Whistle while you work

You know by now that I am a fan of my children going to school.  Year around, keep em busy, paint all over your body and I don't have to worry about the furniture, busy.  However, I'm starting to see a upside of having my super busy, needs something to do, active 3 year old at home.  I know there are blogs all over the internet about the housewives with 12 children who love to craft, remodel and clean while bathing the dog and giving themselves a pedicure.  This is not one of them.  As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure the house keeping gene is missing out of my DNA.  Seriously.  I would share pictures of the state of my house but fortunately for me my iPhone is not letting me take pictures (also the reason there was no weekend glimpses posted.  May be time to bite the bullet and get a new one but so much money for something I use every day, take pictures with, communicate with...).  You're going to have to put your trust in me that if you were to show up at my house the front porch is as far as you would come to setting foot in this disaster.  So, back to the benefits of having a bored child at home...the monkey comes down every morning and asks me, "what can I do for you mommy?"  Praise baby jesus!  Free child labor!  This is every non-house cleaning mother's dream!!  So obviously, I do what every good mom would do and put her to work.

 Vacuuming the floors

 Washing the windows and front door

Even the prince gets in to the action.  He loves helping out with the laundry - I am letting him do his own once he has mastered his skills.  Dude laundry?  Um, no thanks.  I mean seriously, what do boys (and by this I do mean grown men as well) do with their laundry to make it so dirty and smelly?  Do they stop at the landfill and roll around when we're not looking??

And by the way, yes, that is my typical daily uniform.  Boxers, three day old Neil Diamond concert tee from 1999 and bare feet.  And I think I'm not cut out to be house bound with children.  And it just dawned on me I probably shouldn't be discussing my normal attire after the above rant about dude laundry.  Pretty sure that shirt doesn't smell like blueberry pie.  And it's not even my husband's so I can't blame it on him...but you probably already knew that because he's not cool enough to rock the Neil Diamond 90s concert tee.  Yep, honey, I just went there.  NEIL FOREVER!

 

Afterwards we all go outside for some well deserved bike riding before coming back in so they could go to work fixing us all a four course lunch.  Ha!  Oh, come on, a mama can dream, right?

On a serious note

I ran across this list from Healthy Mommy on Facebook.  I seriously love this list.  And I was crying like a baby when reading it.  I can't even imagine what the future holds but I printed this out to revisit as the monkey grows up.  In the meantime, it made me love that lipstick smudged, cape wearing, high heel tottering wild little girl even more...if that is even possible.

25 RULES FOR MOTHERS OF DAUGHTERS

1. Paint her nails. Then let her scratch it off and dirty them up. Teach her to care about her appearance, and then quickly remind her that living and having fun is most important.

2. Let her put on your makeup, even if it means bright-red-smudged lips and streaked-blue eyes. Let her experiment in her attempts to be like you…then let her be herself.

3. Let her be wild. She may want to stay home and read books on the couch, or she may want to hop on the back of a motorcycle-gasp. She may be a homebody or a traveler. She may fall in love with the wrong boy, or meet mr. right at age 5. Try to remember that you were her age once. Everyone makes mistakes, let her make her own.

4. Be present. Be there for her at her Kindergarten performances, her dance recitals, her soccer games…her everyday-little-moments. When she looks through the crowds of people, she will be looking for your smile and pride. Show it to her as often as possible.

5. Encourage her to try on your shoes and play dress-up. If she would rather wear her brother’s superman cape with high heals, allow it. If she wants to wear a tutu or dinosaur costume to the grocery store, why stop her? She needs to decide who she is and be confident in her decision.

6. Teach her to be independent. Show her by example that woman can be strong. Find and follow your own passions. Search for outlets of expression and enjoyment for yourself- not just your husband or children. Define yourself by your own attributes, not by what others expect you to be. Know who you are as a person, and help your daughter find out who she is.

7. Pick flowers with her. Put them in her hair. There is nothing more beautiful than a girl and a flower.

8. Let her get messy. Get messy with her, no matter how much it makes you cringe inside. Splash in the puddles, throw snowballs, make mud pies, finger paint the walls: just let it happen. The most wonderful of memories are often the messy ones.

9. Give her good role models- you being one of them. Introduce her to successful woman- friends, co-workers, doctors, astronauts, or authors. Read to her about influential woman- Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie. Read her the words of inspirational woman- Jane Austen, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson. She should know that anything is possible.

10. Show her affection. Daughters will mimic the compassion of their mother. “I love yous” and Eskimo kisses go a long way.

11. Hold her hand. Whether she is 3 years-old in the parking lot or sixteen years old in the mall, hold on to her always- this will teach her to be confident in herself and proud of her family.

