The Agony and the Ecstasy

Tonight at bedtime, Millie grabbed my hand.  Then she pretended to write on it and touched each finger. Then she said, "This book is jus' fuh you. It says I love you Mommy. It will neve' wash off no mattew how many times you wash it. Whenever you feel sad you can put it on your heart and know that Millie loves you."

Wow.

How do you go from that to wanting to rip your hair out and yell at her for not going to bed after the 5th or 10th trip into her room when she's supposed to be asleep knowing that if she doesn't get sleep she's going to be a nightmare the next day for herself and everyone else- this the dark mystery of parenthood.  Sigh.

The Ecstasy and the Agony all wrapped up in one bedtime.

*

Burping

Millie:  (Burp) Oh. Excuse me. I burped.
Mommy: I see.
Millie: Hm. I think I deflated. (Holding up her shirt)- Look Mom! I deflated like the puffer fish in Nemo!

Millie Moments

It has been a while since we've posted and Millie has been amazing as usual.  It all comes so fast and fabulous that I can never seem to get it into the blog fast enough.

So without much preamble or preparation, I would just like to share a couple recent moments:

1: Millie's grandparents are visiting and it's been wonderful watching Millie and Joy have such a great time with them.  Sadly, they'll be headed home this afternoon and Grandma and Grandpa are a little sad about that.  
Grandpa said to Millie, while holding Joy in his arms:  Millie,  Can we take Joy with us?  Please? 
Millie: NOoooooo. Mommy made her in her tummy- she's OURS.  She's not a Valentine to give away!

2) While leaving for work two mornings ago:

Mommy:  Bye Millie. I'll miss you.
Millie:  I'll miss you too mommy.  Don't worry- our hearts will be together forever.


3)  Millie has reached the age of bad dreams.  So sad, when you rush in the room and her cheeks are all wet with tears.  A few nights ago, I went in as she woke up wailing.

Mommy:  Millie- what is it?
Millie: Mommy it was my dream.  It was so scary.  (She told me what it was but I've already forgotten).
Mommy:  It's ok. It was only a dream.
Millie: Mommy, sometimes I have bad dreams and they make me sad. Sometimes I just need a little bit of couwage. 

Oh Millie-- you have more courage than most people I know. 

Dear Millie

Dear Millie,

You just turned 4 years old.  I have not blogged much recently because you have kept us quite busy.  It has been quite a challenge for all of us.  You have heard "No," quite often and exasperated sighs and occasionally louder moments of frustration.  Three was a tough year.  But, I am starting to see the light in the distance... the warm glow of reason and cooperation returning to your brain.

I thought this might be a good time to let you know that although it has been challenging, we have had some really truly wonderful moments that I wanted to share with you.

Tidbits I:


I LOVE the fact that you giggled out loud in your sleep the night after your 3rd birthday party. You loved the Great Zucchini. 

This year at your 4th birthday gymnastics party, you let them lift you 20 feet into the air on spotting ropes.  You are soo brave!!

You are an outgoing little firecracker who is kind to the quiet kids: At the playground the other day Milie was playing with daddy but there were no other kids. Eventually another daddy arrived with his 3 year old daughter and Millie, who had never met this girl before, ran up to her with arms wide open, yelling, "Hoo-wayyy! My fwiend is heah!!" Although she was ready to tackle this stranger with a hug, the little girl was not sure. "Don't worry," said Millie, "It's just me- Millie. I'll give you a minute."

You love sitting and looking through books for 20-30 minutes at a time... then will hop up and run and dance around like a wild child.

I love that you cheer for the other kids in gymnastics class louder than their own parents.

I love that you laugh easily and love to make others laugh.

If you want to get us to laugh you'll get a ribbon and wrap it around your forehead and sing the theme to Rambo (Dad taught you that).


You dubbed your grandparents "Grandma-Honey" and "Grandpa-Honey" because they always are calling each other Honey.

I'm amazed by how you memorized entire magazines and books word for word.

At 3 years old you were amazingly creative and you will create entire fantasy worlds and give everyone you encounter a role: "Step-muddah? Where are you? It's me Cinda-wella"

I love that you appreciate the great outdoors. You have walked outside and said, with a big sigh and with arms wide open, "What a wonderful refweshing day!"

