Inquisitive Kids

I love the questions kids ask. The other day Sarah asked me, 'Why do big people eat chippies with their hands and little people have to have them in a bowl?'. Good question. I explained that big people should probably use a bowl too because it's less messy.

Found this cute video on youtube - Kids' letters and questions to God. Gotta love their honesty. 'Thank you for the baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy.'

Wouldn't it be funny if...

I've heard many mums say that they wished they'd enjoyed their kids more when they were little. There's always so much to be done. It's too easy to get so preoccupied that we forget to enjoy the time we have with our kids. We all want our kids to know we love them, but I know for me, sometimes my priorities may not show them that - sometimes cleaning up the mess first seems more important, where actually sitting down with them and reading them a story should be more important. The mess can wait!

Nicole shared some great tips on enjoying our kids more, based on a book she's been reading. One is to create memories - I want to be more intentional about that, about spending quality time with my girls.

I remembered this book that I loved when I was a kid called, 'Wouldn't it be funny if'. My brother and I used to love it so I kept it. I'm going to read it with the girls when they get home tonight. I think they'll really appreciate it now. The boy in the story thinks up all kinds of things that would be funny, like 'if people got dressed to go to bed, and went to school in their pyjamas' and 'if you could teach your teachers, and tell them off for giggling'. No doubt they'll probably make up some of their own too. Should be fun and lots of giggles.

Any other ideas for creating memories?

Happy Mother's Day

Sarah often asks me in the morning if she can come in my bed, it's cute how she asks for permission. Lucy's very different, she must have German blood in her, she's not really keen on cuddles and kisses, unlike Sarah.

This morning after hopping into my bed Sarah said, 'Mummy, I've done a wee on your bed'. Great. Happy Mother's Day! She's toilet trained, but at night-time still wears a nappy, and it must have leaked. At least if it was in her bed there's a mattress protector and I would have only needed to wash single sheets.

But I guess the most special present any mother could hope for is to wake up to her children and hear them say I love you and have a big cuddle. So, it has been a special morning despite the incident.

Well-loved Toys

Lucy's favourite toy is 'Ra', her lion. She loves to rub Ra's tail under her nose, and if you're really lucky (or unlucky), she'll rub Ra's tail under your nose. I was hoping to take a picture of Ra this morning before he had a wash, just to show you how well loved he is, but unfortunately I missed my opportunity as the camera battery died. Probably just as well - he really desperately needed a wash, it's very difficult to sneak him away. Besides, to get the full effect and really understand how well loved Ra is, you really need to smell him.

Lucy also has an obsession with making beds for her babies. Everywhere we go we have to take all the hand-towels and face washers I have on hand to clean up toilet-training incidents. So there are probably about 20 or so that we lug around, Lucy will then carefully arrange them in a pile and put her baby to bed. It's very cute. Yep, it's a special time of life.

Toilet Training

We've gone downhill this week with the toilet training. Sarah was doing so well until last Sunday. She'll be standing there playing and you'll suddenly hear the waterfall. Lovely. Then she'll tell me quite matter-of-factly that she's done a wee.

So this morning we drew up a chart. One of the teachers at their school suggested the idea - though I have heard of it before I haven't yet tried it myself. Every time she does a wee in the toilet instead of her pants, she'll get a sticker, and at the end of the day if she hasn't done any wees in her pants she'll get a prize (haven't figured out what that is yet though). So far, no success, another set of wet pants. Zippeddydooda (how do you spell that?).

Bath-time Fun

In the bath tonight Sarah and Lucy started singing "Happy Birthday" to no-one in particular. When I asked Sarah why she was singing happy birthday, she told me it was because she'd made a birthday cake of bubbles in bubble-maker tray.

Reminds me of a show I used to love watching with Bill Crosby called "Kids say the darndest things". It was a very funny show.

Parenting & Contradicting Emotions

"It's the best of jobs. It's the most difficult of jobs. It can bring you the greatest joy. It can cause the greatest pain. There is nothing as fulfilling and exhilarating. There's nothing so depleting and exhausting. No area of your life can make you feel more like a success when everything is going well. No area of your life can make you feel more like a failure when things go wrong.

PARENTING!

The word itself can bring contradicting emotions to the surface."

From Stormie Omartian's "The Power of a Praying Parent" Chapter 1


Lots of friends have been writing comments on Facebook about their kids starting pre-school. One shares that she thinks she enjoys it as much, or maybe more, than her kids. Another shares how she cried the first day her son went. I can relate to both. Shed many tears leaving the girls, but love it when I get to see them again in the afternoon and hear about all the fun things they've done with their friends... and I get a chance to do other stuff as just Alison, not Alison the Mum.