In the past six weeks I have taken a day-trip date with One Philly Daddy to Baltimore, a five day family vacation to Wildwood, traveled 600 miles round-trip solo with my 21 month old son to visit my sister and her one month old baby, hosted my 10 year old niece at my home for 4 days, gone to local awesome kid sites such as Sesame Place, The Little Treehouse, Philadelphia Zoo and Please Touch Museum more than a few times, celebrated my birthday and wedding anniversary, didn't feel well for awhile, visited with some friends and done the usual day in and day out laundry, cooking, feeding, washing, grocery shopping, rinse-and-repeat routine a few dozen times.
My house is sticky. Literally. I'm hosting 2 events at my home in the next few weeks, so that must be remedied. One Philly Daddy has been a super champ in the yard clearing weeds and lovingly cultivating our new grass seedlings, so at least the yards are presentable.
One Philly Son has started pointing out letters in random public places. Yesterday at the zoo we were mere inches (and some thick plexi-glass) from an entire gibbon family, and One Philly Son kept pointing out and reading the "O" on the donor sign. To each their own, I suppose.
One of our dogs has started a peculiar habit of pooping in the basement.
I wish I've made more time for myself to work out or blog or anything in the past few weeks.
But I couldn't be happier or prouder.
Crap! Can you believe how unbelievable lucky and blessed and happy I am! Geez!
I have a husband who still whisks me away for overnight dates to places I've never been; in-law's able and willing to assist in making that happen; a family I adore; the means and desire to be with my loved ones no matter the distance; the freedom to play with my son and show him amazing things on a daily basis; be there for the moments he realizes what "O" and "Y" and "D" are; access to health care, food, clothing, shelter, and friends; the ability to share my home with loved ones in celebration and the presence of mind to remind myself that "clean" is not "happy", that a finished to-do list does not bring fulfillment and that in striving to be perfect, I may miss out on some glorious moments.
To all of you and everything that has made all these blessings possible, I thank you. And I'll try to remind myself to be grateful and joyous when I'm cleaning the house this week ;)
sky's the limit
"And you? When will you begin that long journey into yourself?" - Rumi
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Do you validate?
I've always wanted to be a Mother. I've always envisioned myself the PTA Mom. Not 'cause I was supposed to or had to or I couldn't muster the imagination to think of something else to do (trust me, there are more glamorous and better paying jobs), but because I wanted to. It seemed to me the most valuable and important thing to do. On some self-serving level I am 1000% (yeah, I know it says 1,000) sure that some of my motivation to be a good Mother is to stop the cycle, re-write my legacy, prove that a lousy start in life doesn't mean you can't have a spectacular life of your own making.
And sometimes, I stumble across something that validates something One Philly Daddy and I have chosen to do naturally and organically, without much thought.
I read the following in my Parenting magazine:
" You can help set up your child to be a future math whiz - no flashcards required. Researchers found that when toddlers heard numbers regularly, they were better able to understand simple math concepts by preschool than kids who were exposed to little or no number talk..."
The tips they suggest are simple, not unnatural or forced, like "Count stairs as you walk up, count toys and put them into sets..."
One Philly Son started getting interested in numbers a few weeks ago and will eagerly exclaim "twoooo" when we're climbing stairs or he wants One Philly Daddy and I to swing him between us as we walk all holding hands. (I assume he'll get "one" eventually.) So we count stairs, bath toys, peas, twigs, pieces of dog food that fall on the ground....
Its nice to know that we're doing something "right" just because we recognized and responded to our son's innate curiosity and interest.
And sometimes, I stumble across something that validates something One Philly Daddy and I have chosen to do naturally and organically, without much thought.
I read the following in my Parenting magazine:
" You can help set up your child to be a future math whiz - no flashcards required. Researchers found that when toddlers heard numbers regularly, they were better able to understand simple math concepts by preschool than kids who were exposed to little or no number talk..."
The tips they suggest are simple, not unnatural or forced, like "Count stairs as you walk up, count toys and put them into sets..."
One Philly Son started getting interested in numbers a few weeks ago and will eagerly exclaim "twoooo" when we're climbing stairs or he wants One Philly Daddy and I to swing him between us as we walk all holding hands. (I assume he'll get "one" eventually.) So we count stairs, bath toys, peas, twigs, pieces of dog food that fall on the ground....
Its nice to know that we're doing something "right" just because we recognized and responded to our son's innate curiosity and interest.
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