Dear Sophia, 6 months

Sophia,

I love you.
I don't really know who you are yet. You have been here for only six months, but oh how I love you.
You are beautiful.
You are laid back.
You enjoy spending time on your own.
You have the weirdest way of getting around, but I love it. Maybe it means you'll be creative. Even if you don't end up being creative, I'll still love it.
You are my daughter.
I love that you play with my hair.
That you always reach for any piece of jewelry I have on.
I don't want to say you're going to be a girly-girl, because really it doesn't matter.
Being a mom of a daughter is so special.
You make me more feminine. I don't really know how, or why, but you do.
I was taking off a necklace your father gave me when I thought that I would pass this down to you. It's not really what most would consider an heirloom quality necklace. I don't think I will ever own anything like that. But your dad loves me, I love him, & I would love to give that to you. I am so thankful I have you to give that to.
I look forward to all the ways that I will get to teach you (about love, God, the world, yourself).
I look forward to all the ways that I can encourage and support you.
I'm sure there will be bumps in the road (most notably in the teen years, right?), but I look forward to us.
I look forward to YOU.

I will try to always cherish the moment you are in. Live in the present. But my golly, sometimes I look onto your face & my heart does this thing & I am filled with love. Thank you for bringing that to me.

Love You,
Mom

The Splinter

I have a secret... splinters scare me. Not getting them, but getting them out. I've never been able to get splinters out. I think maybe once I got my own splinter out, maybe. Corey has come to me numerous times to get a splinter out, but he always has to do it. I actually get nervous when someone asks me to help them with their splinter, because I know I can't do it! Ha! (is the perfectionist in me coming out?). While this isn't something most people think about ever, I have to admit to on occasion wondering what the heck am I going to do when my kids get a splinter?! In my eyes getting the splinters out is totally a mom-job, filed under article 3 section 4: To fix "owies" and make everything better. Right? But I can't, I'll fail. Worse, I'll push it in further & make it really hard for Corey to get it out & make the child cry more!

This morning, it happened! Will was washing his hands & points to a splinter in his palm. No lie, a little panic goes off in me. If I'm honest with you & myself, I saw this yesterday, but I guess I was hoping that 1a) it was just a scab, or b) that is would go away on its own. Does that make me a bad mom?

Well, today it hit me in the face with my little expectant boy looking to me for help! I rubbed it with my nail hopping to figure out how to approach this sucker. I couldn't feel the opening at all **panic**. I gulp, I bust out the tweezers, praying that I don't make him cry, telling myself "you can do this". I feel the opening, I prod a little, I push a little, a little wiggle here, a little wiggle there & VOILA half of it is out! a little relief, a little confidence. A little more prodding & a little more pushing, mixed in with some poking (no crying on either of our parts).And VOILA! It's completely out!!
What?!
I did it?
I did it!
Will looks at me, points to the hole in his skin, smiles, & says "dank ooo". SMILES! Says "dank ooo"!

I AM his mommy! I did my job! I am the splinter killer! Victory! Mommy 1, Splinter 0!

He skips away happily, oblivious to our victory. I do a little happy dance (inside of course) knowing that I can do all of my job as a mommy, even the mundane tasks of splinter-get-er-out-er. I will be there for my little injury prone boy. Love it!

Really?! Seriously?!

I am so frustrated with myself for being so easily frustrated!

How does that work?!

Some days I have all the patience in the world.

Some days I struggle to have patience & somewhat do.

Some seemingly good days quickly dissolve into a day without patience in the matter of an hour.

I hope I'm not alone in this. I don't think I am, or I probably wouldn't write it. Haha.

Want to know what most easily sets me down the road to "where is my patience!?"

Here's a scenario: Playing with toddler, while baby naps happily upstairs. Toddler becomes increasingly whiny (he still isn't talking very much) and loud. Time for baby to wake up. Baby cries as bottle is made. Toddler is jumping too close to baby. Feed baby. Baby dribbles formula bc baby is too interested in the world (aka toddler). Rotate so baby is facing wall (it does have art for her to look at!). Burp Baby, Baby spits up copious amounts of formula+spit, which goes everywhere (pants, shirt, feet, baby's clothes, & floor). Place Baby in bouncer. Toddler whining starts pushing Mommy. Correct behavior. Clean up spit up. Baby screams. Clean snot from Toddler & Baby. Baby screams. Toddler sneezes on Mommy. Toddler smells poopy. Change Toddler, put away spit up clothes, change mommy. Take Toddler's poopy diap to pail. Decide to spray with sprayer. Poop water EVERYWHERE! (this is where blood pressure starts to go up). Clean up. Bring poop-watered toys downstairs to be bleached. Carry Toddler downstairs. Toddler wipes nose on new shirt. Whatever. Move baby to tummy time. Go into kitchen to make lunch. Toddler whining at feet. Gently push away with crackers in hands. Toddler screams "OH NO", run into living area, Baby spit up all over play mat. Clean up. Good thing baby is naked. Heat up leftovers with Toddler playing at feet. Set it at kid table, bc why would anyone try to force toddler to sit at big table. Toddler doesn't want to eat. Toddler drinks his lunch. Baby spits up AGAIN! Sitting on the floor near kid table, encouraging toddler to eat, spot something out of the corner of eye... Dog poop stain from a few days ago. Think: well i guess we didn't clean it all up... NEED steam vaccum desperately. Try to clean up. Toddler finishes, whines to be put to bed. Check on Baby, little bit of spit up. Roll Baby over. Baby cries. Reassure Baby then put Toddler to bed. WHEW! Go to baby change diapers, dress, & tickle. Pray to spit up gods that it's over, pick up Baby. Upstairs cuddle baby to sleepy, place gently in crib. Come into computer room to blog about how inpatient you are because you yelled at Toddler, when it wasn't his fault. Then feel remarkably better from venting. Thank Blogger & blogging. FUTURE: Go downstairs to eat lots of chocolate. Remember there is no chocolate, pout, nap. OVER. lol

