September 22, 2018

The kids are in bed. Or they are supposed to be. Haley is babysitting cousins overnight. When did she get old enough to do that? Jeff is on a campout with a group of Scouts and their dads. I am feeling old. LOL. Tonight, my good friend LeAnne came to visit. We ate popcorn and watched the Minion movie and made brownies with Nicole, Addison, and Lauren. I sat on the soft couch between Nicole and Lauren with a bowl of popcorn on my lap, girl's feet across my legs and the dog curled up between us. I looked at Lauren's face and noticed the baby fat fading and her once-too-big-for-her-face teeth almost look at home. I watched Addie snuggle up to and share a blanket with her favorite LeAnne. I may have even dozed off for a few minutes, tired from a busy week teaching and running errands and living life. They may have bickered a little over who gets to lick the bowl, and I may have lost my patience, but their hugs and their laughs and their presence feeds and heals my soul.

If you give a 3-year old a nap....

If you take a 3-year old on a drive at 5 pm, chances are she will fall asleep in the car.

If she takes a nap in the car she will still be in the pink princess dress she insisted on wearing.

If she is wearing a pink princess dress, you will probably fret during her entire nap that she will pee before she wakes up.

If she pees before she wakes up, you will have a mess to clean up and a crying child to deal with.

If she doesn't pee, you will be surprised.

If she doesn't wake up, you will be surprised.

If she doesn't wake up, you will gently cart her to and from soccer practice stuffed in a stroller with a blanket, then to and from the house in the same blanket.

If she is still asleep when bedtime rolls around, you will remove her shoes, but not the dress, and pray that she stays dry and pray that she stays asleep.

If she stays in bed, you will go to bed early because you know you will need rest.

When she finally wakes up, it might just be 3:30 in the morning.

If it is 3:30 am she will be hungry and ask for food.

If she asks for food, she will be awake enough to realize she needs to go to the bathroom.

If she goes to the bathroom, she will realize she is still wearing the pink princess dress.

If she is still wearing the pink princess dress, she will want to put on her pajamas.

If she puts on her pajamas, she will realize she needs the nightly ritual of rocking and snuggling and q-tips (don't ask me why, but every night she needs q-tips).

If you rock her and snuggle her and help her clean her ears with "ear-tips," she might just lay in bed.  Might. Until her mind keeps racing and her body keeps wiggling.

If her mind races and her body wiggles, she will ask to watch a show.

If she asks to watch a show, you might just give in because it is now 4:30 am and you are tired and will give anything to get back to sleep.

If you let her watch a show, you hope and pray again that she might just take another nap.

If you give the 3-year old another nap...

tempura paint

My hands smell like tempura paint.  It's quite distinct.  A little cardboard-ish and slightly sweet.  It smells like five-year-olds and dirty hands and a messy table.  It smells like rainbows and trees and miniature houses and soggy paper.  It smells like smiles and happiness.

I'm going to miss the smell of tempura paint... cause one day my kids won't want to play with it anymore; they keep getting older.  It's a reality I can't seem to wrap my head around.  My five year old starts kindergarten in two days and my baby is three.  My oldest is ten and the next one is almost eight.  Crazy.

They are simply a delight to me right now.  Last weekend we went to see Beauty and the Beast in ballet.  Lauren was disappointed that the plot did not adhere to the Disney version, Nicole claimed that talking would make it much easier to understand, Haley reminded us that if we could only see the stage better, it would make more sense, and Addie showed us how we could all dance just like Beauty.  I debated taking all of them because it was a late show and because it was a ballet, and I feared they would be bored.  I knew I would have to take them to the bathroom more than once and I knew there would be some fighting and vying for mom's lap.  All that occurred.  But I wouldn't have traded it for a trip by myself to the show.  They made it more interesting and fun.  Lauren's incessant questions about what was going on made everyone laugh and her observations were even better than the questions.  I adore their confidence and honesty.