The little moments
And now for a post that has absolutely nothing to do with organizing? …
I bet you’re surprised to hear from me on a Thursday! I’m loving my decision to participate in Imperfect’s Live More With Less challenge (as seen here, here, and here), because it’s kicked my butt to purge a lot of unnecessary stuff. But that takes a lot of time — hence the crickets chirping here on the blog, while I madly sort and clean and organize in the background.
So I wanted to take a minute to record some of the little moments that have been making me smile lately, since I feel I never get a chance to properly post about them.
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At naptime, I used to put D down first and then bring C into her room to nurse her and put her in her crib. But lately, I’ve switched things up — since D has been a terrible napper, and would often scream at his door while I was trying to settle C.
So now I rock and nurse C while D stays in the nursery with us, and we quietly sing to C together. He really seems to understand that this is a time to be very, very quiet and gentle, because we want C to get into sleepy mode. Singing his new favourite thing.
We do Rock-a-bye Baby, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Do You Know The Muffin Man? (sung very softly, not the usual rousing way) and Mary Had A Little Lamb. C seems to like it, and I love listening to D doing his best “hushed singing” and kissing his baby sister on the head.
(Plus, he gets to stay up a little longer, which means less time to be crying and fussing in his bedroom while Mommy’s trying to work. Sigh.)
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D and I do special “big-boy” activities together when C is napping in the morning, and it’s one of the best times of my day. Sometimes it’s painting or jewelery-making or a messy science-experiment-y type of art project, but often we bake.
Yesterday, we made chocolate-chocolate-chip cookies for the first time. He is constantly amazing me in how he’s shifting from a hassle in the kitchen to an actual helper.
He puts forward suggestions of what we should make. He knows how to tap the measuring spoon inside the bowl to get everything out. He holds things carefully. He knows that you need to fill the cup up to the top before you dump in the flour. He carefully unwraps the margarine squares and knows exactly what bowl to put them into. He can actually stir a bowl of dry ingredients (A) without it all going on the floor, and (B) well enough that I don’t need to re-stir it afterwards.
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C has always been a feisty girl, and now that she’s 10 months old (NO! I won’t believe it!) she’s getting to be very funny. Darling Husband and I are always laughing as she crawls lightning-fast over to her brother’s miniature table and chairs, hauls herself up, and starts grabbing at his food or glass of milk.
D wraps his arms protectively around whatever he’s eating and says “NO, Sissy!” and she just laughs and bangs on the table, trying harder to steal something. If he unwraps her chubby little fingers from the edge of the table and she plops back down onto the floor, she only takes a second or two to pop back onto her feet and start yanking at his clothes.
Ah, sibling love.
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As much as C seems to bother D and D seems to tease C, we’re getting more and more moments of actual “play” between them. Nothing makes my heart happier than seeing them sitting on the floor together giggling at each other, as they play with something (Tupperware???) that doesn’t seem fun at all.
Sometimes they will get on little giggling fits where they are laughing at each other’s laugh, and I scramble for my phone to record their sweetness.
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C is a Daddy’s girl, and watching her light up for Darling Husband is incredible. Sometimes I feel a little hurt that she might prefer him, but then she has days when she seems to want nothing but Mommy.
Her new awesome thing is resting her head against your chest when you’re holding her. Darling Husband just loves it, because he doesn’t get the volume of cuddle-opportunities as me — with the breastfeeding and all.
When C rests her head on his chest and he snuggles her close, I feel so, so, so grateful that she has such an amazing, loving Daddy.
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This is what I see, every day, but I know there will come a time when these memories will be fuzzy. I feel like I can barely remember D as a baby, and it was only a year and a half ago! When I see pictures of his babyhood, it feels like a thousand years ago.
As C creeps closer to a year old (April 25!) I keep feeling more and more nostalgic for a time that isn’t even over yet.
They’re both just so small. I spend all day, every day with them, and yet it still brings me to my knees when I think about their fleeting tinyness.
Yes, they’re a ton of work and they make a lot of messes, but they’re also amazingly hilarious and kind and awesome little people. I’m taking photos and videos like mad, trying to capture everything, but I just hope it’s enough.
This is a really, really good time in our lives. I know it. I never want to forget it.
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Heather's Handmade Life 