Mommin' It Up!

December 4, 2009

Funny Girl

I think I must be the luckiest mom in the world, y’all. I get to spend every day with this:

Ok, so she’s not always THAT cheerful, but she is a lot of the time. And Sophie and I, we’ve just been having a lot of fun together lately. She’s grown and matured so much from the baby who put up a Olympic Gold Medal worthy wrestling effort every time I tried to get her dressed.

As a matter of fact, I’m starting to feel like Sophie and I aren’t just mother and daughter, but we’re friends. We play and giggle and hug and kiss, and I probably tickle her well, 100% more than I ever tickle any of my other friends, but, you know what I mean. We like hanging out!

My mom used to tell me, “I’m the best friend you’ll ever have.” And lucky for me, she was right. She taught me that to be Sophie’s friend, I also have to discipline her, protect her, and teach her. And I’m privileged to do all of that.

But I’m glad I get to play hide-n-seek and tea party with her too, you know? And I will for as long as she wants me to.

November 10, 2009November 10, 2009

Fail Whale

Today could very well prove to be my ultimate (to date, I’m sure there’s more to come) parenting FAIL.

I drop Kate off at my grandma’s on my way to work in the morning, and then my grandma takes her to school. As I left this morning, Kate told me she wasn’t feeling well and that her throat hurt and her back hurt (enter my suspicion – throat and back ailments aren’t a typical combination). She seemed ok, so I headed on, but about halfway through my commute she called again to tell me she wasn’t feeling good (despite her nutritious breakfast of cinnamon rolls and ice cream, which of course was the only thing that could possibly make her throat feel better). We agreed that Grandma would take her temperature, and if she didn’t have a fever, she’d go to school.

Great.

Except she called me again about 15 minutes later, still insisting that she didn’t feel well and she couldn’t go to school. I could, of course, be totally wrong about this, but I really do not think she is sick. Moms can tell these things, right? Yeah, famous last words. So in any case, we decided she would go to school and I said if she still felt bad there, she could have the secretary call me. I am banking on the fact that once she gets there, she will be fine.

However.

After I got off the phone with her, I checked my calendar and wouldn’t you know it, today is the day Kate will get the H1N1 vaccine at school. This day totally crept up on me. I was planning to prepare her for it, but I totally didn’t, and I was afraid that if I called her and told her after all we had gone through debating her attendance today anyway, that it would be a giant disaster.

So now she’s headed to school as we speak (or I type), blissfully unaware of the fact that she’s going to be vaccinated today. Unless, of course, she does know about the vaccination because of school announcements (the same way she found out about the skating party last week that I was conveniently not going to mention), and that’s where this entire problem is coming from.

Or maybe she is sick, and I didn’t believe her. And if she is sick, she shouldn’t be getting the vaccination. And that, my friends, would be a parenting fail of epic proportions.

October 29, 2009

When She Takes My Hand

Photo by Jen Ishmael

This is my new favorite picture. My friend Jen took it when we went to Fulton Farms, when Sophie was approaching the big slide in the hay, her arms spread wide ready to take hold of the rails and climb up the steps before whooshing down in glee. Her heart full of excitement at what she knew was coming.

And of course, the picture captures me gazing down at my daughter. My heart, also full of excitement at what I know is coming.

Because Sophie is amazing, and every day with her is amazing. She has bloomed this summer and fall, from a “Terrible Two” into a chatty, sweet, funny almost three-year-old. Her sweetness is such that her Daddy and I feel a little twinge of sadness when we put her to bed at night. Although, she usually does entertain us for awhile after by singing songs over her baby monitor, her favorite being If You’re Happy and You Know it”, which is HIGHLY enjoyable.

Sophie loves to sing, she loves puzzles and colors and letters, she loves playing with trains and her doll house. Every day with her is full of FUN. She is still feisty and stubborn and all the good and bad things that make her Sophie. But mostly she is a joy. And I love being her mama. One of my favorite things that she does these days, is that she takes hold of my hand and tries to pull me along with her somewhere. “Let’s go! Let’s go!” she’ll say. She’ll also hold my hand now contently when we walk down a sidewalk, walk through a store, wherever. This is a new thing for us, and I love it. Because when she takes my hand, when I get to walk with her, it makes me feel proud and privileged, honored to be the one who gets to walk with Sophie.

Before bed, and naptime, we read some of Sophie’s books, and right how her favorite is Mama, Do You Love Me? (which was a gift from Emily I might add), and Sophie likes to “read” it herself, because she has it memorized. It is pretty much the sweetest thing ever when she says in her tiny voice, “Still, I would…LOVE YOU!”

I will love you always and forever, Sophie, because you are my Dear One.