LRD

We’ve all heard of the LBD, right? The little black dress is a staple in most women’s closets. For my three year old daughter Lily it’s the LRD- little red dress.

We got this dress from my dear friend Heather as a hand me down. One day both girls asked for princess dresses so I let them put on holiday dresses from their closet. I can’t justify purchasing Cinderella, Belle and other sparkly Disney princess dresses so when it comes to dress up they wear their special dresses. I figure they would normally only wear them once so it’s a good way to make the most of a purchase. Back to the LRD.

Lily loves her LRD!! It started off as a play dress that she would want to wear when we came home from outings. More recently she pretty much refuses to wear anything else. At first, I would be able to negotiate the wearing of the dress by telling her she could have a special treat when we got home or watch a show. She quickly became hip to my game. The bribes stopped working. The power struggles began. For example, Saturday my mother in law was watching them and wanted to take them to the park. Lily said, “I don’t want to go to to park.” Huh? You’re three what three year old turns down slides and swings?! Mine does. I quickly figured out why. I had been telling her she can’t wear the dress outside.

At that moment I decided to embrace the LRD. What do I care if she wears her dress all day everyday? In the grand scheme of the things, it does not matter one bit. And if it makes her happy, who am I to take that away? Simple pleasures.

I’ll see how long it lasts.

A Cake for Ariel

Leave it three three year olds to remind me they are still only three years old. As the saying goes when it rains it pours. Ok so maybe it’s just a heavy rainfall.

It started this morning when I went to Home Depot to get sand for LALs new sandbox. I should have known when it took me 35 minutes to find someone to help me. Finally, found a nice gentleman to help me and he even loaded my car. I guess that’s why they say, “Good things come to those who wait.”

Next, a thousand hours (I figured it would take 30 minutes tops) into putting the sandbox together, I realize the holes are drilled in the wrong place on one of the sides. Now thinking about it I guess I could have drilled new holes but I’m not that handy. I left a message for customer service at the company from which it was purchased and got to work taking it apart. I received a quick phone call back and a new side is being shipped tomorrow.

All the while LAL are inside watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates or so I thought. Once I cleaned everything up outside an put it away I came in to find this:

My blood boiled. They all started saying, “Sorry Mommy” relentlessly which clued me in to, their full knowledge that they knew they were doing something they should not have been. I put them each in a chair and began operation cleanup. As I listened to the conversation between them my blood cooled off some. They were telling each other they were not going to invite me to their birthday parties. I thought it was funny that they were so mad at me for cleaning up their mess that I got the boot from the guest list. Then it all came to light. Someone asked, “What are you doing?” I said, “Cleaning up your mess.” And they said, “No, it’s our cake. We were baking a cake for Ariel.” That erased everything for me. I forget that little minds have full intention with regard to whatever they are doing. I often forget this. I see things for what they are in my world not what they are in their world. As I was cleaning up I started to feel badly for getting so irritated when in their world they were simply baking a cake.

We talked about the rules of the big kitchen. I reminded them that they need an adult to bake with my ingredients and must ask permission before taking them out. I also reminded them they can always cook in their kitchen using their ingredients without needing to ask me or another adult. They said they understood. We’ll see 😉

My Freezer Mouse

There are times that I dread the day to come, specifically when it’s four AM and I’m not faraway in dreamland. And really dread is probably the wrong word, it’s more knowing that my patience might be a smidge shorter than normal in turn making the day slightly longer. Then I find something that makes me smile and remember how great being a mom is, like my freezer mouse.

Are you wondering what a freezer mouse is? It’s my son Liam.

Thank you to my dear friend Kerilynn from Photography by Newman for the ridiculous photograph of my handsome little man!!

Our mornings are pretty much the same every morning. He wakes up, starts speaking quietly, usually going through the list of people he loves then he’ll gradually get louder until his sisters wake up. Once he’s got everyone awake he’ll call for me. I open the door to squeals and requests (the requests, they start early and never end-not complaining, just sayin’). Liam always says, ” Me first, get out.” I grab him, go to the bathroom, get I’m dressed and he asks to go downstairs. I say yes and get the girls dressed. Every once in a while he’ll yell up to me but I let him do his thing.

This morning I woke up around four and could not go back to sleep so I got up and started a couple of things. One of which was taking bread out of the freezer. This is what I found

My little freezer mouse has been eating frozen butter. I can’t believe it tastes delicious but he obviously enjoys it. I did hide the butter so we’ll see what my little mouse gets into next.