I wish I could capture moments of every day life and hold them forever. How, in words, can I keep them?
Ava has been asking about the meaning of words. "What does 'sure' mean? What does 'ok' mean? What does 'I don't know' mean? What does 'certain' mean?" How do you explain it? She's curious about science...like the blood vessels and bones in our body....the planets...dinosaurs.
We're having a bit of a struggle with obedience and attitude. Some days, she's a breeze...wanting to help and doing exactly what she's told and then some. Other days...watch out!
We've been reading chapter a night of different classics. So far, we've read Heidi, Little Women and now we're making our way through Anne of Green Gables. It's been fun.
Jaina has been a trial. She is stubborn. Refusing to give hugs and kisses...fussy all day long...her favorite response is to say "uh uh" and shake her head no - to everything. "Jaina, say dog!" "Uh uh."
She and Ava fight...she screams...she wants to do everything her big sister does.
She says "mama" all the time. For everything. She does know some animal sounds...moo, quack, woof woof, meow, roar!, bzzzz.
Body parts? She knows eyes, nose, ears, teeth, fingers, hair, belly button, bum, toes. If she's not being stubborn, she'll show you where they are. :)
She loves shoes. There must be at least one shoe on at all times and if she sees someone else shoes, she brings them and fusses till they get put on.
The stroller and anything she can push in it (mostly her baby but sometimes her sippy cup) are her favorite things.
Food. She loves it. On a good day she could eat 3 eggs and a banana for breakfast. The only thing is, she won't eat meat. With the exception of chicken nuggets, she won't touch it. She'll eat spoonfuls of broccoli and ask for 2nds and 3rds of brussels sprouts but she refuses to eat meat.
I was under the impression that she didn't like to swing. You set her in the swing and she would scream for her life. Until I started to push her...now I think she likes it. Slides on the other hand are fun. She'll climb 6 feet up the ladder and slide down (not by herself of course)...she'll do it over and over again. I'm also feeling like she doesn't like to swim. She'll fuss and throw fits the whole time...until you throw her in the air and splash her into the water...Maybe she's a daredevil?
Her favorite place to be is outside. She's happiest there...
In the morning...the day goes better if she gets dressed and has her hair combed right away. She points to her closet for a diaper and a dress.
The nap situation has been difficult. Sometimes she needs two..sometimes one. Sometimes she needs two but refuses to fall asleep and screams in her crib. Hopefully we'll get it straightened out.
I have yet to figure her out. She's complex. I love her.
I was touched the other day by how much time Donald was spending outside with the girls. They have a big box of chalk and our driveway gets a good chalking every day. :) Then, he let me in on a little secret. He said, "I try to use up at least two pieces of this a day so we don't have so many laying around." Hahaha!
We've changed the way we eat. Donald and I both read a book called, "It Starts with Food." I highly recommend it. We've cut out sugar, all grains/legumes/beans/rice/quinoa and dairy. Our only exceptions are real maple syrup, butter and heavy cream. The effect on our lives has been good. We both feel better. Donald has lost over 10 lbs...I have more energy...I can really feel the horrible effects of sugar if I do eat it. We all eat better...including the girls. Lots more fruits and veggies. It took a couple of weeks for Ava to stop asking for certain things but we've done pretty good. She still asks for milk and toast once in awhile and we sometimes have it on hand for her but overall we've cut way back. The girls eat lots of apples and carrots and grapes for snacks instead of bowls of sugary cereal. I think my favorite change is that we all eat breakfast and supper together. Before, we would eat in shifts...even supper was chaos...we ate what we wanted, sometimes together, sometimes not. That has changed. I would say that 6 out of 7 days, we sit down and eat supper together. The only thing is that I need to think about what supper will be...fun and hard at the same time. Have you ever had mashed cauliflower? The. best. ever.
Sometimes we feel like life hasn't gone the way we want it. Maybe we have different ideas about how our days should go. Maybe our lives are difficult...trying...plain old hard. Sometimes we don't get what we want. Life throws curve balls. Some wisdom from my mother-in-law ~ "Life will never be easy but if God is in control of it, we will have the best life we could ever have." Whatever God has planned is the best for us. I want to remember this every single day.