12. Believe in her. It is the moments that she does not believe in herself that she will need you to believe enough for both of you. Whether it is a spelling test in the first grade, a big game or recital, a first date, or the first day of college…remind her of the independent and capable woman you have taught her to be.

13. Tell her how beautiful she is. Whether it is her first day of Kindergarten, immediately after a soccer game where she is grass-stained and sweaty, or her wedding day. She needs your reminders. She needs your pride. She needs your reassurance. She is only human.

14. Love her father. Teach her to love a good man, like him. One who lets her be herself…she is after all wonderful.

15. Make forts with boxes and blankets. Help her to find magic in the ordinary, to imagine, to create and to believe in fairy tales. Someday she will make her 5 by 5 dorm-room her home with magic touches and inspiration. And she will fall in love with a boy and believe him to be Prince Charming.

16. Read to her. Read her Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle. But also remember the power of Sylvia Plath and Robert Frost. Show her the beauty of words on a page and let her see you enjoy them. Words can be simply written and simply spoken, yet can harvest so much meaning. Help her to find their meaning.

17. Teach her how to love- with passion and kisses. Love her passionately. Love her father passionately and her siblings passionately. Express your love. Show her how to love with no restraint. Let her get her heart broken and try again. Let her cry, and gush, giggle and scream. She will love like you love or hate like you hate. So, choose love for both you and her.

18. Encourage her to dance and sing. Dance and sing with her- even if it sounds or looks horrible. Let her wiggle to nursery rhymes. Let her dance on her daddy's feet and spin in your arms. Then later, let her blast noise and headbang in her bedroom with her door shut if she wants. Or karaoke to Tom Petty in the living room if she would rather. Introduce her to the classics- like The Beatles- and listen to her latest favorite- like Taylor Swift. Share the magic of music together, it will bring you closer- or at least create a soundtrack to your life together.

19. Share secrets together. Communicate. Talk. Talk about anything. Let her tell you about boys, friends, school. Listen. Ask questions. Share dreams, hopes, concerns. She is not only your daughter, you are not only her mother. Be her friend too.

20. Teach her manners. Because sometimes you have to be her mother, not just her friend. The world is a happier place when made up of polite words and smiles.

21. Teach her when to stand-up and when to walk away. Whether she has classmates who tease her because of her glasses, or a boyfriend who tells her she is too fat - let her know she does not have to listen. Make sure she knows how to demand respect - she is worthy of it. It does not mean she has to fight back with fists or words, because sometimes you say more with silence. Also make sure she knows which battles are worth fighting. Remind her that some people can be mean and nasty because of jealousy, or other personal reasons. Help her to understand when to shut her mouth and walk-away. Teach her to be the better person.

22. Let her choose who she loves. Even when you see through the charming boy she thinks he is, let her love him without your disapproving words; she will anyway. When he breaks her heart, be there for her with words of support rather than I told-you-so. Let her mess up again and again until she finds the one. And when she finds the one, tell her.

23. Mother her. Being a mother - to her - is undoubtedly one of your greatest accomplishments. Share with her the joys of motherhood, so one day she will want to be a mother too. Remind her over and over again with words and kisses that no one will ever love her like you love her. No one can replace or replicate a mother's love for their children.

24. Comfort her. Because sometimes you just need your mommy. When she is sick, rub her back, make her soup and cover her in blankets - no matter how old she is. Someday, if she is giving birth to her own child, push her hair out of her face, encourage her, and tell her how beautiful she is. These are the moments she will remember you for. And someday when her husband rubs her back in attempt to comfort her...she may just whisper, "I need my mommy."

25. Be home. When she is sick with a cold or broken heart, she will come to you; welcome her. When she is engaged or pregnant, she will run to you to share her news; embrace her. When she is lost or confused, she will search for you; find her. When she needs advice on boys, schools, friends or an outfit; tell her. She is your daughter and will always need a safe harbor - where she can turn a key to see comforting eyes and a familiar smile; be home.

Weekend Glimpses

I know, I know.  I keep saying I'm going to keep up with the posting yet I'm still lagging behind.  In my defense, my parents are in town and we've gotten absolutely nothing done.  Including blog posts.  Apparently all the big plans are taking up our time.

