Copying Mommy

Daylight Savings is really a hard scenario to explain to a kid.  The night before we "got an extra hour of sleep" Steve was commenting on how he was looking forward to it.  I reminded him that almost two year olds really don't understand that idea.  He jokingly responded that he would be having a talk with our daughter about Benjamin Franklin and his ideas.  Needless to say, she was definitely up at 6:30 the next morning.

Unfortunately, that trend hasn't changed since.  Our child who usually sleeps until at least 7:30 on the weekends is up regularly at 6:30.  It has really made weekday mornings difficult as well.  Up until a week or so ago, Steve and I would get ourselves up and ready before waking Evelyn up at 7:00 to get her going.  It has been a real eye opener trying to get ready with her up.  I am totally ashamed to say that we have completely given in to her demand for "Marshall videos" every morning as we finish getting ready.  Marshall videos is code for hand me your iPhone so I can watch all of the videos you have saved.

This was really not the topic I set out to write about today, so I apologize for my meandering thoughts.  The point of my story was that this morning Steve let me sleep in a little bit and I was later coming downstairs to eat.  I popped a bagel in and as I was eating, Evelyn as usual asked for a bite.  I ripped her off a piece and leaned against the counter to continue eating.  She looked at me for a moment, reached up and grabbed onto the counter just like I was and commenced to eat just like I was.  It floored me.  And, not that I had never realized this before, I suddenly became immensely aware of exactly how important it is to be a good parent.

Further proof came later this morning when we had to stop suddenly in the car and faced a long line of traffic and I said, "crap!"  "CRAP!  FUNNY!" came the little voice from the backseat.  And with that we officially entered the stage of having to watch what we say from now on.  

A Spontaneous Sunday Adventure

I've decided that if I'm going to be a successful blogger then I need to have more of a direction with my blog.  I think I'll have more to say if I have some kind of theme or purpose to stick to.  So I've been tossing around some different ideas, and I kept coming back to what has proven to be one of the hardest things for me as a parent, especially now that my child is a toddler: how on earth do I keep this kid occupied??  So at least once a month I am planning to post about something we have done in an effort to keep Evelyn entertained.  Hopefully there are others out there who go through the same thing, and this might be helpful!

So, tip #1 for helping find things to do with your kids: use Facebook to your advantage!  Now I know that many times Facebook has the ability to make me feel like a sub par parent when I see some of the amazing things other parents manage to do with their kids.  But there is a way to use it to your benefit.  First, follow/like every museum, historical society, park, etc. within a reasonable range from your house.  I have spent the afternoon brainstorming places I should be following after what happened this morning.  Don't even worry if it is a place that doesn't seem kid friendly, just follow it.  Because what will (hopefully) happen is that the seemingly un-kid friendly museum will announce one Sunday morning that they are having a FREE Pirate Day event for families!

You will read the post and go, "Hey Steve! Brandywine River Museum is having a free event for kids!  Maybe we should check it out?"  And as soon as you say it, you'll start to doubt yourself because your child is not even two yet, doesn't know what a pirate is, can't sit still long enough for you to tie her shoes, and now you want to take her to an art museum?  Don't listen to that voice.  Go to the museum, especially if it's free.  Especially if they don't advertise that it's for a certain age range.  Because there are without a doubt going to be other parents with kids just like yours, who aren't really the right age to be in that museum, and you are just going to smile and laugh as your child gallops through the galleries because she likes the way her feet echo off the floors.  And most people will thing it's adorable, and for the people who are obviously bothered you'll give a little apologetic smile, but you won't feel too bad because, hey, they could have checked the calendar before they went!

And you will have a ball making pirate hats, coloring pirate maps, and watching a perfectly abridged, 10 minute performance of Peter Pan with audience participation opportunities that even your kid appreciates and enjoys!