2012 - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I know that the old cliche "in the blink of an eye" is true each time I look at my children.  With a new year comes birthdays right around the corner.  Before I know it, my two little ones won't be little at all.  So, this year, I want to soak them up and love them through each stage: the good, the bad, and even the ugly.

The good about Cam right now is that he is so independent.  He can totally do the nighttime routine all by himself.  He showers and dresses all by himself.  The only thing he requests from me is to get his underwear and socks.  Maeve's good comes in those moments when she is acting out her pretend life.  We love to see her cock her baby doll on her hip and tell her baby, "You are heavy today!" and give it a sweet kiss on the top of the head.    With everything she says and does, we realize that we are always on her radar.  That, in itself, makes us want to be extra good examples.

The bad stuff now is really not all that bad.  There is one thing that really sticks out in my mind as yucky.  This is the constant bickering that exists in the evenings between the two of them.  It usually starts in the car on the way home from wherever I pick them up.  The almost six year old picks a fight with his unsuspecting sister.  When I say pick, I mean nit-pick. He will say something like, "Maeve, do you have school tomorrow?" when he knows indeed that she doesn't.  She answers, "Yes!" because she is two and has no need to keep up with the days.  She also says yes because she loves school and she would really like to go everyday like her big brother does.  Then the arguing begins.  Cam will say, "No you don't.  You don't have school tomorrow. Tomorrow is Friday."  Then Maeve will come back at him and say, "Yes! I do, Cam!" And it goes back and forth like that until I stop the madness.  Like I said....bad!  Extra bad for a mother who has spent the entire day with a similar kind of bickering that goes on in a classroom full of eight year olds.

The ugly.  Well, let's just say the potty has been very ugly.  We realize now that potty training with Cam was just about as wonderful as it could possibly be because we have now seen the other side - I am talking record-breaking wonderful!  After seven months of trying just about every trick known, from pee-pee pezz to the potty app, we think we can finally see the light - or should I say - throw in the towel!  (Actually this was the first completely accident free day yet!)  Crossing my fingers that the pack of Pull-Ups I last bought really was the last.

Here's to a year full of it all!  (No, not the diapers.)  A year full of the good, the bad, and even a little bit of ugly.