It's funny what I suddenly notice about my next child when the rest go off to school. I don't know if they just talk to me more or whether I'm just more aware of what that child is saying without the extra background noise, but I always especially enjoy that first week of getting-to-know-you all over again. (even though there's a little hole in my heart when the others are at school!)
This week:
"Mom, let's go outside and find a ball. Then let's play fetch."
I noticed at Costco she was making a back and forth motion with her arms while I was 20 feet away retrieving something off a shelf. As I was returning, a woman said "Protecting the cart, is that your job?" I realized she'd been saying-- "Clear out! clear out!" to anyone who neared the cart.
She shouted from a curb to a passing car in a strip mall-- "Speed LIMIT!" (I didn't even know she knew those words?)
She invited a friend over one day, and her friend was a little slow to arrive. She kept going out the front door and shouting her friend's name as if calling her would make her come more quickly. Eventually she swung out the front door and shouted "Aimee [fake name]! My name is Ava! You are my friend! You can come to my house now!"
When her friend came over they were super cute in their Rapunzel dresses. They told me they were pretending they were the same age. (They are the same age. )
Then they played "queen." Her friend told me "I'm the dead queen, and she's the alive queen. Dead queens can't walk." (she required a tonic of water poured from a plastic cup "squished" into her mouth by the alive queen while she lay extended, dead, on the couch, in order to be revived. When the queens requested a full cup of water for revival purposes, promising not to spill a "fulled up cup," lets just say their royal request was regretfully denied)
Check out this hilarious video where Ava teaches her friend how to drink like a princess from a juice pouch (is it just me or do they remind you of Anne and Diana?):
I took her and baby running with me. She was funny. At one point I had to run in a road that had a generous shoulder, but there were more cars than we are used to in our quiet corner of the woods. She wanted to get out and run (not happening on that day on that road) -- she gestured to the sidewalk and told me "I will try to not get smooshed."
Thinking about my project today and realizing that I have so enjoyed the extra quality time we've spent together. And I'm looking forward to getting more one-on-one time with the two little ones still at home. And thinking that I don't feel burned out, with all the extra things I've added in, but rather I feel envigorated and feel a new sense of purpose in my life. I've been enjoying new health from exercising (month 1) and eating better (month 4), which has made me feel so much more energetic and has helped me be a happier mom. So glad I'm back to making the most of time with them, soaking up these little years while they are mine. And the acts of service are going better too. I'll fill you in later. :)
Happy weekend!
I've enjoyed my first week with my little one this last week too. It has been years and years since I've only had one at home so it helps keep the tears at bay when he sits on my lap and cuddles and tells me what to do (he is a bossy two-year-old ;) For now we spend the mornings cleaning, him with his rag, me with mine. Though usually the rags get left behind for the storybooks or the blocks or the games or a glass of milk and cookies. It feels so nice and laid back and the years seems to have made my nervous motherhood melt away to a laid back attitude that the time is best spend this way.
ReplyDeleteI love that picture. It is nice to have some time with the younger ones and soak up what remains of their little-ness before time rushes on. Thanks for reminding me I can involve even the little ones in small tasks, and that it can be bonding, too.
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