Cohen: Lego in the morning sun.
Emerson: She climbs on to the dining chairs in order to play with the contents of the table.
I have been feeling a weight that I couldn't shift recently. An annoyance, I am sorrry to say, at my beautiful children and the phases they are going through that I am finding difficult. Four year old Cohen, who is mastering lying and argues like a politician, and stole for the first time this week. One year old Emerson, who has taken to throwing tantrums and intentionally hitting her head, whose bruised forehead is an unwelcome reminder. I was finding it really difficult to shake the lingering frustration, as the difficult behaviors were repeated. As I struggled with these issues, I remembered a piece of advice I had once read with regards to mothering. 'Just love them.' It suddenly held new meaning. For while I love them and always will, hearts of my heart, bodies from my body, in order to let go of my frustrations I needed to remind myself to just love them and let the negative feelings go. It has become my mantra this past week and I have been able to be more patient and more imaginative in finding solutions.
As I have reminded myself to just love them, so I have reminded myself to just enjoy them. To stop what I am doing and just play with them, not just wait until I have finished my task. To be silly and make up rhymes when we are driving. To stop trying to get things done quickly and hand the reins over to them instead. To involve them and remember that the little things I take for granted are new and fascinating for them.
Grocery shopping can feel like a tedious chore at times, but for Cohen it is an outing filled with many new possibilities, if only I am open to them. If I slow down and take time I am inspired to give Cohen the coin and the opportunity to get the shopping trolley, to point out each object we need and encourage him to put them in the trolley, to show him how to tear a plastic bag off the roll and fill it with fruit then allow him to do the rest, to hand him my car keys and explain how to turn it in the lock to unlock the door and congratulate him when he manages it.
They are only little for so long.
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Two of my favourites from last week - Thrifty Gifty and Picking Wild Mountain Berries
