What Goes Around Comes Around

When I look at my daughters I sometimes see myself looking back. Often I hear and see myself in what they say, what they do, and sometimes even just the way they stand. They are little sponges in every sense of the word. If you want incentive to show your best you at all times, that's it right there. However, as we all know, we don't put our best selves out on display all the time. I know I certainly don't, though I later regret it and wish I had. Yeah, that whole "going with the flow" thing doesn't work that well when you're going up hill. I guess if you sincerely try, and then try to do better, well, that must count for something.

Of course if you try to be this perfect, flawless, alabaster statue of Mother, who do these little sponges become? Some mythical creature that doesn't exist? If I pretended to be a unicorn, I doubt they would turn into unicorns. Unicorns have historically fared poorly in the real world. It is probably better that they see their mother as human, with all the flaws that come with that, and learn to overcome those flaws. Oh man! Did I just assign myself homework? Now I  have to overcome my flaws. This is why trains of thought can be so dangerous and need to be derailed at times.

Our kids are just growing up so fast, and I can't help but notice the person that they are, is become clearer everyday. It can be startling and endearing to hear them repeat things you say the way that you say them. This is especially true of Miss. A. When she's playing with her sister, as opposed to chasing her through the house, she can be so sweet. I'll hear her explaining things to her they way I explain things to Miss. A. "Oh no, sweetie boo, this isn't for babies. This is for big girls." I also have a habit of adding "-stein" to the end of things when I'm poking fun at her. The other day she told her dad to stop being such a "goofinstein"! Number one; that's adorable. Number two; I really need to stop talking like that. There are a hundred different examples that would be meaningless to you, but are just amazing to me.

My husband has noticed this too. The other day when they where playing around, for a split second, he said she reminded him of me. Just a particular look she had. That's not to say it's all me, he has had quite a bit of influence as well. Baby K is just so care free and relaxed. Scott tends to go with the flow and take one day at a time. Baby K has this same laid back attitude. Miss. A loves everything about her dad and takes after him in a lot of ways. She is really interested in technology and super quick at figuring it out. Much to my dismay, both she and her dad share a love of video games and an aptitude for them. He's trying to teach her the phrase "pone some noobs". I'm not sure I approve of this. However, she did in fact "pone some noobs" the other day. If they only new they had their butts handed to them by a three year old girl.

Really the only thing you can do is try to be a good person, do what you know and when you know better do better, and continue being awesome. Also, cut down on the swearing when your driving. It's just not classy.

Sleep "Problems"

People always say enjoy your children while you can, they grow up so fast. One moment they are dependent on you for their every need, the next they want to do everything on their own. Our oldest daughter has always been very independent. As soon as she could do something on her own, and even well before, she wanted no help or advice. Even as a baby this was clearly part of her personality. I enjoyed singing and rocking her to sleep, but by five months old she would have none of it! I placed her in her crib alone, closed the door, and she went fast to sleep. Already Mom wasn't needed. I had only been rocking her for a month at that point; do moments pass that fast?

As she grew older a common phrase heard around the house was "Me do it!" or "Me turn!". She was very eager to do everything herself, but grew very frustrated if she couldn't. She suffered from the same character flaw as her dear old Mum. She wanted to know how to do something, not learn how to do something. Is stubbornness genetic? As frustrated as she would get, and as I would get being held hostage during the whole learning situation, I really couldn't blame her. I recognized a lot of myself in her frustration. Patience has never been one of my strong suits. Nor is asking for help when I know I should. I have no idea why, and I doubt Miss. A understands why it bothers her as well.

She is nearly three and a half now. Very confident and independent as ever. She still gets upset and frustrated with things she finds challenging, but she's starting to learn patience. (Maybe she'll teach me!) She even says "thank you for teaching me" when she allows us to walk her through something. She is definitely growing up quickly. Which is why the occasional sleep problem isn't really a problem per se.

The poor sweetheart, from time to time, wakes up crying for no particular reason. Most of the time she's still half asleep. If you go to her and ask her what's wrong, it just seems to make things worse. "Do you need a drink? Do you need to go to the bathroom? Did you have a bad dream?" Bombarding her with questions sends her into a full bodied meltdown. There's really only one thing you can do. Just hold her until she calms. This post is only being written now because this is one of those nights. I gave her a big hug and held her until she quickly fell back to sleep in my arms. Then slipped her back into bed with her little pink Foo Bear. Snug as a bug. As she gets older she she won't need me to do things for her, but she'll always need me to be there for her. No one ever out grows that.