Keep having babies!
Ok, aside from having more babies…. I’m inspired to think about the wonderful things about my kids getting older.
Yes, they aren’t cute, tiny beings, but they actually stay pretty cute and tiny for awhile…. I still think my 3 and 6 year olds are cute and tiny…
Before I give you beautiful, reassuring points about them getting older, here a few things that I really did not expect:
– the whining….it’s seriously out of control a lot of the time and watching old videos, Sean and I realized that my daughter has been whining for the last 3 years…
– back talking…again, mostly from my daughter… I am shocked… does she know who she is talking to?
– the wavering conviction…. Do I send her to time-out…do I take something away…do we not go to Girl Scouts…. we have defined the line in the sand… but does that really make sense and apply to this situation… why does she make me so mad? Why doesn’t she listen? Now I’m yelling… is it ok to yell? Warning: daughters, from my experience… pick up on your unknowing… which she intuitively replaces with her own knowing…
– Having to say the same things over…and over….and over…. and over… and over… this really drives me crazy…however, I will say that as my spiritual practice and professional development grows, I rely on the repetition of audio and mantras and affirmations… to teach and cultivate belief… this allows me to be compassionate and understanding of the repetition and process… and please gently remind me of this as I tell my daughter to pick up her clothes, please, for the hundredth time…
– Being tested… constantly…. On a spiritual and empowering path, I am so excited to use the tools and principles that can guide me towards a ever-growing peaceful, happy and prosperous life… Relationships are assignments and I fully embrace this concept with strangers, colleagues, acquaintances, friends and family. My BIGGEST challenge… is the 6 year old young woman who lives in my house and learns from me how to be a person…a woman…. Good Lord, please guide and help me… Charlie, if you find out before me, please let me know… We are literally teaching each other and although it’s easy for me to say I wish things were easier and question why she has to teach me SO OFTEN… I appreciate the opportunity and I know the future holds great riches… again, please gently remind me as I tell her to pick up her clothes and stop upsetting her brother for the hundredth time…
Here are the things I love about my kids getting older:
– They can get things for themselves… and they can get things for me… Theo just went and got me a Kleenex… Warning: If you are compelled to have things done your way, this may be tough… teach them they way and then that’s really about it… I still have to clean up my daughter’s clothes because no matter how many times I tell her to take out one at a time of her drawer, she must still rip through those neatly, folded piles to find the shirt she wants.
– They say really cute things… Theo said “choo choo” for awhile, about a lot of different things, and you know it’s not going to last… Charlie created a word that was drawing + coloring and she referred to it as “dr-olering”… Again, a friend once told me, “Don’t correct them… it doesn’t last long… enjoy it.”
– We can have great conversations… doing fun things gets even more fun when you do them with kids… they enjoy life so fully and run around and laugh and scream… As Paul Rudd said in Knocked Up, “I don’t love anything as much as my kids love bubbles…” And it’s so true… they really enjoy so many different things and their eyes light up at everything…
– The Tooth Fairy
– Holidays are magnified…. they LOVE Halloween, Christmas, Easter, any holiday with candy… taking out a box of Halloween decorations and costumes from the shed, keeps them busy for over an hour… or longer…
– The surprises… these can be in the form of things they say, or things they draw, or write or projects they do at school… Charlie learns so much in school, so quickly, her understanding is awesome… and Theo learned his ABC’s, not from me… I didn’t know he could count to 10… or 20…
– The kids movies… these are awesome and if you’re like Sean and I, you will watch them even when the kids have gone to bed…
We don’t know what we don’t know and for me, it was hard to think of my kids as older, someone other than a little baby, or a 3 year old, or a 6 year old… and yet, they keep growing… and we keep growing… and it’s God’s gift to the world… it’s our gift to the world… Stevie Nicks sang, “Children get older and I’m getting older, too.”
And Trick-or-Treating is awesome with little kids… and it’ll only get heavier, considering my diet of one Reese Cup a day started a few weeks ago, it may not be great for my digestion or clean living intention…
Diagnosis during pregnancy 