Sickness is blah

I'm sick! Corey gave it to me AND the kids! My kids tend to sleep fine while sick, most of the time, so it's not too bad. We don't have the flu or anything god-awful like that. Pretty yucky colds though. With a bad cough. Corey was up all night with a cough. I hope that we (me, Soph, & Wills) get through it faster than Corey. He's had it about a week! I keep downing the water & pushing it on Will (tehehe I chase after him, "Here's some water honey") I've been working hard at keeping the house & myself sanitized. I have to wipe Will's nose every few minutes. The scary thought is what does he do at night with the snot? MEMO TO ME: change & wash Will's sheets more often!!
I am already starting to feel better, so I think the water is helping. I guess we aren't really that sick though, because we are still doing things around the house. I remember before we had kids it seemed the slightest cold would be reason enough to lie in bed all day watching the boob-tube or surfing the web. I guess once you have kids, and can't lie around all day, you figure might as well get something done!
That is all for now. I'm going to go curl up on the couch with a big mug of Sleepytime Tea & a book... or TV show... what?! Don't judge me!

Blue & Yellow Easel Painting

We got the easel! I've been setting it up for markers, chalk, and crayon art, but haven't had the time/energy to do paint. I LOVE the easel. I especially love that it was $15 and I had a great friend who picked it up for me, so I didn't have to drive the 2 hours to the closest Ikea (my Ikea Kristin friend). There is only one thing I would change about the easel, that the cup tray is on the chalkboard side & I would prefer it to be on the whiteboard side.

Anyways, Corey had the day off, so we went for it. I am so glad to mention that the Ikea paper held up to the vigorous movements of a toddler! Wills had so much fun he nicely asked for another "peesh" (piece) of paper "peese" (please). 

He started off with the brush, got some paint on his finger (& was bothered by it), then started finger painting. When I suggested using the brush he picked up the brush & painted his hand. I thought that was clever. 

 Then we had a bit of leftover paint (I always put too much in), so I put it in a zippy bag & now Sophia has a Squishy Bag*. I'll let her use it at dinner time when she has highchair time.

*Squishy Bag- it is somewhat a sensory activity and in this case a science/color activity. I keep the bag closed & she can squish the paint around, somewhat feel its contents, and see what happens when you mix blue & yellow.

Colored Waterplay

I decided to do this project when I noticed how much fun Will was having squeezing the color out of the sponges from a sponge painting day. Will LOVES water play with a passion. Every time I am in the kitchen he gets his step stool from the bathroom & brings it in & asks demands to play in the sink. I set this up in the morning and he played with it all day, until I couldn't take the dish clutter on the counter.

I wasn't sure if it was going to work, but I added a squirt of Crayola paint to each tub & whisked it. I LOVED the results. As you can see I added the sponges from a previous activity here. I also put in measure cups & spoons, cups, bowls, a ball, an old formula scooper, & a whisk.

Like I said, he LOVES water play & played for a very long time, I'm remembering an hour. I believe it was time for lunch & as soon as his nap was over, he was back at it! The red water became purple, which he didn't seem to notice until after nap, but that is when I learned he knew the color "url" purple and "boo" blue.

note: Will does have a hard time with keeping the water in the sink, not because he's being defiant, but because it is still hard for him to pour down in the sink, so he tries to use the ledge. I try to only encourage him to pour inside the sink, but this time I also laid a thick towel on the side of the sink & I was very happy that no water spilled all over the floor & the towel wasn't too wet. The rule in our home is that if he is purposely pouring water on the floor, he gets a warning. I try to find a way to replace whatever he was doing with something I'm okay with that still helps him to learn the same concept. If he keeps doing it, then he is done with that activity for awhile. By awhile I mean he has to get involved in another activity and finish that before he can try the sink again. 

Sponge Art

Here's an idea I came up with when I found a large sponge I hadn't used. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. We are working on shapes. So I busted out the large kitchen shears & cut shapes. I tried to make them the right size to fit in his hands, not too big or too small. I'm actually a little suprised how many shapes I got out of it.

I chose to use only 2 colors of paint, because at this stage he still mostly ends up rubbing all the paint together; which if I had added blue we would've ended up with brown art.

I put the paint in one of those cheap paint palates. I already had it from college. You could use a plate, next time I will.

I used a heavy cardboard on the floor. I used to pin them up, but if Will was too fast it could knock the pins out. So the floor worked fine. It was easier to clean up too.

Here is the masterpiece! You can't really tell it's shape sponges, but that's to be expected at his stage. We did, however, get to talk a LOT about shapes. Even things I didn't expect to happen. When you hold the triangle on it's side, it now makes a rectangle shape. You can roll the circle & make a track.

The greatest part was Will helped with the clean up & it was a learning experience! I put him in front of the bathroom sink with warm water & asked him to squeeze the sponges under the water. I went to make lunch & I had to pry him away from the sink to eat lunch.

I already have more ideas for how to use these sponges.