#2615 A new family coffee time

Within this never-ending cycle we seem to be in –

Crying changing feeding.
Sleeping.
Not sleeping.
Crying changing feeding.
Awake time.
Crying.
Sleeping.
Screaming.
Beetroot face.
Tears.
Nap.
Crying changing feeding.
Look, he copied our tongue!
Screaming.
We’re now crying too –

We had to change the pace today while baby boy was napping. We quickly put him in the car while still in the asleep part of the cycle, for some afternoon interjection of coffee.

Finally, out with my whole family! It really is the little things. 🙏❤

Then back home, and back to the eat awake nap scream cycle we went…

#2610 What she said no. 16

I sat on the couch this evening with a sigh. In the background hubbie carried baby boy as he cried, “shh, shh, shushing” away.

It was his turn, edition 2,367 of the ‘why is baby boy crying?’ project.

Baby girl saw my dismay and exhaustion and immediately sprung to action. She sat right beside me and put her arm around my shoulders, giving me a sweet, compassionate smile.

“Don’t be sad Mum. You’re doing a great job.”

I smiled appreciatively back at her, about to reply, but she added…

“It’s just that baby boy won’t listen to you.”

🤦‍♀️😆

Lol. And she would know all about that, right?

So well put darling. Thank you. 😁💞

#2299 To do as she did

I’ve learnt that so much of my parenting, so much of my mothering, is based off how my mum mothered me when I was a child.

It’s the weirdest thing. To be doing something, knowing you are doing something because of a childhood memory, and wanting to do the same.

You can’t do anything else. Especially when your own childhood is filled with such happy memories… why wouldn’t you want to follow suit?

One of the ways Mum shows her love for us is through food, and it’s something that really stands out to me in my childhood memories. Getting individually made food when I didn’t like what she and Dad were eating… getting scrambled eggs whipped up on a consistent basis as an evening snack… having my favourite meals ready and waiting for me after school.

It happens often with baby girl. She will request something, and often I will go, “ohhh, I can’t be bothered.”

But then I see my Mum’s face. I remember my childhood.

And I get to work.

Most times Hubbie shakes his head and says to baby girl “do you know how lucky you are?”

It happens even with other people around. Like baby girl’s friends.

She had a friend over for a playdate today. I had bought white bread for them yesterday, planning to make them cheese toasties (I knew they wouldn’t like our seeded variety) and so as it approached lunchtime today, I poked my head into baby girl’s room where they were and said “do you girls want me to make you some toasties?”

They looked at each other shyly, and I left them to think about it a bit.

Baby girl found me minutes later. “Mum, can you make us pasta?”

So, pasta it was. It was just simple pasta, with butter mixed through and fresh parmesan on top… and it made me happy. Knowing baby girl was happy, her friend was happy. Never mind that the requests followed quickly with “ice cream” then “zooper doopers.” 🤦‍♀️

But it wasn’t just the food. How my Mum raised me, her ways, her morals, her routines, they follow me around as I do my thing with baby girl, and often I don’t notice it ’til moments like these, when it’s the end of the day and I’m reflecting and looking back on it.

I give them heaps of space. I am not an eavesdropping, try-to-be-best-friend-to-your-friends and clingy Mum. I let them do their thing. I suss them out from afar, and then slowly circle in when they are more comfortable (oh my God, that’s just like my Mum!) I see my Mum giving me and my friends space back in the day, and I follow suit.

But, I think I am pretty cool. 😆 Like my Mum driving us around in the car to the movies, or the shopping centre, hooning the car a bit (safely and controlled though!) and making me and my friends shriek with laughter, so too do I think I bring a bit of fun WHEN ASKED. I was even asked to play hide and seek with them at the end of the playdate, while they searched for a great place to hide in a house I know so well!

(If you are asked to play with your kid and their friend, I think you are doing well 😉)

It’s subliminal and quite subconscious, these routines and ways that we have become so accustomed to that they soon become ours. But when they are treasured and surround happy memories, I am more than happy to keep the tradition going.

Thanks Mum. 🙏💖

#2282 The dangers and joys of parenting

Becoming a parent should come with an OH&S warning.

There are soooo many dangers.

Just as you need to watch that…

their little hands don’t get jammed in the door hinge (ouch)

they don’t walk into walls

they don’t fall on hard surfaces

they don’t choke

they don’t put any uninvited objects in their mouth

(plus a billion other worries)

so us too, the parents, need to watch out for serious injury or damage.

I have been jumped on.

