wasting time

 

last summer, my littles and i were lucky enough to spend a great deal of time with our best friends, the myers family.  now i must admit . . . and not just because i know she will read this . . . that my bestie betsy is one of the greatest mom’s i have ever met.  i am constantly learning from her and seeking her advice, not only on child-rearing but about life in general.  i’m lucky to have her in my corner.  of course, i admire her parenting skills, but i’m admittedly also jealous of the absolute fun and relaxed home that she has made for her family.  being with them and seeing how kid friendly (without sacrificing adult aesthetic) their home is has made me want to be a copycat and do the same.  one idea that i have stolen is to invest in a bubble machine.  ours sits on top of the refrigerator in our orlando home.  periodically, i turn it on for a minute or so and let the air fill with bubbles.  it’s amazing how in just a few seconds you are completely enveloped with hundreds of bubbles in different sizes.  i know it’s total cheese to say it . . . but it’s actually quite magical!

that brings me to today.  i was standing in the kitchen, going about the morning grind, all the while being pelted by a barrage of questions from lily in the living room.  i’d finally had enough and wanted to give my tired head (and ears) a little bit of a break.  after all, i had my “work” to get back to.  i quietly turned on the bubble machine only to hear a squealing lily running towards me in her pajamas.  she started screaming, “bubbles! bubbles! bubbles!” and began spinning in circles all around the kitchen.  so i thought to myself, “good.  now i can get back to the invoice i’m sending for work.”  i no sooner had that thought when i heard  . . .

“mom!  come play in the bubbles.  stop wasting your time!”

yowza.  once again i found myself getting smacked in the face by the proverbial book, Life Lessons by Lily.  sigh.  she was right.  i was wasting my time.  now don’t get me wrong . . . i know that there are things that need to be done for me to keep up the facade of being a responsible . . . um . . . “adult” . . . like sending an invoice for work so that we can pay our bills.  however, it was yet another good reminder that sometimes i need to loosen the heck up!  there will always be dishes to be done . . . there will always be floors that need to be swept . . . but there won’t always be a four year old waiting to dance and twirl with her mama.  life is too short to waste time doing the responsible thing . . . all the time.  after all,  the bubbles will eventually all pop.  will you have played in them?

stifling creativity

i recently learned an important lesson . . . and might i add, not a moment too soon.

about a week ago, i was going about the morning craziness . . . feeding children, dogs, doing laundry, etc. etc. lily was flitting about as normal and gus was on the floor (not yet engaging his recently acquired skill of the army crawl). as usual, i was in the middle of about three different projects and quite frankly didn’t want to be bothered to get yet one more thing for someone else. i wanted to just complete my project without another interruption.

anyway, lily came up to me and asked me to get her a piece of tape. here’s the exchange between us (including my thought pattern, as embarrasing as it is for me to publicly admit my own neurotic thoughts).

lily: mom, i need a piece of tape.

mama: (sigh) lily, why?

lily: (guitar in one hand, kazoo in the other) because i need to hang this on here.

(as that last sentence requires some visualization, i’ll explain. she wanted to hang her kazoo with tape from the hook where the guitar strap attaches.)

(immediately i thought about how putting a piece of cheap dollar tree store scotch tape might leave a sticky residue on her brand new guitar she got for christmas . . . or even worse, pull off some of the finish!)

mama: lily, no.

(lily turns away with a defeated expression, i kid you not. of course, this made me feel like a total heel and so i start damning my perfectionistic tendencies. i mean, really christy, who gives a rip if it does mess up the guitar. it is, after all, her guitar! let her try and see what happens. it’s no big deal!)

mama: you know what, lily?  i’ve changed my mind.  here you go.

so, the morning went on and lily was busy playing and i was busy . . . projecting*.  :S  about fifteen minutes later lily called me into the living room and said she wanted to show me something.  absolutely to my shock and delight she had made her guitar into a one man band.  she managed to attach her kazoo with the tape to the guitar and was able to play both at the same time.  as she’s sick of my constant videotaping and picture taking, i had to beg her to let me grab the camera.  she begrudgingly did, and i’m so thankful for it.  i will always have this video as a reminder . . . not just of a little girl’s sweetness and absolute creativity, but to not forget what can come of letting go of things being perfect and sticky free!

i now proudly debut lily reynolds in her rendition of Millie’s Don’t Cry!

 

*i’m aware that this isn’t a real word.  🙂

reading the bible and preparing to be a navy seal

here are two quick videos of what the littles have been up to . . .

first up . . . the gospel according to lily!

 

this evening gus finally figured out that he can get from point a to point b much faster if he used the army crawl compared to rolling and hoping for the best!!

 

she’s four

january 30, 2007.  the day my life changed forever.  every year on that day i quietly remember  . . .  induction.  12+ hours of unmedicated hard labor.  never dilating.  emergency c-section.  hearing the first cry.  tom’s face.  feeling my heart burst into a bazzilion pieces.  falling in love.  never did i expect being her mother to be so challenging and rewarding.  i’ve made mistakes.  i’ve been successful.  i’ve learned what works today might not work tomorrow . . . or for gus someday.  overall though it’s been a joy.  i now have a smart, funny, beautiful four year old girl.  i’m doing my best and look forward to see what the future holds for her.

happy birthday, sweet lil.