I'm a Mom

I'm not going to lie...having two (or more) kids isn't always easy. There are some women who make it look so easy. Their kids are always well behaved. They are cool, calm, and collected. Their hair is perfect, their makeup's done, and there's not a wrinkle in their clothes.

I am not that woman. I'm not saying having one kid was a complete walk in the park. But for some reason, doubling the number of munchkins in the house tripled the stress. Of course, it might just be the 4-year-old. We've hit a phase where every time we get in the car, we're bombarded with "How much longer?" and "Are we there yet?" This is before we've even pulled out of our neighborhood.  And heaven forbid Timothy even look in her general direction (Stop looking at me!!!!) or babble something cute (Don't talk to me!!!!). We're working constantly on sharing since she doesn't seem to grasp the concept that if she wants to play with all Timothy's fun toys, she needs to share with him occasionally, too.

Don't get me wrong. Timothy is not a complete angel in all these situations. He's figured out how to push her buttons for sure. Stop looking at you? Well I'm going to stare you down and maybe even come sit right next to you to bug you even more. Don't talk to you? I'll make even more noise! He's also a greedy little bugger. You can give him something to eat and then get your own. And it's the EXACT. SAME. THING. But yours is much more appetizing. And if you give in and let him have some of yours even though he still has the same thing on his plate, he won't touch it. He'll eat what you gave him in the first place. It's just some twisted test.

But then there are days they are so fun to watch. They play together and love each other and make you so happy that they have each other. They have the best time playing with Lily's kitchen. Occasionally Timothy ends up with the chef's hat, which is the most adorable thing you've ever seen. He pretends to eat the plastic food she assigns him (with appropriate "smack-smack" and "yum") and will even pass her the food she's assigned herself. Timothy will throw balls down the stairs and Lily will bring them back up for another round. Lily will make a fort in her room so they can jump into the pillows and blankets together. Lily will chase Laddie around just to make Timothy laugh because he thinks it's HILARIOUS to see Laddie bolting around, sliding on the wood floors.

Last night, we'd just finished bath time and I was putting on Timothy's jammies while Lily was putting on hers. Timothy and I finished first, so he toddled into her room. And I guess sat in one of the bins from her toy box. It's not very deep...just a couple inches. Just the right size for him to step in with his blanket and have a seat. So Lily gave him a ride back to his room, which he thought was about the best thing ever. They ended up doing this for about 45 minutes. Back and forth between their rooms. Timothy would hop out for a second at the end of each ride and then get back in to go again. Since I was in his room, he would wave until he couldn't see me anymore as they headed to her room.

I so desperately wanted to go grab the camera, but from past experience I knew that once Lily saw the camera, the fun would be over. So instead, I let them have this fun time together...a little sad that we wouldn't have pictures to remember this cute game. But hopefully in between all the "He's touching me!" and "She won't stop looking at me!" moments, we'll have enough of the ride-in-the-toy-bin moments and the play-with-the-dog moments that eventually, the fun times will be the foundation for a close relationship.

I know that for me, it makes it ok that my hair isn't always perfect, there are some days I don't even touch my make up, and yes...I probably have something from a grubby hand on my clothes. It means I'm a mom to two beautiful, loving, amazing kids.