The Boss of Me

C is a bit on the bossy side. Let's call her "opinionated" or "persistent" or even "driven"-it sounds nicer. She spends her days telling me what to do. 

Sit down, Mommy.

Stop it.

Mommy, try this.

Tonight, we were playing in the backyard. We have a steep hill on one side which Banks climbs so he can pace back and forth and bark at the neighbor's dog. C, of course, wants to go with him. I usually help her, holding her hands, trying to keep her (and myself) from tumbling back down. But tonight, she took her hand from mine, pushed me away, and said, "Mommy, go swing."

Seriously?

Excuse the dark iPhone pic. It was 8:00.

Then she climbed the scary hill all by herself. But, just as I was sitting on the swing, licking my wounds of rejection, she reached out her little hand and said, "Mommy, I help you" and I held her hand on the way back down.

Watching her gain independence is both exciting and heart breaking. I want her to have the courage to try things on her own; but, a part of me still wants her to run to me for help. Can't I be her best friend forever? No. No, I cannot. But, for a little while at least, I still hold the BFF title in her little world. 

I will simply cherish the moments when she grabs my hand, points to the sky and says, Yook (look), Mommy. The Moon!

I will love the moments when she climbs in my lap and says, Mommy, snuggle; but I will watch with pride as she loosens her grip on my finger and climbs mountains all by herself. That's my girl.

Good for the Soul

Girls night is good for my soul. I love my day/night/life job more than anything; but it's nice to be reminded that I am still young and fun and can look pretty when I actually shower and apply makeup and break out the Louis Vuitton instead of the $19 purse from Target with Cheerios floating around the bottom and partially chewed suckers stuck to the lining. 

Plus,you can't beat the company. 

I love these ladies.

Mommy and Me Time

Let's face it, most days are "Mommy and Me" days; but the past few days, we have gone into activity overdrive to make up for Monday stuck inside with a stomach bug. Mommy is pretty warn out today, but it was so worth it!

The weather has been perfect (making our inside sick day even harder to bear), so my goal for Tuesday was to spend as much time outside as possible.

We spent the morning running around the backyard, playing with balls, looking at birds, and laughing at Banks. We ate lunch outside and, after nap time and a snack, we painted outside! I cut the ends off of a celery stalk and a potato to use as stencils; I put her in an old t-shirt, gave her the stencils, brush, and a plate of paint; and I let her do her thing!

Wednesday, we headed to iJump to play with some friends. She had never been in any kind of bouncy house, so I wasn't sure how it would go. But, this girl loves to hop and jump around the house and jumping is pretty much her signature dance move, so I had high hopes. Well, she loved it! She was a bit apprehensive about some things (she will not, under any circumstances, crawl through a tunnel), but overall, she had a blast jumping and running around with Sara and Lyla. Her favorite thing there? The ball pit - just a bigger version of what we have in our living room!

Thursday, we started our day as usual with Kindermusik. I needed to run an errand afterward, so we made a lunch stop first at Edgar's. I got her the usual grilled cheese, but she actually ate most of my chicken instead (big day!); and no trip to Edgar's is complete without a treat. She picked a skeleton cookie. Yummmm!

We planned to go to the McWane Center that evening for an opening of their new Clifford, the Big Red Dog exhibit, so our friend Sara came over to play before we all headed that way.

Then, it was time for Clifford! The girls ran wild in the exhibit. It was a lot of fun and a nice change up to our usual low key evenings.

Whew. It's been a fun week! I'm so lucky to get to spend my days playing with this little angel.