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Thoughts on Thursday {it sure isn’t friday}

THOUGHTS ON THE RAIN:

Before we were hit with a ton more of unwelcome rain, we had started to fall back into the habit of going to the beach to watch the sun go down. We found ourselves fantasizing about picnic dinners and  warmer days, all to be reminded that we’re still in March…the wettest of wet months. Oh well.

Maggie’s rain boots have seen their fair share of puddles and her rain coat finally got busted out…she likes to wear it with the hood up, which makes her look like a little spring flower ready to bloom.

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THOUGHTS ON LANGUAGE:

It seems that Little Miss Mags has had an enourmous language burst these past couple weeks, with both Barry and I finding ourselves slack-jawed at what she notices and what she says. She’s starting to put together phrases and be more active in our conversations. Just yesterday Cora was in the teepee with Maggie. Cora asked me if somebody made it. Before I could respond, Maggie announced that “Papa made it.”

We were shocked and Cora just looked at Maggie and apologized for not thinking to ask her in the first place. Barry did not make the teepee, but he was very happy to get credited with it. He did, however, help Maggie build it, so she gave credit where credit was due.

I love that she’s starting to say sentences and for the most part we can understand her. On the occasion that I have no idea what she’s saying, through grunting, pointing and repeating we can usually figure it out. Just a few weeks ago while I was visiting my parents in A-Town, I noticed that she’d suddenly started using the g sound in her name and in ‘Gama and Gampa.’ It was like she woke up one day and decided to start talking and using new sounds.

THOUGHTS ON GETTING MY OWN TOWEL:

For all the bursts of language development that we’ve had, we’ve also had bursts of “I’m the Boss Around Here” and it’s usually funny and impressive because Maggie wants to do it herself. We hear a lot of  “got it” and “Maggie do it,” meaning we better keep our hands off.

One of these latest things has been Maggie’s interest in making sure that we’ve got towels when either Barry or I are showering. If we happen to close the door, she’ll stand outside pounding and yelling “Towel? Towel? Towel?” .

Two funny things about his:

1. I was at the gym this morning when Barry took his shower and Maggie was very concerned about his towel situation for the first part of his shower. But by the time he was done, and the man does not take long showers, Maggie had left the bathroom and moved onto something else….leaving him high and dry.

2 . When I took a shower this morning, I heard Maggie move one of her little chairs into the bathroom. (How did I hear this you wonder? Let’s just say she wasn’t quiet about it. Plus, she had a doll in tow, so she was multi-tasking.) Anyhow, I had heard her come in and asked her if she was sitting on her chair, and if she was maybe reading a book. I didn’t get a response, so I assumed she was doing something else in another room.

Nope.

When I turned off the shower and pulled back the curtain, she was sitting in her chair with her doll waiting for me. She instantly hopped up and started yelling “Towel? Towel? Towel? Two towels?” at me while pulling the towel off the rack.

THOUGHTS ON MY OLD HAT:

I accidently washed my wool hat and put it in the dryer a few weeks ago.

I loved that hat, but now it is really tiny.

It fits Maggie just right.

THOUGHTS ON LOVE:

Today my grandparents celebrate their 61st wedding anniversary. We stopped by their house this morning and we got to go to brunch with them.

I think my cousin Chaya put it perfectly in her facebook status:

What an amazing example of love and what an awesome family they made. I am so lucky ♥

61 years.

So awesome.

THOUGHTS ON PHOTOGRAPHY:

I have an amazing opportunity this weekend to try my hand at newborn photography and I’m so excited and nervous that I have been keeping myself up at night. I have so many ideas and feel so inspired to try some things. I met a fellow photographer at the fabric store, where we both happened to be buying photo fabric, and totally geeked-out talking to her about all things photography.

Wish me luck this weekend!

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Long Dates Are Fun

We pretty much had the longest date in the history of dates….at least our dates since we had Maggie a couple years ago. Maggie spent two nights with my parents and Barry and I were left to wander the streets of Seattle trying to figure out what we did before we had a kid and a dog.

It was splendid, but after being home on Friday night for a few hours we both admitted that it was really, really strange without The Morsels around. We got through it though and went to a movie Saturday afternoon and stayed in a hotel Saturday night.  Fancy, I know.

We had the longest conversation without interruption….except for the million times I called my mom to see what they were up to. (I’m lucky enough that my mom now has a phone that has the ability to take pictures and send them to me…)

After we checked in to our hotel on Saturday, we were undecided about what to do….and spent more than a substantial amount of time wandering the streets of Seattle trying to decide exactly what we wanted to do. We settled on going to The Whiskey Bar for a sampling, sushi to go, a beer at a mexican restaurant, and a long stop at a book store. Random. We quickly determined that life before Mags must have involved a ton of indecision.

But it was great. I can’t really say that it was ‘much needed,’ since we went on a date just a while ago, but it was very much appreciated. We switched cars with my parents while Maggie was still sleeping, so I think when she woke up to see us, she was a bit startled and confused. Overall, it was a sweet reunion and I missed my girl.

(Side note: We went to celebrate Barry’s grandma’s birthday and with the car switch and what not I forgot my camera. Booooo. Barry had to listen to me complain about it no fewer than 5 times.)

In other news, a super awesome and incredible teepee has now taken over our living room. I’m certain that Maggie would spend all her time in there if she could. Check it out:

 

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Isn’t It All About Perspective?

I love being a mom. It fits me. Last night Barry and I were talking about how much fun we’re both having with Maggie these days and that isn’t to say that we don’t have our rough moments, because, hey, we’ve got an almost 2 year old, so we definitely have our fair share of moments. But Maggie is just so dang fun and funny right now that it is so hard not to want to smother her with kisses and high-fives for every smart thing she does.

I’ve found that Maggie really, really loves to help in whatever we’re doing, whether it be making the bed, rolling dough, putting on new sheets or even grocery shopping. She gets so much satisfaction from being a part of our lives, it’s hard to deny her that. I catch myself feeling frustrated at how slow things go sometimes, but then I really, really look at Maggie and see what she gets from being included.

For example, I was making a grocery shopping list and she wanted to write on it too, so I passed the pen to her and went to load the dishes in the dishwasher. While I was clanging around in the kitchen I remembered that I forgot to add apples to the list. So I asked Maggie, who was busy scribbling on my list, to add apples. She made a quick scribble and I went on my way.

It wasn’t until later in the morning, when we were packing up to go to the store, that I said I needed to get my list and Maggie chased after me yelling ‘Apples! Apples!’ because she has a mind like a steel-trap and didn’t want me to forget that she’d added it.

By the time we made it to the store, she was SO HAPPY to put the apples into the cart.

There is a huge part of parenting that is utterly exhausting. I still dearly miss my sleep and every so often I wonder what our house would look like if all the smudges were cleaned off the windows and walls, but really being a mom is the best.

I’m always surprised when I hear parents complain – really, really complain – about their kids. It makes me sad for the kid and it makes me sad for the parent. Because these last two years have gone so quickly, and I don’t expect time to slow down, I really believe that this is just a season of my life.

As the old adage goes, time flies when you’re having fun.  And I’m having fun. I’m choosing to have fun, even during those moments that really aren’t supposed to be fun.