My Daughter the Chipmunk

When a baby goes from sitting/lying in one place, to crawling around the house, life changes dramatically. I vacuum and sweep everyday to keep yucky stuff off the floor but Lily finds stuff anyway. The first several times I picked her up to feed her after she had been crawling around I had to sweep out debris that she had tucked in her cheeks!! The first couple of times she balked at having my finger stuffed in her mouth but now she sits and patiently waits for me to fish out the paper, or unidentifiable rubber piece, or, the worst one ... a piece of broken ceramic!?! She doesn't swallow this stuff (thank God!) - she just pockets it in her cheek like a little chipmunk. This too shall pass ... too quickly I am sure ... in the meantime her Angels will be working overtime.

Saturday Night - Not My Loneliest Night

Saturday nights are "cuddle bunny" nights for me and the six year old. She misses sleeping with Mommy and only recently moved into her own room for the first time in her life. Before that she was sleeping in a twin bed next to my bed in the same room. Some might think that is weird but it has saved our sanity and kept us close during the very rough time of the separation and divorce that started in the Summer of 2008. I am being stricter with the baby. She sleeps in her crib - which I love - for most of the night. I don't mind sharing my bed ... another advantage of no spouse - more room in the bed - and MUCH easier to breast feed!

This is my precious "me" time - after both kids are asleep, if I manage not to go to sleep WITH them, I get about an hour of uninterrupted focus time. The trick is ... staying awake while the girls go to sleep so I can take advantage of this precious time. Okay enough of this blogging stuff. Next on my list ... thank you notes.

School Mornings

Why is it that mornings must be so difficult? My six year old is not a natural morning person. If she had her way she would stay up till midnight and sleep till 10. As it is we start our bedtime routine at 7pm at which time she takes melatonin to help her go to sleep. Even with all this, the mornings are a challenge for us. On the other end of the spectrum is my 8 month old who likes to wake up between 5 and 6 every morning. Now, don't get me wrong, I find being a single Mom does have advantages - no back seat driving (other than "cool, this is like a roller coaster" when we drive across high overpasses), no one wanting sex when I don't want it, naming my child whatever I want without argument ... but there are some mornings when a second set of parenting hands would be nice. For example, Thursday was Epiphany and so the kids had to wear their dress uniforms. Since reading the book "Olivia Saves the Circus" Nevi has decided that her dress school uniform is "BORING" - just like Olivia's. She was mostly dressed (after 30 minutes of coaxing) and it was down to the shoes and socks. My darling girl has forever had this thing with her feet. It may very well qualify as a Sensory Processing Disorder because you would think there were nails being poked into her feet for all the crying and screaming she starts to do because her shoes "don't feel right." THIS is when a spouse would be helpful because while the trauma with the shoes is happening I am also trying to make a lunch, take care of the 8 month old, and get us, and all our STUFF, out the door and into the car pronto Lopez, because, we are, of course, running LATE. *sigh* It takes everything in me not to lose my temper at this point - I breathe in and out - find my happy place for just a brief second - and try again to help her get her shoes on ... it doesn't work. She melts all the way down. I say (trying a new tactic) "If you don't go to school you will spend the whole day, in your room, with no t.v. shows or computer games." Seriously, as a kid, you are not sick, you just hate your uniform and the shoe thing is really bothering you, but would YOU opt to stay home under those circumstances??? Yeah, I didn't think she would either ... but she did ... the gauntlet was thrown and now I have a black eye. In that moment, if I could have tag teamed another parent to step in and try where I failed, without fear of recrimination or accusations of bad parenting, it would have been really really nice.

But the reality is ... there is no backup - it is Mommy or nothing.

Congrats to me on Post #2 ... I am going to go and research more about Sensory Processing Disorder because it would explain a lot about some of the things my six year old experiences and is (from my brief introductory research on the subject) "often confused with ADHD." Interesting ... I love the internet, don't you? Checking this out: www.spdfoundation.net

Inspirations of 2011

Blogging. Lots of people do it and have fun with it. I have been thinking about writing ... more than in my personal journal ... taking the leap and sharing my insights, experiences, frustrations, joys, tears, laughter, and whatever else is tickling my fancy with someone other than myself and God. Don't get me wrong, God is a great listener but it is time I expanded my horizons and shared my little piece of Heaven on Earth with others.

The name of this blog ~ Love in Daisies ~ is not about having sex in a field of daisies - not that there is anything wrong with that - No, the name for this blog comes from a deeply moving spiritual experience I had in my teen years. As part of a youth church retreat weekend called "Happening," we were awakened by the counselors with singing, orange juice, and white daisy flowers. It was in this moment that I understood that Love is everywhere and in everything ... thus, Love in Daisies became my personal and unique reminder that Love is all around all the time ... all we have to do is look for it and there it is ~ from the smile on my daughter's face to the simple beauty of my favorite flower, which, you guessed it, is a daisy - dark red daisies to be exact.

Well, this wasn't so hard so I will come back and write more again.

Happy New Year everyone ~ May 2011 be all that we wish for and more than we expect it to be.