I am exhausted from keeping an eye (or two) out for Daughter Number Two this past week. I’m giving her name the silent treatment because I’m so aggravated with her “free spirit.” (“Free spirit” being a euphemism.) 
When I was the mother of one sweet little two year old (whose middle name could have been Obedience), I decided I would reserve my sharpest angry voice (and hopefully all other variations of the angry voice) for those scary moments when my child is about to step into the street in front of an ongoing bus. Unfortunately the same technique will not work with Daughter Number Two, since she seems to get (and DESERVE) this voice several times a day. [I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said “We don’t step on Lily’s hands!” And I was a math major, so that’s saying something.]
Here’s Daughter Number Two’s week in review.
7 days ago: Hid in the master bathroom for thirty minutes while we were visiting my parents. [This was the third of such occurrences in the last two months.]
6 days ago: Split open several unfrozen otter pops over the carpet. Covered her foot in several tablespoons of toothpaste. Rubbed excess toothpaste on towels and in corner of carpet in her bedroom for me to find later.
5 days ago: Used her pasty white skin as a canvas.
4 days ago: Accessorized the white molding in her room with yellow highlighter.
3 days ago: Got caught with pen poised above some checks I needed to deposit.
2 days ago: Decorated our front porch with marker. Added finishing touches to her nose and papers from my desk.
Today: Painted a monkey with green paint, using my bedroom carpet as a dripcloth.
Other “projects” include painting faces on pumpkins and bath toys with makeup, decorating Lily with marker, and slathering Vaseline, lotion and chapstick on herself.
What’s a mom to do? Invest in stock for Magic Erasers? Eat chocolate? Blog for sympathy and eat more chocolate? [Done.]
My sister, Danielle, reminds me of a time when Sage was going through a trying phase. I quoted Maria (from The Sound of Music) saying "'When the Lord closes a door, somewhere he opens a window.' Eliza's my window." I feel blessed that right now I have two other open windows.
And moments when the door opens. (I just haven't caught any of them on camera yet.)
(Thanks to Julianna for taking Sage and Lily's pictures!)
14 comments:
I was wondering why cute Eliza didn't make it into the "red shirt" round of adorable pictures. I now suspect either her "pasty white canvas" was still recovering from permanent marker . . . or she was still on the time-out chair!
Oh the pain! I FEEL it with you, for you...parenting children (i.e. 3-4 year old girls to be exact) is hardcore hard! Bless the inventor of chocolate and other women who sympathize and listen. Bless goo-gone, wet wipes, paint (to cover a whole slough of wall art), and pretty much every other cleaning product under the sun. Bless mothers and bless (PLEASE bless) children like Eliza--and Eden. Amen.
Hmm, I guess I can't complain much about my toddler who likes to unroll tp and empty kleenex boxes and bookshelves and "inventory" the contents of my fridge/cupboard/medicine cabinet every time I open it. I have to wonder if boys are this "free spirited" and then I have a feeling it could be different, but just as much "fun"
well, here's some sympathy--at least eliza's not teething on top of it all!!!
Oh, the joys of mothering!! I'm sending tons of empathy your way (one LONG day this week I finished cleaning up the cup of juice Dallin dumped and then found red crayon melted in the dryer and all over that load of clothes. But before I got to that, Levi came running in with poop all over his legs and then showed me where it was all over the bathmats, followed by Ella spilling nail poish she wasn't supposed to have all over a favorite blanket. I got to the dryer eventually.)It's so good to know I'm not the only mother who has long days and wonders what to do with my kids sometimes!!
Funny, I was just looking through old blog posts from over a year ago when Tucker was into EVERYTHING. . . and laughing that I had already forgotten how busy he used to be! These "phases" are hard to get through on the day-to-day basis, but they really do end and then don't seem so bad. Did that make sense?
That Eliza is so full of it- she'll be a great leader in the future. Just think of all she can do with that energy and creativity!
Hang in there. . .
(is this the longest comment ever yet? Leave it to me!)
Eliza has a real knack for mischief. They talk about "busy" kids, and I always thought Jacob was one, but Eliza gets "busy" with permanent marker and things like that. I laughed about the Vaseline/chapstick/lotion excess comment, since while she was here (2 days?) she went through a bottle of soap, a bottle of shampoo, and half a bar of soap singlehandedly! YOU CAN DO IT!!! Seriously, think of how interesting your life will always be with her around. And think of how dang cute your daughters all are, especially your "windows" in those pics.
Don't forget you have a "window" called a sister who is ready to babysit for you anytime! And take you to the cannon center anytime (good thing Spencer doesn't mind me giving away his meals!) Don't be afraid to utilize that window sometime!
Yeah...our kidsour 2 years apart because its right around this time that you need a newborn to remind you how much you love the 2 year old--they are our windows:)
Chocolate all the way. Send me your address and I'm all over it!
I wish I could send you chocolate through the internet.
Free spirit indeed. I loved when S and E were here the other day that Sage kept a running record of E's art project: "She likes to take her time," "She likes to do different things," "E likes to do her own kind of art". And that explains Eliza in a nutshell. She's one-of-a-kind that girl!
Lily is so grown up and cute! It seems Avey is much more like Sage, and Eliza sounds like some of my nephews - bless you for enduring regularly what I cannot even comprehend!
Oh my dear friend - you truly have your hands full with that cute (thanks goodness for that) daughter #2 - I saw it first hand last Christmas and especially when you were here a few weeks ago. Sort of makes you want to have another baby right? :) Hang in there and keep taking pictures so you can show her someday what a stinker she was!
Sounds a whole lot like my #2. 90% of my blog is about that child. In fact I started blogging when he was two for the therapeutic benefits. We have a specific budget category called "destruction" designed in his behalf. Fun stuff! I do have to say, it can be more than a little bit entertaining to see what in the world he comes up with next.
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