Friday, June 1, 2012

may's daily two things i love

back in mid-may, nolan and i were having a rough time. we seemed to be working against one another instead of as a team. we were both losing our minds.

luckily, the universe seems to speak to me through facebook. haha. one of the many, many pages that i "like" posted this article from the blog "finding joy" and it resonated with me. in the article, the author suggests looking for the good in your child first, before finding their faults. and to become better at doing this, she challenges the reader to each day pick out two things that you love about your child and write them down. here is my list for the rest of may. i'm going to try doing this everyday, so stay tuned for june's list in a month! :)



5.18

1) watching him shovel dirt and plant seeds with me
2) when we walk by someone and he says, "hi" in his sweet little toddler voice without any prompting to do so. :)
 



5.19
1) hearing him talk about our extended family all the time. asking if each one of them is eating, peeing, coming to the beach, sliding...everything. :)
2)  when he eats like a champ and then when he is done, he hands me everything that is within reach on the table and says, "all done _____" for each item. (i like this less when it is a glass plate that falls on the ground and breaks but it is still cute).


doh

5.20 - today was a really hard day. nearly lost my mind in the end. am questioning my mothering skills and patience level.  working on meditating more.
1) his love of flowers
2) watching him eat an apple that isn't cut up.

5.21
1) his love of music
2) his sweet dance moves 


so much dancin', it's all a blur. :)
5.22
1) when he recites words and partial sentences as i read to him (like filling in the blanks style).
2) when he eats cabbage, onions, lettuce, homemade dressing, garlic, food with LOTS of flavor (gorgonzola, anyone?), peas, broccoli, mushrooms, peppers, snacks of celery, pumpkin seeds and almonds, nearly anything that i make for dinner...oh...and gnaws on chicken bones. not the typical toddler. :)


5.23
1) when he shares his toys without a fuss at moms' group..whew.
2) hearing him counting to himself as he plays with his toys.

5.24
1) when he lays down all on his own on his ducky pillow to have his diaper changed...no fuss.
2) when he drinks his entire water bottle full of water in a day! (it's the little things...haha)

5.25
1) when his hat blows off in the wind and he says, "uh oh, hat," picks it up and puts it back on.
2) watching him interact with littles his own age...running around the park, going down slides together, offering toys, holding hands. so freaking cute.



5.26
1) when he starts repeatedly saying something that completely cracks him up and i have no idea what he is saying. he just keeps saying it, laughing, saying it, laughing...saying it...laughing...
2) when he sits and flips through a book all on his own and "reads" the pages aloud.


5.27 - today was a good day. there are so many things, it is hard to pick just two. lovely.
1) when he is a quiet, attentive little boy in church. i was actually able to listen and remember what was being read, sang and said today (for the most part)! amazing. especially amazing after us boycotting going for a month because one sunday morning way back in april, he produced one of his infamous screams, resulting in a pissed off mama and us leaving before the homily.
2) how he has this ability to "interrupt" our fellow diner-outers with his smiles, dancing and generally funny antics...and how much joy they (well, at least most of them) seem to get out of it as well. always making friends. :)


5.28
1) how observant he is.
2) his love of ladies...from babies to grandmas. loves. them.

5.29
1) how hard he tries to mimic what we say. this morning, it was, "happy birthday, grandma!"
2) when he stops playing to come and give me an unsolicited kissy. the. best. 

5.30 
1) when he says things that i say (that i don't realize i say frequently) and uses the same tone/tempo/whatever that i do. example: he was climbing into his car seat the other day and said, "watch head" in this sing songy little voice. :)
2) when he says, "lello uuuu" (clearly, yellow car) and i say, "sorry, buddy. remember we lost your yellow car." and he follows it with "bye bye, lello uuuu". (uuu...isn't really the best description of the noise for the word car. sometimes (rarely) he'll say car, but mostly it is just the sound he makes when he is playing with cars...)


5.31 - rough day. biggest meltdown ever, induced by skipped nap and face intentionally slammed into floor. ugh. somehow i kept it together.
so very tired...right before the beginning of the end. he was saying, "night night. eyes (as in, close eyes). night night".
1) seeing how proud of himself he gets when he creates something with play dough or draws something on his easel. :)
2) when he puts a "phone" (anthony's vw car key) up to his ear and has a conversation. it starts with a very clear, "hello?" and then "uh...uh huh...daddy" and then a general listing of everything he can see or think of. ball, apple, banana, beans, etc. and it often includes pacing. hysterical.


this has really helped me in the last couple of weeks. sure, i've still lost my patience and felt like throwing things against the floor or screaming. :) whoops. i'm working on it. i'm working on it. but sitting at the computer each night, thinking back over the day and no matter how rough of a day it had been, finding two things about him in the day that made me smile...things that i love, it brings me back to balance. here's hoping that with a little more practice, i'll be able to eliminate the lost patience and always focus on the good.

1 comment:

  1. Oh Kim this is lovely. Thanks so much for sharing. I'm gonna join you here:
    The way my girl is able to articulate her feelings. At first she wants to change the subject but later she will disclose- I was sad Mommy
    The way she changes the subject with her whole body, marching around the table and waving to her pretend audience. Love the little toddler self-song.
    It's easy with the infant. All the push back makes it harder with the toddler! Thanx for the inspiration.

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