"If you don't see the book on the shelf, write it." ~ Beverly Cleary
We’re home with some sniffles and going down memory lane seems like a wonderful thing to do. Look at baldie Audrey and how proud Maggie is. As I type this, they are playing ‘night-night,’ which is the short name for the game I like to call “GET EVERY SINGLE BLANKET AND QUILT OUT AND PILE IT ON TOP OF SOMEBODY WHILE SHOUTING ‘NIGHT-NIGHT’ AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS” .
Either way, they’re happy and I’m happy, so it works. Time flies and they keep growing and changing, what an adventure.
We live a very short drive to a few beaches and I’ve been making an effort to spend more time with our feet in the sand if it isn’t raining and nobody is screaming in my ear. I’ve gotten into the habit of packing a lunch on the days that Maggie has school and eating a picnic while playing until Audrey is ready for her nap. It hasn’t eliminated Witching Hour all togehter, but the afternoons are much happier for all of us on the days we’ve enjoyed the beach together.
Last week we were playing on a boat statue and a woman stopped and asked if she could snap a picture of all of us together. I fished my phone out of my pocket and handed it over to her, grateful that she extended herself to us in that moment. The picture is saved somewhere in the depths of my phone and it turned out that the woman that asked to take our photo once worked as a beach ranger with small groups of kids at the beach. She was happy to see us out enjoying them.
My girls both have Little Mama hearts and have been in full mothering mode for a few months now. For the most part, it is very sweet to see them rocking, wrapping, and loving on their babies. Maggie has had New Baby since her second birthday, a garage sale find from my mom that has always been deeply loved by Mags, and Audrey has really loved Dollie, a little rag-muffin red haired doll. It’s really quite fitting.
That said, I keep noticing that Audrey is developing a keen interest in New Baby. Maggie is definitely not done being a mama to her baby, not really ready to sign the ‘adoption papers’ over to Audrey. Most of the time it works out just fine and they can figure out a way to compromise and mother both the babies with just enough hugs and kisses doled out.
It wasn’t until I uploaded a recent batch of pictures that I noticed a few sets that I’d taken a few days apart. In the first set, Audrey is watching Maggie get New Baby ready for bed and quietly sitting nearby. But in the second batch of images, taken while Maggie was at school, Audrey is doing it all on her own and copying everything that she quietly watched her big sister do.
Monkey See, Monkey Do. A good reminder that my actions, choices and behaviors are being observed by the two of them….
OBSERVING:
DOING:
