The Delaney and Waylon Diaries

Ciao, NaBloPoMo!

Last year, on the last day of NaBloPoMo, I wrote a wrap-up post that highlighted all of the very meaningful, insightful and delightful posts I'd written that month (ahem, play along OK?). This year? There's just not enough interesting stuff to cover so I'm skipping it. I'm just proud to have made it through a second NaBloPoMo without missing any days. I guess I still have some stick-to-it-ness left in me and it's great to learn that again. Will I do NaBloPoMo next year? Hmmmm. If raising two kids at once hasn't killed me by then I might consider it. How does the old saying go? "That which doesn't kill you only makes you a better blogger."

Dance (or wander off stage) like no one's watching

Delaney has her first dance recital this weekend, which totally cracks me up. She's 2 1/2 and she's in a recital? What kind of over-the-top-uber-mommy makes her kid take part in a recital at such a young age? But it's not about overachieving, I assure you. Or, so I thought.

She's in the "older 2s" class in her preschool and kids in that class are eligible to take dance class. She expressed an interest so back in September I enrolled her. It's adorable beyond belief to watch her demonstrate the steps (both ballet and tap) that they've learned in class and to hear her recite aloud exactly what she's doing with each step ("Pleeee-AY, relllllll-AAAA-VAY! Shuffle, step, shuffle, step.").

Both family and friends are attending the early-morning (9am!) recital this Saturday and everyone's said they can't wait to watch the two-year-olds performing their dance routines. I guess the recital's been on my mind a lot lately because last night I couldn't stop dreaming about it. But in my dream Delaney refused to wear the assigned costume. She wouldn't dance and kept leaving the stage to chat with me or my mom or her cousins and she completely disrupted the entire performance. I woke up stressed out and worried that that could happen. But then it hit me. What on earth is up with that? When did conformity and compliance become paramount as characteristics that I expect my two-year-old to display?

What if Delaney does deviate from the program? What if she causes a ruckus? So what! The last thing I want is to start expecting--even demanding--from her "socially appropriate" behavior at the tender age of two. There'll be plenty of time for that later, trust me. Kids rarely get to be kids for long these days what with the technology we shove in their faces practically from birth and with the high standards we set for following directions and going along with the crowd. I understand the importance of teaching respect for authority figures and listening to teachers and parents. But why can't we let kids go their own way, at least for the first few years of their lives, and let them be truly and wholeheartedly who they are? Because who they are--amazing little people who are comfortably lacking in any worries about what other people think--is terrifically beautiful. That special brand of indifference to what other people think is exactly what I want to engender in my young daughter.

So if Delaney decides to go her own way on Saturday, or if any of the kids do, I'll applaud them. I'll silently beam with pride at the little souls who haven't yet learned to stifle themselves just to please a crowded church hall audience.

Wordless Wednesday

More Wordless Wednesday here.

Well my mama told me, there'd be days like this

It is days like this--when I pick my daughter up from preschool and she's barely had a nap (if she even had one at all) and she starts to do that two-year-old thing where she goes kind of nuts and it makes me all kinds of crazy--that I wonder how I'll ever handle two kids at once. I swear, our after-preschool afternoons that last only from 3pm until daddy gets home at 6ish are more difficult for me than our day-long marathons with each other. It must be the no-nap (or short nap) thing. I can't fathom how I'll handle afternoons like this when I have a newborn too. Then again, maybe it's just tough now because I'm so ridiculously huge, tired and slow-moving. Maybe after the baby's been here a while and I get my energy back and we all get into a routine it'll be easier. And maybe, just maybe, monkeys will fly out of my butt.

The problem with putting the tree up this early

The tree is up, right? So, Delaney thinks Christmas is NOW. She threw a hissy fit this morning. She pulled shoes and a jacket on over her pajamas and announced, "I'm ready to see Santa now! Let's go!" I diplomatically explained to her that the visit she sought wasn't on our agenda for today but you'd have thought I told her there would be no Christmas this year at all. Of course a trip to the mall for the obligatory Santa pic is on my to-do list but we just couldn't fit it in today. Try telling that to a determined preschooler who associates the sparkly tree in our dining room with an immediate visit to or from the big man himself. Oh, yeah, big tears were shed.

Getting a head start on the holidays

Like Cathy, we've never put our Christmas tree up this early in the season. But, with new baby on the way (arriving December 28 unless he deviates from the plan) I'll want the tree down and boxed up before we leave for the hospital so I figured the sooner we get it up, the longer we (especially Delaney) will have to enjoy it. I don't have any photos of the decorated tree yet but I can tell you that it was at  once a joy and somewhat frustrating decorating the tree with our ever-eager two-year-old. She doesn't quite grasp the concept that most of the ornaments are breakable and she kept wanting to pull them off of the tree right after putting them on. Still, the joy of the moment far outweighed the frustrations and we had so much fun watching her delight in her participation in this tradition for the first time. I can't believe that next year her little brother will be at her side, crawling (or possibly even walking) around the tree, trying to grab at the ornaments himself as he looks forward to Christmas and his first birthday.

To the boy in my belly

I always thought I'd be a mother to girls so I was surprised when I learned you're a boy. It caught me off guard at first but as I learn more about you through your rhythms and your movements I'm so excited to meet you and be your mom. I can't wait to see if you're anything like the patterns I feel in my belly. You wiggle and twist a good part of the day but you have your quiet moments too. And, you're gentle. The only time you've kicked me hard was recently when your sister put her hand on my belly. It was if you knew that was her and your swift karate kick told her, "Sis! Here I am. Wait for me! I don't want to miss any of the fun!"

I can't wait to hold you, to see you, to know you. Will you have your dad's eyes? Will you be rambunctious or timid? Will you remind me of your sisters or your brother? Or will you add a completely new dynamic to our family?

No matter who you are, I know that you'll be, "...everything I never knew I always wanted."*

* This line's always stuck with me - it's from some silly Matthew Perry/Salma Hayek movie I saw years ago, but so fitting for my little man.

Grateful

For a happy, hectic, safe and hearty holiday with family. Hope yours was good too!

Wordless (wall-less?) Wednesday: transformation of a sunroom

More Wordless Wednesday here.

Hormonal rage

I'm definitely under the hormonal influence and lost it several times tonight in addition to feeling that horrible, unexplainable, inner rage I've only felt one other time in my life - on and off for a few weeks after Delaney was born. I felt totally out of control tonight and all I could think was, "Uh oh. I'm not even post-partum yet."