An Afternoon with Vesper

This weekend I got to spend some time alone with my Birdy girl. Ever since her little brother came along, she's been a champ at taking everything in stride and being patient with the fact that my time is now divided- and somewhat unevenly since Grey requires quite a bit more attention and assistance than she does. I'm not saying she doesn't have fits occasionally, but she never had an jealousy issues, and has really taken to Grey. In fact, she has grown into quite the little helper.

This week, Grey hit a strange growth spurt and has been teething so he needed me a lot. I felt like I was constantly telling Vesper "no." "NO we can't go to the park. It's almost time for your brother to eat... again..." and "No, don't play the drums! Your brother is finally napping!" and of course "No. I absolutely cannot play Ring-Around-The-Rosey while I'm holding your fussy brother." Vesper is so smart, and pretty advanced for her age, so sometimes I forget that she's not even 2 years old yet. She has limits and needs that are much more strict that I tend to remember sometimes. She's in between that baby and toddler stage, and sometimes she just needs her mommy. She's a good kid, and I want her to be able to hear "yes" from me as much as possible, so we took the afternoon for some girl time.

We went shopping, got a fancy, nutritious dinner (Happy Meals with chocolate milk are always a hit), and played at the park. She got to ask me alllll the questions she wanted and I answered every. single. one. of them. ("who is that? who is that??" "I don't know honey. We don't know him." "Hiiiieeee!!!" *waves her little hand profusely to the aforementioned stranger* and "Did you hear it??" every time we hear a car, motorcycle, airplane, bird, squeaking wheel, cicada, etc etc) I got extra hugs and lots of hand holding and made sure to make lots of contact with those big, beautiful, blue eyes.

It was so awesome to be able to focus on just one little person at a time. My little girl is flying toward her second birthday- and then flying towards being a teenager, then moving out of my house forever. Okay, maybe I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, but still- the point is that in reality, we have such a short time with our kids. I want to take hold of every opportunity that I can to spend time with them one-on-one, face to face, and really pour into them.

Today it was fast food and swings at the park. Maybe tomorrow it'll be pedicures and sodas to celebrate making the cheerleading squad. And then late night hot chocolate after her recent break up. And someday we'll be sharing a glass of wine, as her babies sleep in the next room. Again, getting ahead of myself, I know. I'm just so thankful for her. I'm thankful that she exists to make the world brighter. And I'm thankful that God thinks me worthy to be her mother. I mean, our little afternoon was for her, but really, I think it was for me too...

xo,
Chels