Tears and Pain

You never realize how painful something is until you are staring in your kids' eyes and telling them it's ok, when you honestly have no idea. Both of the kids - well one for sure - got infected with the pink eye and I surely hate giving them those drops. If I recall from my childhood, the drops stung a bit when they went in. Not to mention, your eyes are already irritated, and you are going to aggravate them just a bit more with this medicine? You would think with modern medicine and all the latest gadgets and gizmos out there, that there's got to be a better way to do this. The entire process of strapping them down and consoling them when there's not much you can say or do to ease up the pain and the fear of having something in your eyes is unbearable. When they wake up in the middle of the night crying for fear of something, or in agony, is probably the worst feeling a parent can go through. How do you make things all better when they have to take medicine to really be cured? Or, what if the things you do aren't making things better anyway? I know that life comes with the good and the bad, but sometimes the bad really blows. Makes you want to sanitize anything and everything and have them live in a bubble for a while. I know for me, it's just painful to watch them cry and suffer. There's no doubt that they have those some emotions when they are having to fight off some yuck infection too.

Preferences

Both of my kids have taken turns on who they prefer from activity to activity. Whether it's me putting our son to bed, or the hubs doing his duty with our daughter to get her situated with whatever she needs tending to, it's a bit crazy to realize how much our kids have created their own little personalities and have likes and dislikes so early in life. I've always thought that as you get older, you tend to get more set in your own ways...but maybe these things are learned very early on. I do get a giggle when my kids like to stay a bit clean when it comes to eating (all my fault and I take full responsbility for that), but I'm just floored daily at how much they resemble each of us in their own little ways. I guess it's true that your parents always wish that you have kids that are like you, so you get a bit of payback from the years you gave them grief. I only hope for our sake that our kids are a bit smarter than we were when we were younger, and that we will have the know-how to set them on a straighter path. But until then, we'll look into putting up some good, secure window bars and remove doors from their rooms when they become teenagers. That sounds reasonable doesn't it?!

Such Sweetness

Our little boy is getting so vocal these days. He's repeating just about everything we are saying, and mimicking his big sister like you wouldn't believe. If she's got a particular toy in her hand, he has to have it too. If she's eating something special or just taking a drink of milk or juice, by golly, he's going to do the same thing. The sweetness that he has is so special to me, and he really tries to just make you smile.

Tonight he was clearly worn out and fell asleep in my arms in less than 10 minutes. We do our usual milk and rocking chair routine, but I do believe he was quite asleep even before he took in a few sips of his nighty-night milk. When he gets done, he quickly turns over, burrows his head into my chest and holds his little teddy bear as tight as he can possible wrangle his little arms around its neck.

I love these tender moments when he has the sweetness of the first few days he was born. I just have to remind myself of these cherished moments when he's pitching a holy fit when we have taken aways something he wasn't quite ready to give up!

Special Holiday

Today, our daughter decided to wake up before the alarm even went off because she was so excited it was Valentine's Day. The night before, we had prepared her Valentine's Day cards and told her that her school would have a great party for her. That just about made her day. Even going to bed late, she got up bright and early to start her day. Thankfully the school teachers did not disappoint whatsoever and she was a happy camper. Even our son got to join in on the festivities at school and came home just worn out. I gotta love these holidays that are made up, but bring so much fun and joy to our kids. As a wife, I know how hard it is for hubbies to do creative things or are expected to just buy so much. I'm so grateful for a sweetheart of a husband who is quite romantic and did the little things that just make you smile (folded load of laundry when I got home!) I try to be as sweet as possible when it comes to "holidays" like this, but I don't want to get too carried away with the commercial side of it. I was very much surprised at how simple I preferred to share this day - with my kids in tow and hubby lovingly close for a wonderful luncheon date. What a great day!

Dinnertime Discussion

You know, it's funny when your kids think you are arguing when you are just having a normal discussion. Often times, our dinner table is filled with conversation that is not adult in any way. From "mommy, I want more" to food being flung at you out of sheer disdain - it's no wonder that our daughter told us to "settle down" the other night when we were chatting about the Governor's budget. I know, a terrible conversation piece altogether...but she had gotten so used to hearing herself talk and not much else at the dinner table, that she really thought we were arguing.

Ok, so recently we have had our heated moments in the car driving someplace. Typically these debates are after a long day or a very hectic morning trying to get out the door to do all of the errands that can never get done during the workweek (another blog on that one). I can honestly say I don't even remember what the topics were, but Roo had equated our conversations of raised voices to arguments. That was a bit unsettling to me.

My goal is to continue to push the conversation during dinner time - beyond the need and wants of our toddlers. Each day we are just so busy working and then working when we get home that I really want dinner to be a time for us to wind down and have adult conversations. Hopefully that will help our kids understand that dinner time is also a time for them to share their day with us. We try to stay as uninterrupted as possible - with no television or music - but it's definitely a challenge. Maybe this will be part of my 2011 resolution?