I find that as each day goes by I let go of the things I know are just not realistic for me and my family.
For instance - I am creative and crafty, but lack the personal organization to keep my house mostly tidy. I clean sporadically - most on emotional whims rather than routine and schedule. Often I am embarrassed by my lack of tidiness - I often use my children as a (rather good) excuse. They literally tear rooms apart as I'm cleaning and tidying - so often I just give up and let them do their thing.
Time has taught me that it's the little moments that are most important - not if I got the dishes washed or the house vacuumed. It's stopping to dance with my toddlers in the kitchen - on an eternally gritty, sandy floor (no matter how many times I sweep!).
I find my joy and happiness in their smiles and laughs as we do silly things - making "collections" of wild, green things from our yard and neighborhoods - all the while getting in little lessons about ecology and horticulture (who would have guessed?).
We chase slugs and snails and dig worms out of our compost pile - getting filthy as the next person digging in the dirt - but we're learning about how things break down and return to the earth and how that in turn gives us compost that our worms find yummy and makes our plants grow strong.
You know my kids can survive without Noggin or other TV programs - no matter how much they protest and I'm always amazed (but shouldn't be) when we've had a day without television and things are so much smoother. There are still tantrums, but fewer and less intense. (This goes for days without refined sugar, too).
I'm still trying to convince my husband that there is life without television. That's his way to unwind and God forbid I take something like that away from him. My response is God forbid he learn how to relax another way - like taking a bike ride or getting some project done around the house. Time will work on him, I hope. I'd like to have no TV on when he's home and the kids are up. I'm still trying to convince him that Family Guy is not a good role model for our children or him - not as parents and not as Christians.
Learning to let go is hard for me, but day by day I'm giving up obligations and commitments that I've made. I'm replacing them with nothing - just spontaneity - something I'm really good at these days!
When most people are routine and structured - I prefer the opposite. There are parts of my life that I'd like to have that order in - like my house! But when it comes to everyday life - I find that the days are too short for rigid structure and life must be lived in the moment - no matter what that moment is supposed to be or becomes in a split second.
I'm trying to let go of materialism - my kids are getting more natural toys - homemade playthings - toys that let them use their imagination. I'm slowly phasing out a lot of the plastic toys - not just because of concern about toxins, but because I'm starting to agree that less is more and I should be the one teaching my kids their colors and numbers - not some singing piece of plastic!
I'm thrilled that at 20 months Wyatt could count to 2 and now he can count to three and jumps to five. He recognizes the color "pink" (what else would his first color be than pink - with a princess obsessed sister?) His second color recognition was blue - and he's working on green now.
Maddie is gifted - and Wyatt will probably be considered gifted as well. I'm not bragging, but my kids are sharp - they're articulate and at times wise beyond their years.
Speaking of kids - (rambling here) - I read an article in Parenting this month that said kids who lie tend to be gifted. There's apparently research showing that gifted children are good liars.
This just irks me - as a parent trying to teach her children morals and values - the fact that society says it's ok to lie and that smart kids lie often as children just bothers me - a lot. I think it's a sign of where our society has gone and is going - that lying is considered a virtue or symptom of giftedness.
Lying is not ok - and anyone who thinks so has a skewed perception of reality.
But back to my wonderful mothering ramblings...
This new child of ours - the orange tabby feline variety - thinks he's my baby. Where ever I am - he wants to be and he's incredibly spoiled. One day - for fun - I stuck him in my Moby Wrap and now he's always wanting to be up close and cuddled. He was in my lap a few minutes ago - and kept trying to get up under my chin (I'm not sure what he was thinking). I finally got irritated with him and went and put on one of my moby wraps (or a homemade one actually). I popped him into it and after a few minutes of squirming, biting and clawing to get comfortable and let me know I was his mommy - he went to sleep - purring and all snuggled up in there.
I swear he thinks he's a kangaroo!
