My Amalie

The other day, Amalie informed me that at ten thirty I needed to take her to the field to play soccer with her friends. I'm not sure where she gets this stuff. Movies? Older brother? I thought it pretty unlikely that she had a pick up game of soccer with her friends. She is only three. I explained that fact and hoped we would be done with it. But since Persistence is a special gift she's been given, the next day she was saying the same thing. I explained that if she wanted to do something like this with her friends, she needed to plan ahead of time and actually tell them. And of course, the next day she repeated the same phrase.

I explained once again that most three year olds are not allowed to just hang out and play games of soccer.

She was quite insistent and I was getting annoyed, since she's been a bit of a brat lately. She is sleep deprived most days, but not for lack of trying. We put her to bed at a reasonable hour, but the setting in which she sleeps isn't ideal. I wish we had enough room to separate her and Noah, because they love to stay up playing for an hour or so. And then in the morning I have to deal with the sleep deprived beast. Bedtime at our house has pretty much been a nightmare. Part of my frustration is due to my expectations that I have worked hard all day trying to be a good mom, so after I put them to bed, it's my time to just be Kate. A replenishing time before I have to wake up and do it again. It's simple in theory, but in practicality, not so much. If Amalie's not getting out of bed, she's playing or fighting with Noah. Doing anything she can, but not sleeping. My patience is just about gone by eight-o-clock at night and so the battle begins. And then in the morning she is grumpy from lack of sleep and I am grumpy from having no replenishment. A vicious cycle.

So, I certainly didn't feel like being a good mom and actually spending time with my daughter, but because of the many desperate prayers I had sent out, I felt a pricking of my conscience that this was a good opportunity to spend some time with Amalie.

"Would you like to play soccer with me?" I asked.

She happily assented and we went outside in the HOT sun (it was noon-ish) and kicked the ball around. As we played, I noticed the outfit she had picked out. She has really been putting together some fun outfits lately. So when we were too hot to play anymore (anout 15 minutes later) I asked if I could take some pictures of her. She happily broke out into pose after pose. It was quite entertaining. I don't know where she gets these poses from!

I was grateful for that opportunity to see her in a different light as an adorable three year old who is living life to the fullest. As I sit and reflect I realize that's the most I can hope for. Good moments. Sweet moments. Moments of reflection and perspective when I realize how much I adore my kids. For some reason, it's always easier when they're sleeping!
And when I really think about it, I think the kids are doing better, making progress. What more can I ask than progression? And (fingers crossed), I think bed time is getting better. We have been a little more loving at bedtime and a lot more strict when they get out of bed or fool around. Seems to be helping. We will see . . . what works now won't work next year . . .but that's the beauty of challenges. It definitely keeps me on my knees.