Dinosaurs

Today's Highlight:
- How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You?

My SIL had this book (by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague) out from the Library and I read it to all the girls (my 3 plus cousin Lucy!).  I had tears in my eyes every time...obviously my hormones are now permanently screwed...  However, the book goes like this:



"You woke in the morning in such a bad mood,
Then sat at the table and fussed with your food.

But then you blew kisses and you waved from the door,
I love you, I love you, my dinosaur.

Out in the sandbox you threw lots of sand,
You ran from the slide after slapping my hand.

But you suddenly turned with the smile I adore,
Oh I'll always love you, my dinosaur.

You moped through your naptime and slept not a wink,
You flooded the house when you played in the sink

But you got out the mop and then cleaned up the floor,
I love you so much, little dinosaur.

Off in the car you kept kicking my seat,
And when we got out you were dragging your feet

But you held my hand tight when we walked in the store,
I'll love you forever, my dinosaur.

Dinner was a disaster! You made such a mess!
Did you stay up past bedtime?  The answer was YES!

But when you smiled sweetly and held back your roar,
When you kiss and hug me, once, twice, even more...

That's when you give love, and I know this is true.
Because that's how a dinosaur says "I Love You!"

There are many things you learn and experience once you have children.  One thing in particular that astounded me was the unbelievably strong bond and unconditional love you feel for this tiny human.  I realised that a person simply cannot imagine how a parent feels about their child and that it really is one of those things you cannot grasp or fully understand until you've been there and done that.  Amazing how your whole view of the world and perception of things change once you have little dinosaurs.

Sleep tight
x

Battlelines

No that does not sound like a "happy" and "all is well with the world" type of title... However, it is one that actually represents optimism!

Yesterday Anya decided to dig her toes in on breakfast...She doesn't particularly like Wheetbix but we are pretty firm on "you eat what you are given, unless we've actually given you a choice"...  And the girls have been having WB forever so really it wasn't like she was being forced to eat anything new and unusual.  Our other rule is "you don't get up from the table until you've finished your meal"...

I'm sure you can see where we're going with this...

So my angelic Anya decided yesterday she was not going to eat her WB.  She had the raisins on top (we were out of bananas and one really does need to spruce it up and heated milk so it goes nice and soft and porridge-like...seriously... short of putting sugar on top you aint going to get better tasting WB), and then stirred and slopped it around.  For 6 Hours...

Mummy was not going to give in either so there she sat.  Ignored for most part, given warnings the odd time before then licking the spoon, trying to dictate Heidi's playing from her perch and eventually, eventually we got the food down the hatch (reheated several times cause that must have been freeking awful after a while) and could get down from the dining table...  Thank heaven having children has made me considerably more patient than I used to be...

This leads us then to - Today's Highlight:
- Anya only took 2 Hours to finish her Wheetbix this morning!

I am hopeful that tomorrow we can reduce this to her usual time of 10 minutes or so... otherwise anything short of 120 minutes will be a bonus...

Sometimes it's quite hard having these little skirmishes with my kids... It seems ridiculous that I have to have a battle of wills with my 3.5 year old over breakfast.  On one hand I am determined to try to raise her to have good manners and be well adjusted for the big wide world and have an idea of how to behave appropriately.  On the other hand I try to give her as much freedom as I can to LIVE and explore and learn things by herself.  When I don't ask for much at all, it's not much to expect surely. It's about balance right?

Anyhoo - I've decided on my next project and I'm waiting on my book for July.  I have a whole bookshelf full of unread books but with my new goal I will eventually get to them all!  Details tomorrow!

Sleep tight
x

PS:  After seeing Becs' bird mobile it reminded me of this.  Totally. Awesome. Enjoy : )

Sun & Rain

Jeepers it was cold this morning! But gorgeous...that is of course until it rained again! Which I don't mind at all really, especially when the house is warm and cosy and the kids are happy! And they are happy, though a bit sick at the moment :(

I never fail to be amazed by my children and their ability to keep going even when very unwell. Sure they get a tiny bit "sensitive" but overall remain happy and completely unfazed during a sick spell - mind over matter? Or is it just that they haven't learned yet that this is the one time things can be all about them? Long may it last whichever the case!

Today's Highlights:
- Liezel cooing, smiling and chatting with me instead of eating...She really needs to eat, but it's impossible not to forget about the food and joining in on the conversation. Love.

Sleep tight
x