I can show you the world (do do do do do), shining, shimmering, spleeeendid.
If you have a princess loving child, you might find it funny that I have that song stuck in my head; anyway, it seemed appropriate as a title for my experiences in the past few days with my little munchkins. Plus, Jake told me that he was singing it randomly in the hallway at work the other day when one of his coworkers joined in. I love daddies who aren't afraid to sing princess songs.
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| Snow White was on the floor, so she didn't make it into the picture. |
Abigail loves princess music, coloring books, dolls, figurines, stories...everything about princesses. While she's only watched a few princess movies thus far, she loves to listen to the music and put the stories together in her mind. Her memory is incredible. We've read the books enough times that she gets upset if I use the wrong phrasing (i.e. when I am half asleep and accidentally say "Now sing, Ursula said" she will correct me, "Ursula cried, ma ma, what did you say?"). Of course it's often annoying and sometimes infuriating to be subjected to the exacting standards of a not-quite-three-year-old when one is sleep deprived, desperate for the child to go to bed, and aware that a crying fit may ensue if similar errors continue. Still, I love this age. She's surprises me with her language daily, and she really is a good girl, even when it's hard.
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| Blue-eyed boy |
And it's been hard. My little angel boy wants to be held constantly when awake, but isn't quite ready for carriers. I can't seem to get him comfortable in the moby wrap, which is what I used day in and out with Abigail. I'm working on it. Still, this new development, along with Jake going to work and then heading out on a business trip, has left me laughing at the fact that I believed meeting the needs of one child was difficult. Of course it was, at the time, but it pales in comparison to my unsuccessful attempts to care for Elijah as I desire to, while negotiating and wrangling with my willful toddler.
We had a very busy morning, probably too busy. Abigail had a spring performance at school, which started at 9 am. She didn't want to go, so I had to bribe her with bagels to get her out of the house. I got the three of us dressed and looking pretty nice for the performance (this took over an hour), then we went to the bagel shop with 20 minutes to eat bagels before we would need to head to the school. Just as we sat down to eat, Elijah spit up a stomach full of milk all over himself in his seat. He felt better, but I ended up cleaning the seat, changing his clothes, and trying to strap him in without getting the wet straps on his skin while Abigail ate her bagel. Of course then we were cutting it close on time for the event. We went to the concert (parked on the street with a red curb up through the back wheel of the car). Abigail was extremely adorable in her 2 minutes of singing Happy Birthday to the school with her classmates. Elijah fell asleep in my arms at least 4 times, only to be awoken by the loud applause. The class had snack afterward, and then we went to our Friday play group. Abigail had a blast with her best little buddies and didn't want to leave. Elijah was once again awoken from a lovely slumber (in the arms of one of the play group moms, since they all wanted to hold the newest little cutie) in order to go home and feed his sister lunch. She melted down about various things due to tiredness. (I closed the kitchen door. She wanted the box of driftwood that I'm using for an art project to be dumped on the floor as I was cleaning them up. She didn't want me to hold the baby. She wanted macaroni and cheese from the microwave [meaning leftovers warmed up], not from the pan. All tragedies of epic proportions.)
Once we were finally ready to get into her bedroom, she stated that she did not want baby brother to come. I told her that we were the only ones home, so if we went into her bedroom and left Elijah outside, who would take care of him? She said, "no one".
Ok. So I ignore her statement of protest and ask her to pick out books and get into bed. I place Elijah, clean, swaddled, and fed, on the window seat cushion in her room. He likes to look at the light from the windows. I figure I will just leave him there as long as he's cool while I try to get her to sleep. So we read one, two, three, four princess books. He gets fussy and I start to rise from the bed. She screams "no, don't pick him up!". I ask her not to scream at me and I walk over to the baby. He's already settled back down on his own. So I lay back down and finish books. She's closing her eyes, almost asleep. He cries out again. I get up. She yells at me again. I give him a pacifier. His eyes are droopy. I lay back down. She falls asleep. I wait three minutes, then head over to pick Elijah up and give him his much deserved rocking time. He's fast asleep. I can't leave him on her window seat when I leave the room, so I pick the poor guy up and he opens his eyes. Little man really can't catch a break. I rock him for 20 minutes even though he's asleep in 3 min, just so he can be against my skin and hear my heartbeat.
Honestly, I have a better understanding for why people are able to allow their children to cry-it-out from watching this new baby and his mannerisms. If crying for a few moments and then settling was all it took, then I would have done that ages ago. Abigail has the endurance of a marathon screamer, and she doesn't even settle down after the finish line. But not Elijah. He somehow finds a way to make the situation okay, even if he doesn't like it. He makes his complaint known, and then moves on.
It makes me wonder what they'll be like as adults. I hope they use their differences advantageously. They might be able to give each other good advice, based on very different ways of dealing with life.
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| Flying a kite |
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| Daddy is coming home tonight! |
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| With her beloved Ursula doll |