Mickey Mouse Snowman

If you didn't know, we moved in to a new house about six months ago.  Since our previous house is where we lived when the monkey was born, she had been in her same room since we brought her home.  And since we didn't know (and honestly thought there was no way) she was a girl, her room was very gender neutral in cream and tan with an apple green ceiling.  Yes, once I had her, asked the doctor about 500 times she was sure it was really a girl, verified they didn't mix up my baby with someone else's (even though she never left the room - it's not like I was really paying attention that they didn't switch babies under the table), and stared at her for weeks wondering how, HOW she ended up being a girl when I was 110% sure she was a boy the whole time, I did add a few girlie accents to her room.  Don't get me wrong, I loved that room, but I wanted to give her a chance to help decorate this one and make it in some of her favorite colors now that I am fully convinced she is a girl (I think).  So, upon buying this house we set out to make her room hers.  In the process I ordered custom polka dots to put on her purple walls.  No, not the decorations you can stick up on walls and come right back off.  No, not the super easy things to put up and take down.  No, not ones I really ever want to do again.  More like wallpaper that has been custom cut and meant to stay. on. the. wall.  If you've read this blog for any amount of time I'm pretty sure you know where this is going.

 Monkey's room  when we moved in.  Her favorite color was purple.  Until we painted it purple.  Then it immediately became red.

 It pretty much took three of us and an entire day to plan out the spacing, mark it off and then put up the ridiculously difficult dots.  The difficult part was left out of any product descriptions.

The final product.  Such a pretty and sophisticated little girls room, no?  Then came Mickey.

Look Mommy!  I made a Mickey Mouse snowman!!

I do have to give her credit as much as it pains me - it does look like a Mickey Mouse snowman.

Made out of polka dots.  That can't be put back together.  Inside a house.  In July.

Anyone catch the Olivia in the above picture?  If you know Olivia, welcome to my life.  

Monkey is Olivia reincarnate.

This is what her room looks like today.  Moral of the lesson?  Never trust Olivia the monkey to try to take a nap.  Bad things come out of nap time.

If anyone is interested in sponsoring a child to go back to school, please email me.  She misses school very much and it shows.  Every day.  This child needs school.  Mommy needs school.  My house and interior design needs school.  Am willing to work for school.  Please contact ASAP.

Goldilocks & the Three Bears Monkey Style

We spent last week in Sunriver.  Two kids + two parents + two grandparents in one house? = Fun!  Well, for the parents at least.  And the kids had a blast.  The grandparents?  I'm pretty sure they're going to need a vacation to recover from their vacation.  While there were lots of fun times to be had, Goldilocks and the Three Bears as told by my three year old is probably my favorite.  I feel like it was a scene from Saturday Night Live.  I'm not sure but I would not be surprised to see both the monkey and the prince on that show in the future.  They are seriously funny.  How a 14 month old can be funny on a regular basis I'm not sure.  We knew we were in trouble when he was labeled the class clown at 9 months.  Neither are lacking in personality and let me tell you, they know when to use it.  To all the current and future teachers, I apologize in advance.  Just know they were born this way and not a product of bad parenting.  There will be plenty of other things you will be able to blame on bad parenting.  Believe you me.  And on that note, I present the modern 3yo version of the beloved fable.

Monkey:  When are we staying at Sunriver until?
Mama: Saturday.
Monkey: No, I want to stay longer.  Can we stay until Sunday?
Mama:  No, we only have the house until Saturday.
Monkey: What happens after Saturday?
Mama: Other people will probably be coming to stay in the house after we leave.
Monkey: And they'll come in and see us in bed?  And be like (insert monster voice) GET OUT OF THE BED!  And we'll say Ahhhhh, dammit!!

Yes, this story even made her daddy laugh.  And daddy does not find potty mouth humorous at all.  There might be another parent in the house that finds that little three year old voice saying bad words extremely entertaining hence, the use of them in this revised story.

*Side note.  I do not teach said children any of these words.  They may on occasion, say every 10 minutes or so, hear certain words accidentally slip out.  I am not responsible for their astute language abilities and vast vocabulary.

Future Storyteller of America

Weekend Glimpses

We're finally back in town and returning to life as normal.  The prince sat on the floor throwing a fit for a good 30 minutes before eating the amount of food a 17 year old boy would consume for breakfast.  The monkey asked for three separate breakfast menus before finally having grapes and cereal the latter of which mostly ended up on the floor.  Ahhh, yes, life as normal.  Oh happy day!  I promise to get back to more consistent blogging this week.  As soon as the coffee I ordered arrives (god bless Nespresso!  The lifeblood that drives the dreams of champions)...

 

Weekend Glimpses

With the high temps and both grandpa's and grandma in town the weekend was a whirlwind!  Not sure why but didn't get many pics of the monkey this weekend.  Perhaps because every photo is a blur of her leaving the picture.  I need a supersonic shutter speed to catch that one.  We're busy getting ready to head off again...let's hope this trip has more sleep and more fun!  Looking forward to some family time. Meaning time with the hubbie while grandparents play with kids...just kidding grandparents if you're reading!  What?  Nooooo, my fingers are totally not crossed behind my back!  hehe.