The Mom I Want To Be

I can't believe how much has happened since my last post. We had Halloween events ranging from my work's annual "Monster Mash" community event and trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood for the first time. We had talked about being an Inside Out family for a while (given the new movie that came out, that Kiddo 1 watched most of in theaters and the fact that the first movie is one of the only movies both kids will actually sit through since they usually prefer YouTube). During the Monster Mash event it was easier to just wear adorable (and warm) onesies, so Kiddo 1 was a dinosaur and Kiddo 2 was Sulley from Monsters, Inc. (I even dressed up with him as Boo for a work dress-up day!). But on actual Halloween night I was worried we wouldn't even make it. I had to stop by my parents house after pickup, which delayed getting home, the sun was setting, the kids were cranky, and Hubby was ready to just cancel the whole thing. But I knew I had to make this happen. I th...

Life has been busy as ever for this mom and family of four! After a summer of ups and downs including birthdays (age 5!), loss (my dear uncle), no school, swimming, and very very hot days, we made it to my oldest's official first day of Kindergarten! I was SO nervous for Kiddo 1, not only because he would be moving from his safe and familiar little preschool to a huge and unpredictable new school, but also because we have spent the past several months learning more about his neurodivergent traits. He officially got his autism diagnosis on the first day of school! Lots of good news all around since this allowed us to meet with his teacher and school officials to craft a 504 plan for accommodations that will help him be as successful as he can be. For example, he's got reading and math concepts down but sometimes has trouble focusing. It's been so fun working with him on his homework assignments together (I know, homework, in Kindergarten??) and watching him shine. Despite th...

With June just past, not only did we have Kiddo 1's summer birthday, but we had the 5th anniversary of the day I became a mom (not counting pregnancy, which I do like to count, but this makes it easier to set something official). Wow, five whole years of being a mom. I've gone beyond the four-year "best years of your life" high school learning period. I'm into continuing adult education here! So what have I learned in five years? I'd hardly consider myself an expert after only five years, but I do feel like I've been a mom for a lot longer (seeing as how I've wanted to be a mom since approximately age 4 myself). Here are some things that I have found essential in being a mom of young children (and being a mom in general), that I can impart to others on the same path as me: 1. Patience and empathy are essential. Before I had kids, I never set out to be a certain "type" of parent--crunchy, helicopter, authoritarian, etc. I kind of expected to j...

It's been another whirlwind season as we transition from my last post in winter to today--almost summer. I say almost because technically we're in the middle of spring, but my city only seems to have seven months of hot and four months of cold. We are finally reaching the hot days, though I'm grateful it took a while this time. There have been years where my brother hung out by our old pool in February and there are years where I had to break down and turn on the air conditioner before our usual April 1 date. This year it's been too cold for the air conditioner just yet, thankfully, as the wind seems to keep picking up just in time for cool-ish weekends to punctuate the slightly warmer weekdays. But with the highs in the upper 80s and low 90s starting tomorrow, I think we've seen the last of chilly days (tomorrow is the last time we'll have a low in the 50s as well). It is nice to be able to move out of a "transition period" and firmly into predictabil...

Wow, I haven't posted since summer and it's already a post-holiday chilly winter now! A lot has happened in the past few months as our little world has decided to rebel against the status quo! August: The end of summer brought my birthday, and the worst present of all: Covid. Definitely an immune system rebellion. At least me and the boys got to take cute "Breakfast at Tiffany's" cake smash photos for my birthday ahead of the day. We quarantined for 11 days, with Hubby getting hit the worst (lost sense of taste and smell) me getting it medium, and my preschooler not getting it at all (my youngest only got a drippy nose, thankfully). At least to keep occupied during quarantined life, the boys had fun playing outside in our driveway with kinetic sand, water toys, bubbles, rideable cars, and more. September: School started up at the end of August so we were back to the swing of things by September. My oldest did a bit of a rebellion against school picture day shirts....

"Come on, Barbie, let's go party." It's the end of July, definitely a mid-point of summer. It's a time after summer birthdays and preschool summer camp has ended, and also a time when the weather in our city reaches the triple digits (as in 100-117 degrees). Which means we can't go outside quite as much, but still try to find things to do to keep occupied. There's been a lot of trips to the library for summer reading story time (as early in the morning as possible to beat the mid-day heat), as well as an invitation to a my preschooler's first ever pool party! His classmate invited him to a recreation center outdoor pool, and while it was still hot as all heck to attend outdoors, was made infinitely better once we made it into the water. The challenge, of course, was that my preschooler did not initially want to go into the water. At all. He didn't like the idea of changing into swim clothes (he didn't even really like the idea of me changing i...