This morning was a night/day contrast to yesterday. There was absolutely no yelling, and I drew the conclusion that my kids are just going to have to do their stuff differently. The girls are motivated to get all their practicing and chores out of the way in the morning so they have more time for homework and playing after school. #3 would rather sleep as long as possible, so I explained to him that it meant he'd have to do practicing and chores AND homework after school instead of playing --and he was fine with it. He even pinky promised me this morning that he would do his stuff today without freaking out or saying "no" all the time. #4 did his chores after breakfast, but before the kids left for school. #5... is three years old. He's doing fine. #6, of course, is cuddly-schmuddly and I love to mug on him all day. So, he's good.
Anyway, it was a good morning, full of compromise and smiles and less whining than before. I think I simply forgot that each child is different and needs to be parented differently. And that I need to keep my cool and act like a loving parent rather than a ruthless dictator. Go figure.
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Things I did yesterday that help me feel like I accomplished great things:
*I trimmed the front hedges. It was fun and took 5 minutes but looks like I spent longer.
*I made our bed. For the first time since... well, I made the bed!
*I changed 5 poopy diapers (seriously, what did the 3 year old eat?!)
*I gave the kids a fantastic dinner: fresh peaches with ice cream and peanut butter sandwiches. (Didn't say it was super nutritious!)
*I reserved the kitchen/multi-purpose room at the church for #3's baptism luncheon
*I made a deal with my awesome buddy to exercise 3 times a week and drink a green smoothie everyday.
Things I am excited about:
*I got Dispirited and The Gift of Giving Life in the mail yesterday. Hooray!
*My entire family will be at #3's baptism this weekend because my sister and I were wise, wise --it's Labor Day weekend, #3 will be baptized on Saturday, and my sister's baby will be blessed on Sunday. That means people WANT to come for our double header, and because of the long weekend, they CAN. So excited!
*#4 starts Kindergarten tomorrow!
*Will buy #3 his first set of quad scriptures today (with his name engraved on them)
*Time Out for Women in October in Logan --I'm going with my dear friend!
*Starting #6 on solid food next week (maybe. He'll only be 6 months, but I feel it's probably time. Just trying to decide which to start first --avocado? Banana? My ped is awesome and told me at his 4 month what I already knew, that A. He doesn't need solid food until 6-8 months and B. You don't have to start with that bland cereal. Love that he gets it!)
What I'm finding beautiful right now:
*My long hair (although it needs a trim)
*Listening to #1 practice playing "I Am a Child of God" (she's accompanying the cousins to sing it at #3's Baptism)
*Katherine Nelson's Born Brave CD (I know I keep talking about it, but it is wonderful!)
*Utah Valley sunsets
*#5 dancing to all music he hears
*Granola with chocolate and almond milk
*Signs of Autumn on the mountains --especially on Y mountain
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Pictures taken at 9:30AM (this morning):
"Popsicles!" Or as #5 says, "Pock-ables!"
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Music, dear reader, has always been a very big part of who I am. I took professional lessons for 13 years. I've accompanied choirs, soloists (instruments and voices), and congregations. I've led choirs and bands. I've sung in choirs and small groups, done musical theater, written my own music (choral and piano), and I've spent my whole life adoring many musical genres. Today I took a fun little guilty pleasure in search of quotes that would describe how I feel about music. Here's a sampling (a large sampling!) of what spoke to me:
Music, dear reader, has always been a very big part of who I am. I took professional lessons for 13 years. I've accompanied choirs, soloists (instruments and voices), and congregations. I've led choirs and bands. I've sung in choirs and small groups, done musical theater, written my own music (choral and piano), and I've spent my whole life adoring many musical genres. Today I took a fun little guilty pleasure in search of quotes that would describe how I feel about music. Here's a sampling (a large sampling!) of what spoke to me:
Every kid is different and is going to need different things. That's a hard thing for me to learn to, and it's really hard to teach it to my kids. My oldest is having a hard time learning this too, because she has different responsibilities from her brother and a different personality. My second kid is so, so stubborn. It's crazy. He also doesn't adjust to new things quickly. So I've learned to just calmly enforce the rules consistently for a while until he gets it. That's hard, but he needs a lot of patience and consistency.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking hitching a ride to TOFW with you but I'm going to be gone that weekend :)
I didn't feed any of my babies solid food until they were about 6-7 months. They can't sit up well until then and they don't 'need' the food. I also never gave them plain cereal. Started them with banana or avocado and after a little while added in sweet potato and apple. Sometimes I'd mix it into cereal. Have you ever made your own cereal with brown rice? I did that for the first two. If you don't need another thing on your plate, then don't do it and don't feel guilty about :)
Love this post. And I'm pretty sure we're coming this weekend. :D
ReplyDeleteMy first ate solid foods (well, mushy foods...) at about 4-5 months - not because we were like "now would be a good time to start" but because he was like "You're eating something, give me some!" But he could almost sit up on his own, had teeth, knew how to "chew". It was mostly "Oh, you want a bite of mommy's applesauce? Here you go" or "You want a taste of daddy's banana? here you go!" He wanted to try it, he seemed ready, and we made sure to give him nice easy-on-the-gut tastes (i.e., we didn't give him bites of egg or steak, etc - mostly just fruits and veggies).
My second wanted boob only for the first 9 months of her life. We had to bribe her to eat table food. But she sat up later, crawled later, etc, and didn't get her first teeth until about 9 months. She just wasn't interested when we were eating. Well, she was interested in me being DONE eating so that I could nurse her...
What did I learn from this?
That who cares what anyone else says - follow your baby's cues and your gut instinct as a mother. You know your baby better than anyone else.
And I don't expect any of my future children to be like my current children.
Which ties in completely to your post! Our kids are all different and they might need different methods of parenting, etc. :)
Such a good lesson to learn... and sometimes so hard...
I'm not going to make it down for TOFW. :( Sadness. Hopefully in 2013. I loved it when I went so I hope to go again someday.
ReplyDeleteI'm loving the small signs of Autumn too.
"Music is the Heart of the Soul."
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite quotes!