I have had my nose and forehead headbutted, HARD.

I have been sure my teeth were going to break from impact.

I have had scratches on my arms (tickle fights!)

And this morning, I had a finger in my eye. 🤦‍♀️

I woke up baby girl for school this morning, and as I usually do, I kissed her on repeat about 20 times, trying to get her up. She ducked under the covers, hiding from me, so I cheekily kept kissing her arm which was exposed…

And then as she brushed my over-the-top affection away, her finger went bam!

In my eye.

I went “oh oh oh” -ing into the bathroom, throwing water into my eye, anything to make the ache stop. My eye was red and watery for a while, and I tried to rise above it and NOT get mad, (deep breath) telling her it wasn’t her fault (after all she was under the covers) and that I just had to be careful next time.

She met me in other other room moments later, ready for me to fix her hair. She walked up ever so cautiously, peering at me carefully, and then kissed my eyelid several times.

“Mama, is your eye better?”

Awww. And that right there, is the JOY. 💖💖

#2220 Revelling in her happiness

It is an understatement to say that we gain happiness from our children’s joy. But every time it happens, I still wonder at the selflessness of it and marvel at the warm glow of contentedness growing inside me.

I had dropped off baby girl at gymnastics, and as I was paying her term 1 fees at the admin desk I could see her class through the open door.

She was mucking about with a girl as they waited for everyone else to arrive. I noted that she looked like a girl who had disappeared for the last month or so last year, so I was happy to know she was back, and baby girl had a friend again.

When I left the building, I saw yet another friend who had gone AWOL last year, but lo and behold, was back! Knowing all this made me happy for baby girl, but then…

I recognised a girl I had never seen there before. No, her face I recognised from swimming.

That girl and her older sister had been in baby girl’s swimming class until baby girl moved up a level, so she hadn’t seen either sister for a few weeks now… since last year!

The younger sister looked like she was waiting, and so I thought perhaps she was waiting for a parent to come and pick her up, as perhaps her gym lesson had just finished?

But after walking down to cross the road, I suddenly saw her sister emerge from a car… and their Mum followed! Seeing me coming from the building, their Mum asked if baby girl was in fact inside, and I said yes, she was!

They were missing seeing each other in swimming, but they were being reunited again for the same gymnastics class!

As I walked away grinning, I could hear the girls yelling happily “I can’t believe baby girl is here!”

My heart was smiling, shooting up fireworks and all.

You know, if it weren’t for restrictions and limited numbers allowed inside the gym, I would have followed them in just to see baby girl’s face. And yet I know without a doubt that it was priceless.

😍🥰

#2095 Starting the day right

A big breakfast is the best way to start the day, right?

Well, it kinda depends what you mean by big.

‘Cause I don’t mean huge, as in size.

I mean big, as in importance.

And if the opportunity comes to spend the time in the best company, well, take it.

On Wednesdays Hubbie and I drop off baby girl at school, and then go to the Main Street to share some brunch and sip some coffees.

The rest of the school day we are doing mostly our own thing, only to get together again before we pick her up, but it’s that morning moment that is the best in my day, by far.

If we happen to have some yummy brunch and coffee while we are having our together moment, well so be it… but the type of food is secondary to the main point, of just being together. 💖

We have a moment of temporary freedom as we just chill, because that’s all you ever get in parenthood, isn’t it?

Temporary freedom.

And we love it. 🥰🥰

#1912 The YES movie

I have been watching 5 minute snippets of the movie ‘Yes Day’ for about 2 weeks now.

Baby girl found it on Netflix, after having watched it at school… she will watch it in snippets, and when it’s finished she hits play, and it starts ALL OVER AGAIN.

I had pretty much watched the movie in these short bursts, out of order, over this time.

And you know, despite seeing some things repeatedly, I actually didn’t mind it.

Yes. Yes yes yes. Even after watching that ice cream scene for the 7th time, I honestly didn’t mind.

It’s a family movie starring Jennifer Garner, wife and Mum of three who is just trying to be responsible and raise her kids… but always ends up saying no to their crazy and kid-like demands. So after a couple of hard truths come her way, she agrees to a ‘Yes’ day.

A day where she has to say yes to anything her kids ask.

😲😲😲😲

Yeah, I KNOW. It’s actually really cute, and funny. It’s also emotional, one of the last scenes had me literally in tears the first time I watched it, trying not to bawl, because I could relate so much with the mother-daughter relationship. Baby girl now knows that if she looks over at me, like she did tonight for that scene, that I will have tears in my eyes.

