A Nice Moment

One nice thing about today... we downloaded some new music from itunes, and the kids and I had a great time dancing together. We picked an Imagination Movers song (Jump Up) and as soon as Graham heard it he came running and starting dancing. We ran around the room for a good half an hour just moving. Finally we put on My Wish (our snuggle song) and all laid on the couch together for a few minutes... a nice moment in an otherwise stressful day!

An almost 5 year old drama queen

Emma has always been a bit of a drama queen, but as we approach five, it's getting worse. I think she pretty much cried almost all day today, and nothing major really happened. She has had a rough time lately with expressing her frustration or anger. She immediately begins to cry and flail her arms and whine in a loud voice. Most of the time her anger is over something so minute - like her sock is not on correctly - that if she just told me what the problem was, we could fix it. I've tried telling her to use her words, I've tried time-outs, I've tried pointing out that this is not 5 year old behavior... nothing seems to work. I am now focussing on spending more time with her one on one. Maybe there is more to the issue than is on the surface. Who really knows? With Emma, the problem could be here this week and not next... but at this point, all I can do is continue to try and help her with her anger and learning how to manage it. I think she is struggling with being a little girl and a big girl. She wants the freedom and choices of a big girl, but still has a lot of little girl tendencies. She just doesn't quite know where she belongs. I guess our job is to help her foster that independence and figure out her big girl personality. Here is hoping we are able to do that!

The First Entry

I've been thinking of doing this for months... what a great way to remember those fun little sayings and to just get things in writing. Sometimes the world looks more clear when you write things down. This mothering thing, while extremely fun and rewarding, is TOUGH. It seems one of my children is always going through a "phase" that I'm worrying about. I imagine this will continue for many years to come. Here is hoping I can continue this blog thing pretty well! Hopefully better than I have been with pictures! Enjoy!