Category: Grandparents

This  morning I was able to sneak out of the house for an early morning walk with Sydney all alone and we powered though the neighborhoods near us and welcomed the morning light. By the time we got back home, Maggie was still sleeping (a miracle, I tell you!) and Barry had showered while Audrey “investigated” things in the bathroom cupboard, etc. After Barry left for work, I could feel things unraveling when I tried to unload the dishwasher with Audrey playing nearby. She likes to help, but today she took it to a new level when she climbed on the door and stood up, reaching for her waterbottle (and whatever else was there) on the counter top. She’s remarkable and very adept at climbing. Five minutes later her and Maggie, who had woken up around the time Barry left, started playing on the chairs that had been pushed to the kitchen….and Audrey had somehow convinced her sister to help strap on the bike helmet. While I continued to unload the dishwasher, and watch the girls, I felt pretty good….and then Audrey decided to try to try and stand on the chair and climb up on the window. She didn’t fall, but I was glad she was wearing that bike helmet. 

I’d brewed myself a cup of coffee and the next thing I  knew it, I’d moved the chairs to the middle of the hallway (push them, Audrey, don’t climb them!) and put some music on. Maggie requested the Frozen soundtrack because one of her favorite things to do is to sing and dance  to those songs. Once the music was playing, I decided I needed to know the lyrics (it seems like the good mom thing to do) and so I pulled them up on my phone and cranked up the tunes. I held Audrey in one arm and my phone in the other and started dancing/singing loudly with Maggie. Maggie is a very serious dancer/singer and wasn’t interested in some of my moves if they weren’t entirely accurate to what words were being sung. Anyhow, my point is this: I could feel myself snapping at the girls (mostly Audrey for being dangerous) and being frustrated that I couldn’t get things done, but then, after coffee, dancing and singing really changed my tune. (pun intended). 

Now Audrey is napping because of all the dancing and singing, Maggie is having some iPad time (Bob Books) and I’m deciding NOW is the best time to unleash the pictures from Maggie’s 3rd birthday party LAST year. I’ve never claimed to be a Pintrest person, so don’t get your hopes up or anything, just appreciate how awesome our family is. Maggie requested a parade for her party and they delivered!! We had a photo booth that my cousin took pictures at, those pictures aren’t here, but maybe I’ll post them next year….

A couple funny things about Maggie lately:

ONE: We were driving in the car to school this week and she says, “Mama, I think Audrey and I were in your tummy at the same time and we had a conversation [her exact word choice] she said that I should come out first. And I said okay.”  Ummm, out of the mouth of babes. Glad they could have a conversation about it and be so polite. 

TWO: We were talking about her upcoming birthday (4 years old, wahhhhh.) and I told her we should go to JoAnn’s to pick out birthday fabric. (I let her pick the fabric for her birthday picture and pass it to my mom in hopes of her making something out of it.) This is how the conversation went:

HER: I don’t know JoAnne. 

ME: Yeah you do….

HER:  (singing the tune to Dolly Parton’s Jolene) JoAnne, JoAnne, JoANNNNNE, please don’t take my band…….I guess I do know JoAnne