun to work on it. In my pre-twins life, I'd have had it all mapped out and written at 75 posts. (of course pre-twins, what would I be blogging about anyhow?) Now, after twins? I've had a few thoughts, but no sooner do I have the thought and it's gone again. I've even thought about going against blogging tradition and not made a big deal about the 100th post. Not even mention it. However, I'm not the kind to go against tradition. Okay I am, but, it's a nice tradition, one I've enjoyed reading on countless other blogs. Oh and all of those really cute blog worthy items? Gone. I just tried to think of them, tried to find the scraps of paper they were written on and nope. No luck. My only consolation is, there will be more.
Have I mentioned lately how adorable the boys are? I love them more and more every day. This age is so great. They are so aware of their surroundings and are so excited to tell me what they see, know and understand.
Now that doesn't mean that they are perfect. OH, NO. Not even close. We are just now starting to assert ourselves in some not so cute ways. Ryan has been verging on temper tantrums of late. Right now they are just crying fits, no kicking, no flailing, in fact when he gets really worked up and upset he comes charging at me with all his strength (and I have to tell you the first time this made me nervous, I thought I was going to have a bite taken out of my shoulder) throws his arms around me and gives me a huge hug. He knows he is out of control and just wants to be held until he can calm down.
Ryan has also been having some problems with sleeping. If you call waking up at 3 or 4 AM screaming for 30-60 minutes, falling asleep briefly and waking for the day at 5 AM a problem. I myself, find it to be a HUGE problem. This seems to be working itself out. I think I've neglected to get him adequately exhausted during the day. (In an effort to save on gas, we've limited our big outings that had him running around for 3 hours a day, to one a week. Today we spent close to 2 hours at the park, I'm testing my theory.) Either that, or all his health issues have him out of whack. Or, there is the old adage, when kids are going through big developmental changes, their sleep cycles are disrupted. (If this is the case I expect him to recite Shakespeare, or work a quadratic equation soon.) Any of the three I'll take, as long as I can fix it or if it rights itself in the next couple of days, 'cause we are all pretty tired.
Evan has been a real pain to feed again. He's had a couple of great moments where he's swallowed a Cheerio or two, or a grain of rice, or a minuscule piece of pasta (think pin head), but for the most part it has been a battle of wills. I asked him today if he knew where he got his stubborn streak, he said yes. I asked him, Where? Yep, you guessed it. "Mama" he says with a big grin on his face. Didn't I tell you these kids are really aware?!?!?
The good news is that we FINALLY have the scope scheduled. June 19th. The bad news, we go of the Prilosec tomorrow. So if it is really helping in ANY way, feeding (and possibly sleeping) for the next two weeks is going to be really fun. (read unbearable) Although feeding was difficult this week, he still managed to gain a half a pound, and he is weighing in at 26 pounds, which means, time to get tough. After the scope, if all looks good physically, and his PH study comes back normal, all these eating problems are in his97th percentile head.
Ah yes, and Evan has been consistently telling me he has poop in his pants, and he even told me once that he was about to go. I failed to react fast enough, and it became a 'pip' before we could get on the potty. Ryan love sitting on his potty andplaying with himself exploring the mechanics of relieving himself, however, he has yet to produce anything. Evan is more than willing to sit on the potty in a diaper, but is not yet comfortable being nay-nay on the potty, which makes it a little difficult to properly leave a deposit.
(I should add that we in no way were intending to start the naked on the potty phase now, we are just in the "getting comfortable" with the potty phase. But there is a certain excitement that comes over you when your child looks at you and says "poop in paw-paw" and you ask if he has poop in his pants, and he says "no, in paw-paw". That would make any parent go sprinting for the potty to throw their child on it to see what happens, right?)
But even as I sit here an type all the bad stuff. I have a smile on my face thinking about seeing their shiny little faces tomorrow morning. I can't wait to see them, as long as it's after 6 AM.
Ahhhh, Motherhood, is there anything that resembles bipolar disorder more?
