Today I've had the girls all to myself - ALL day. Joel had to work, followed immediately by an annual meeting (and a free turkey!)... But it's amazing what you realize when you play "single parent" for a night. Like, how much patience you really do have... But even more importantly - how much fun you can have by just hanging out with your kids. (I make a point to do so everyday, but today there was a great deal of 'extra' time to fill - especially since Myla lost her privilege to watch any shows today.)
So - at one point I decided that, since while we were playing house, I was instructed to go "night-night" - I'd take it upon myself to play the part of the "baby" of the family this time. I curled up on the spare twin bed, sucked my thumb, cuddled my stuffed animal, and drank from the pretend baby bottle, and cried when she took it away (hee hee). Myla kept insisting that I wasn't a baby. I just kept playing the part to see how she'd react. When she reached a point of near-frustration, I decided to just make light of the fact that I was pretending to be a baby - just like she does sometimes. It was then that Myla blurted out these words, "NO mama - you're not a baby... You're my MAMA! You have BIG hair! You don't have little baby hair...." All I could do was laugh.
We moved on later to playing with the Fisher Price Little People Camping set... (One of my favorite toys!) There is a radio in the little camper, and when pressed, it plays music, the sound of a crackling fire, crickets chirping, and frogs croaking... (LOVE it!) Upon the mini-cooler is a rendition of an even-more-miniature inch-worm. Myla says to me, "Hey - there's a centipede on this cooler." I said, "That's an inch-worm." She suddenly repeats something she had seen the previous night on a TPT program involving dreams... "I saw a bug saying, 'Hamburger, Hamburger'!" (It's close to what was described in the program anyway - but hilarious in any case.) I cracked up about 10 minutes straight - and the girls just acted like I was - well - a little bit nuts, and continued to play and just pretend it wasn't happening ;)
Not sure if it's as funny as what I witnessed. Perhaps you just "had to be there" (as with most of my 'funny stories', actually.) But I about bubbled-over with laughter. When you combine the innocence, the surprising level of intellect, the memory capacity, the cute little squeaky voices, and the unexpectedness of it all - you just can't help but to enjoy the moment(s) with belly-laughter. (My favorite kind.) :)
TIP! Today I had to be more stern than ever, and consistently so. I was on my own all day. The 3-year-old chose not to nap until the little one awoke - at which point she woke up the big girl too soon - and on the wrong side of her bed, (of course). There was some sibling rivalry, followed by some whining, crying, back-talk, refusal to eat dinner, begging to be held... But tonight after the drama concluded, while we played some more, Myla said to me during a spontaneous hug, "I'm so glad you're my mama." [Insert smile here!] Consistent boundaries are good for all :)
A QUOTE (or 3!):
"When people are laughing, they're generally not killing each other." ~Alan Alda
"What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul." ~Yiddish Proverb
"Laughter on one's lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life." ~Hugh Sidey
WHIDFML: Ate some of the freshly baked (gluten-free) brownies that are to accompany us on our journeys to Familial Thanksgiving feasts tomorrow. :) (shhhhhh)
Happy Turkey Day!
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