We love that you love your babysister so much that kissing her is like eating a potato chip for you- you can't have just one. You kiss her head, her cheeks, her toes, her elbow-- anything you can get to before she starts fussing for some personal space. If she's fussy, you try to get her to laugh or frantically try to find a toy for her.

You have so much energy that you RUN every where you're going-- even if it's 10 feet. Sometimes if there's a long way to get there, you'll take it just so you can run farther.

Happy or sad- you live passionately.  It is my goal to encourage your joie de vivre without smothering your passion.
 
Dear Millie, thanks again for choosing our family and sharing your joy and passion with us.
 
We love you.
 

Laugh Factory

Millie has so many funny quotes these days I can't write them down fast enough.  Here is just a sample of magical thoughts and fun with words.

Most recently we've been playing music with Pandora. You can build a great station by putting in your favorite artists.  She often asks who's singing and her response just demonstrates what a magical world she lives in.

For example:
Answer:  Kenny Loggins.  Millie: Wow a log is singing that song?
Answer: Jewel.                 Millie:  Wow, a jewel is singing that song?
Answer: The Beatles         Millie: Wow, a group of insects sings that song?


Daddy:  Millie, sometimes things change based on different circumstances.
Millie:  Really?  Why would circus dances change it?  I can do all kinds of circus dances.  See!


Millie: Diego hidded the treasure.
Daddy:  Hid. Diego hid the treasure.
Millie: Yes. Diego hid the treasure. He is very good at hidding.

The Great Debater

Millie has a lot to say... all the time.

Funny enough, I remember when she was an infant, I actually considered getting her hearing checked because so many babies her age were babbling and cooing all the time but she wasn't.  She was happy. She grinned and lit up if you talked to her but no response.

I had a friend who said, "Don't worry. Be grateful. When she starts, you probably won't ever have quiet again."  She was right.  Millie keeps a running commentary going constantly.

Millie:  Good morning Joy! I missed you so much! I love you so much! Did you have nice dreams Pocahontas yelled happily as she wan down the hall (yes she narrates her narration).

Yesterday I tried to get her to walk quietly past the babie's room while the baby napped.  On and on she kept talking.  "Shhhhh!" I kept saying, "The baby is sleeping."  On and on she went, "That's wight. We should be vewy quiet. Joy is sleeping. When will she wake up? I want huh to play wif me. When is she going to wake up..."

Finally,

Mommy:  Millie.  Can you stop talking for just one minute please.
Millie:  No.  God wants to hear what I have to say.

Well how do your respond to that?  We're not particularly religious and Millie has been to church maybe 3 times so I don't know where she came up with such an idea.  But at the time, I thought it was such a deep thought that I couldn't argue with that.  Later, I thought I could have told her that sometimes you need to be quiet to hear what God wants to say to you... but I didn't think of that then. She sure keeps me on my toes.

Lessons from Elmo

Millie doesn't watch Sesame Street.  She gets bored with it after 15 minutes.  Yesterday, however, we went to a Sesame Street Live show and she LOVED it. The songs, the lights, the talking vegetables.  She laughed and clapped. At bedtime she said, "Mommy! Did you see the talking cheese!" and laughed again until she ran out of breath.  Here I thought that most of these things were targeted to older kids who could remember it. I only bought the tickets because someone else was going with their 3 year old.   Somehow I had bought into the notion that unless the child will remember the event as an adult it isn't worth doing. My earliest memory is at age 4.  Millie is 3 1/2 years old.  The truth is actually that many of these things are most enjoyed by the 3-7 year olds.

We had a child entertainer come to her 3 year old birthday party.  When I booked him, he asked how old the kids would be.  I said, three years old.  He said, "Good.  By  6 years old they're already too sophisticated for my kind of goofy humor."  It was low tech, very silly and he had them in hysterics for 45 minutes straight. Every single kid.

I thought we were bringing Millie to the show to learn about healthy habits in a fun way.  I guess I also learned a lesson too-- Don't wait.  Go have fun with your kids today.  They'll love it now while they are young enough to dance and jump around with giant puppets.  You will have a blast too and maybe, just maybe, you'll both be left with a lifelong wonderful memory.  You never know.