(Meanwhile I am trying SO HARD not to cry!)

And then she’ll say, “Mum, you’re a sook.”

And I’ll nod solemnly, because I’m the one who told her that anyway.

Back to the movie. As I said, we had watched it in snippets, but not in its complete entirety, and there were parts I happened to miss each time.

But being a Tuesday, our kinda-like Saturday if you like, since Hubbie and I don’t work Wednesdays, we had pizza on the couch and said yes to baby girl’s request.

Yes to a movie. The ‘Yes Day’ movie!

It was really cool. I loved it, and I think it’s the perfect movie to watch together with your child.

And if I didn’t already have The Four Tops in my head ALL week (I’ve been humming it at work constantly), after our movie night baby girl and I have been randomly breaking out into song with –

“Baby I need your lovin,’ got to have all your lovin’…”

#1823 Better family time

Today I realised with amusement when we put Cobra Kai on, that baby girl is pretty much watching it too.

Hubbie and I pop it on, get excited by whatever 80s track they put on at the start, and then proceed to escape into the world of KA-RA-TAY for the next 30 minutes or so.

And lately, baby girl is joining us.

Why? On Sunday she got grounded… from playing on her ipad.

It was all Hubbie’s doing, and I’m not saying that like I disagree with his decision. Yes, she definitely had it coming after acting up majorly on the weekend. But when it comes to removing things from her, I am on the softer side.

If we’re at the shops and she asks for a toy – “No!”

She wants another chocolate? – “No!”

Wants to repeatedly bounce the basketball in the house? – “NO!”

But when it comes to removing things, I balk. I withdraw. Because if I remove something, most likely I’ll be the one paying for her upset state, since I AM home with her the majority of the time.

But this happened when I was out of the house, you see. Almost like a blessing in disguise.

Amazingly, it’s been a bit of a novelty for her. She talks about how she is grounded, and I think it makes her feel grown up, like a teenager. She hasn’t even asked for it back earlier… I would have caved in, without her even asking. Hubbie has been so tough, so strong… like the way I am usually! But this time, I’m like “aww, I feel sorry for her” (not in front of her of course, you can’t let your kids see your weakness, or else they’ll know they OWN YOU mwa ha ha).

She is meant to go without ’til Sunday… but I think she may get an early reprieve come the start of the weekend. 😁

But it’s seriously been good. She keeps herself busy with other activities, and I think it’s given her an appreciation and understanding of all the other creative things she can do with her spare time, and helped her to realise she actually CAN go without the bloody device.

And it means she spends more time with us, watching Cobra Kai.

Another device. 🤦‍♀️🤣

You get my drift. 😉

(Can someone confirm for me that Cobra Kai remains mildly kid-friendly for the rest of Seasons 2 and 3?)

#1809 Reflections on numbers

We went 3 different ways today. Hubbie and I at our respective places of employment, baby girl at school.

Ahh. Grade 2 has begun.

Where has the last 2 years of primary school go? How is this the 3rd year already? How am I becoming a well known feature at the school, watching the oh-so-obvious new kids and parents step tentatively through the gates?

Grade 2 was such a good year for me. I had one of my best teachers then.

Actually, I had her twice. In grade 2 and in grade 5.

I was in room 16. One of my favourite numbers.

I look at baby girl now, and hope her grade 2 year is just as great as mine was, and brings her even more good times and memories.

Actually, I wish all her years were like grade 2.

Here we go again.

#1768 Another tooth bites the dust

Why was there a circly patch of reddish-brown, what looked like dry blood on baby girl’s bed sheets this morning?

And why did her mouth look like she had snuck in some secret Santa chocolate overnight?

I asked her this this morning, and she had no response.

I was brushing her hair, she was watching TV, both of us wondering what the hell went on in her room last night, when she said –

“Maybe it’s my wobbly upstairs tooth.”

I stopped.

“Look at me. Open your mouth.”

She obliged.

“Your tooth is gone!”

Had she swallowed yet another one? Hey, we know it can happen and life goes on, and the tooth fairy still knows about it (don’t ask me how).

But we ran into her room, I lifted a pillow, and –

VOILA! Said upstairs wobbly tooth was there!

Ahh. Amidst all the end-of-year stuff, Christmas, getting over covid and living differently, we had kind of ignored the wobbly tooth that got in the way during dinner time.

But it’s out. Making way for something new. If only all our growth and progress happened to us blissfully unaware, while we were asleep…

She is definitely growing up.