There is the 100th post that is looming (this is post 94). There have been so many moments in the past couple of weeks when one or more of the boys has done something or said something funny or adorable, blog worthy. And had 100 not been so close, I'd have stopped what I was doing and blogged a quickie so I wouldn't forget. But, alas, 100 is too near, and I have not even begun to work on it. In my pre-twins life, I'd have had it all mapped out and written at 75 posts. (of course pre-twins, what would I be blogging about anyhow?) Now, after twins? I've had a few thoughts, but no sooner do I have the thought and it's gone again. I've even thought about going against blogging tradition and not made a big deal about the 100th post. Not even mention it. However, I'm not the kind to go against tradition. Okay I am, but, it's a nice tradition, one I've enjoyed reading on countless other blogs. Oh and all of those really cute blog worthy items? Gone. I just tried to think of them, tried to find the scraps of paper they were written on and nope. No luck. My only consolation is, there will be more.
Have I mentioned lately how adorable the boys are? I love them more and more every day. This age is so great. They are so aware of their surroundings and are so excited to tell me what they see, know and understand.
Now that doesn't mean that they are perfect. OH, NO. Not even close. We are just now starting to assert ourselves in some not so cute ways. Ryan has been verging on temper tantrums of late. Right now they are just crying fits, no kicking, no flailing, in fact when he gets really worked up and upset he comes charging at me with all his strength (and I have to tell you the first time this made me nervous, I thought I was going to have a bite taken out of my shoulder) throws his arms around me and gives me a huge hug. He knows he is out of control and just wants to be held until he can calm down.
Ryan has also been having some problems with sleeping. If you call waking up at 3 or 4 AM screaming for 30-60 minutes, falling asleep briefly and waking for the day at 5 AM a problem. I myself, find it to be a HUGE problem. This seems to be working itself out. I think I've neglected to get him adequately exhausted during the day. (In an effort to save on gas, we've limited our big outings that had him running around for 3 hours a day, to one a week. Today we spent close to 2 hours at the park, I'm testing my theory.) Either that, or all his health issues have him out of whack. Or, there is the old adage, when kids are going through big developmental changes, their sleep cycles are disrupted. (If this is the case I expect him to recite Shakespeare, or work a quadratic equation soon.) Any of the three I'll take, as long as I can fix it or if it rights itself in the next couple of days, 'cause we are all pretty tired.
Evan has been a real pain to feed again. He's had a couple of great moments where he's swallowed a Cheerio or two, or a grain of rice, or a minuscule piece of pasta (think pin head), but for the most part it has been a battle of wills. I asked him today if he knew where he got his stubborn streak, he said yes. I asked him, Where? Yep, you guessed it. "Mama" he says with a big grin on his face. Didn't I tell you these kids are really aware?!?!?
The good news is that we FINALLY have the scope scheduled. June 19th. The bad news, we go of the Prilosec tomorrow. So if it is really helping in ANY way, feeding (and possibly sleeping) for the next two weeks is going to be really fun. (read unbearable) Although feeding was difficult this week, he still managed to gain a half a pound, and he is weighing in at 26 pounds, which means, time to get tough. After the scope, if all looks good physically, and his PH study comes back normal, all these eating problems are in his
Ah yes, and Evan has been consistently telling me he has poop in his pants, and he even told me once that he was about to go. I failed to react fast enough, and it became a 'pip' before we could get on the potty. Ryan love sitting on his potty and
(I should add that we in no way were intending to start the naked on the potty phase now, we are just in the "getting comfortable" with the potty phase. But there is a certain excitement that comes over you when your child looks at you and says "poop in paw-paw" and you ask if he has poop in his pants, and he says "no, in paw-paw". That would make any parent go sprinting for the potty to throw their child on it to see what happens, right?)
But even as I sit here an type all the bad stuff. I have a smile on my face thinking about seeing their shiny little faces tomorrow morning. I can't wait to see them, as long as it's after 6 AM.
Ahhhh, Motherhood, is there anything that resembles bipolar disorder more?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
