Just a little update about what in the world we're doing these days…
Sometimes I have a hard time knowing what to say about Mylie. This little-getting-bigger-by-the-hour person can infuriate me more than just about anyone on the planet. She’s bossy, indignant, stubborn, whiny and not very introspective. She has horrible listening skills. But there are so many more things about her.
*She’s helpful. If I ask her to run upstairs and grab something for me, she will usually run up and do it immediately… even if I tell her she can wait until she’s done with what she is doing.
*She’s responsible. I can trust her to follow the rules, which let’s me feel good about letting her go ride her bike in the neighborhood or go get the mail for me and other big-girl chores.
*She’s real. She lives 100% on the outside. What you see is what you get. She holds nothing in. Nothing. Ever. Like, no internal monologue. Refreshingly, this means she doesn’t play moody mind games that girls like to play.
*She LOVES to write notes. Every member of our family receives on average about 4 cards, notes or journal pages a day addressed to us. They’re taped to the walls all over our house. They’re on every flat surface we own. And they mostly say the same things over and over with similar pictures. But they’re sweet.
*She is a fantastic dancer. What we love to watch even more than her routines from class are the routines that she makes up. She is constantly choreographing new stuff, and she is amazing at capturing the feeling of each song she chooses. The Tangled Album, Chronicles of Narnia and Pirates of the Caribbean are among her current favorites to choreograph.
*She’s an even better reader. The girl probably reads at a 4th grade level. Unfortunately, her reading far outpaces her vocabulary, so even though she can read most any word, she often doesn’t comprehend it’s meaning. I’m sure they’ll even out soon.
With all this good stuff, I feel bad that I often dwell on those negative things. I wonder why she’s always talking back, and why when I try to sit and have a conversation with her about her behavior she glazes over and immediately asks if she can have a snack or watch a movie. I wonder why at the age of almost six she still fights me about using the bathroom, and occasionally has accidents from waiting too long even when I’ve tried to tell her I know she needs to go. And I wonder why she falls on the floor screaming like she’s dying for what seem to me to be tiny little grievances.
I need to remember, however, that I would feel awfully bad about myself if someone were dwelling on all my negative character traits instead of focusing on my positive ones. It’s so hard as a mom trying to maintain sanity, but I need to give her more” attagirls” and less “what were you thinkings?” And I need to remember that I’ve got a good twenty-four years on her and there’s a lot of learning she has left to do. Even though my Father in Heaven expects me to be perfect even as He is, He doesn’t dwell on it when I fall short. Luckily for me, He picks me gently up and tells me how precious I am. How much more, then, does this sweet, precious and so-grown-up little girl need that from me? Yep, I guess I have a lot of learning left to do too.
Got the “Will This Winter Ever End Blues?” I’ve got a little something that’ll cheer you up! Take a gander at this (and make sure your speakers are on!):
Feel free to laugh at either Oliver or Daddy – whichever you find more amusing. There’s nothing quite as sweet as a baby’s first giggles.
Just a few shots of the homeboys kickin’ it…
This year has marked a big turning point in Mylie’s dance “career”. Not only did we switch studios, but she started on the competitive team. She’s only on the part-time team, which means fewer competitions, but she was the tiniest little thing on a team where the rest of the girls were ages 7-13. And I have to say, I’m pretty proud of her. I’m grateful to her coach for giving her the opportunity and working with her, and I’m proud of Mylie for keeping up and holding her own. Sure, she’s not on a scale with the older dancers, but she knows her job and she gets it done. And she’s darn cute while she’s doing it!
She’s also had to learn the hard lesson that will only become more common if she chooses to continue down this dance path. The challenge of time conflicts. This year one of the competitions was Easter Weekend – the same day as all the Easter Egg hunts! She was pretty upset about not getting to make it to any of her favorites, but it was a valuable lesson in prior commitments and being there for your team.
So for your enjoyment and ours… here is Mylie and the Element Part-Time Jazz Company in “White Stripes.”
Kind of hard to believe, but Oliver (aka Babykins, Baby O, Buddy Bumpkin, Smiley Baby, Happy Dappy Doo, et al) is already 4 months and eating big boy foods! He got his first taste of green peas tonight, and well… it was, eh… fun. He was mostly just interested in sticking the bib in his mouth, and the peas seemed to get in the way of just chewing on the spoon. Sometimes I forget how much work feeding a baby is! But man, take a look at those eyes and feel yourself just melt. No?
The first tastes... interesting...
Yeah guys, ya know... I'm not really so sure about this... Maybe sweet potatoes next time?
Actually, it wasn't that bad! I could do that again... 
Baby O was a tough customer when he arrived. Not the worst baby, but he was rather…eh… high maintenance. He couldn’t be set down. Ever. At all. We could sometimes get away with a swing or a bouncer. But in general it was in a grown-up’s arms or it was a meltdown. And I mean meltdown. The lungs on that kid could get the neighbor’s dogs going.
And then there was the sleeping… Once he got to sleep he would do a pretty darn good job of sleeping for long stretches. Crazy long sometimes. But the going to sleep was like nothing I’d ever experienced. I would nurse and rock and bounce and he just kept fidgeting and flailing and generally staying awake. Sometimes for up to five hours. And in the early morning feedings, he would sometimes do the same thing for hours at a time, not going back to sleep.
About eight weeks in, I discovered the super swaddle. Not any contraption… no, just the technique of straight-jacket swaddling him so that he was so tight he felt totally secure. We had tried swaddling from the beginning, but I ramped it up a bit and became super consistent. That seemed to do the trick. If he’s allowed to wave his hands around (which he will do at full tilt in all waking hours) he will not go to sleep. But if they’re extra secured, we do okay. And in the middle of the night, I figured out that I can’t lay down to nurse him. Nope, got to swaddle, and sit in the chair. If I do that, I can often be back in my cozy bed within about 20 minutes… which beat the heck out of lying in bed with an agitated baby for hours.
Once we figured each other out, life has started to get good. Oh, that and… he found his thumb!! I mean, seriously… the whole self-soothing ability has gone from non-existent to top-notch almost over night. We love thumb suckers in this house! So now, our little high-maintenance man has turned into kind of a cool kid. And when you throw in his killer grin, he just about knocks your socks off. See for yourself…
