If I could only blog from my head, I would have written Maren at mid year months ago. Alas, here is Maren at mid year plus three months. Sister is almost three!
Maren is pretty much fabulous. She is smart, funny, adorable, and charming. She can be stubborn and occasionally loses.her.shit. There is no other way to describe that horrendously awful but luckily extremely infrequent behavior. Let's just say she did not particularly care for going to Annie's soccer this fall...
She is both very independent (likes to do everything by herself from putting on her seatbelt to getting dressed to whatever other task needs to be done) and very dependent (still loves to nurse, likes to hold my thumb while sleeping, wants to hold hands, etc.).
She is a love monster: hugs, kisses, holding hands - constantly. She definitely has the best laugh in the house.
We switched speech therapists and she has, within the last month or two, finally (I think) made it to the other side of her speech problems. She talks, talks, talks all day long and is quite humorous. She talks rather slowly and precisely (often indicative of apraxia), and she thankfully has the patience to repeat herself when needed. I have noticed more and more that people outside our family can understand her.
She love, LOVES Annie ("my sister"). Annie is such a beyond-wonderful big sister, but truly, Annie benefits because Maren is, well, FUN! They play very nicely together almost all the time and Annie lets Maren tag along. I did notice lately that Annie gets ahead of Maren when Annie is playing with her friends. Annie doesn't tell Maren she can't play, but she does run faster, swing higher, and leave Maren yelling, "my sister!" and running behind. It's pretty much the same sad tale that all little sisters can tell.
She still loves blue, wants to be a dancer (she saw a picture of Annie at ballet at age two and said, "I already two-half. Time me go dance class."), is tough in a likes-snails-and-playing-outside kind of way, and adores mermaids.
We read Slim's Table in my masters program and we talked a lot about qualitative research in my nursing program; i.e. the lived experience. And, here, I present the lived experience of parenting young children:
Maren carries big bottle of apple cider vinegar out to the car, where I am bringing in the groceries. "Drink. Drink. Blue cup." Interestingly, this is the second time she has asked to drink vinegar this week; the first time she wanted to drink it out of a little packet that you can squirt on sandwiches. So, I said, "yes, sure, Maren. I don't think you will like it but you can try it." So I find the blue cup and pour a tiny bit in there. Maren is so excited she can't even stand it. Annie comes in and says, "is Maren having a special drink?" She starts crying because she wants a special drink too. So I explain that she probably won't like it but she can have some too. So I pour some for her. They sit in their special double Jaguar chair in the garage with their special drinks. Annie takes one sip and pours it on the floor. I explain that you shouldn't pour your
drinks on the floor, even if it is in the garage. Annie gets a towel to wipe it up and leaves the towel on the ground. I explain that she should
So, if I think exercise is important, and I tell you that exercise is valuable, then I should GO FOR A RUN. This is what will make me happy. Just a totally random example, obviously... :)
But sometimes what I think is not even in harmony with itself, causing some problems. For example, I think that babies should be at home with their moms, but I also think that women should be able to have successful and fulfilling careers. When I was a new mom, a few people told me that they were not surprised that I went back to work because I was a "career person." This was interesting to me because I did not feel like a "career person;" I felt like an "I want to stay home with my baby person." To be clear, I went back to work when Annie was a baby because we needed the money.
At the same time, as Annie and Maren got older, I learned that working has non-monetary value as well. I think working keeps me interesting and engaged in the world. I never feel like I need a break from the girls because I always appreciate the time with them. I also seem to do better (health, money, organization, etc.) when I am busy - even in college, my best semesters were the ones when I took 18 credits.
So, in conclusion, I need to work and make some money; but I also want to work. In my dream world week, I would love to work 20-25 hours at a job that is personally fulfilling and pays me fairly, volunteer a few hours, play with my kids after school, and have flexibility.
Enter A New Career. I have been extraordinarily lucky in my career because I have had jobs that felt more like true callings and I have been exposed to a ton of different, satisfying experiences. My concern has been My Next Job, which would look something like this: $60K, a rigid ~50 hours a week including nights and Events, lots of ass-kissing fundraising, and lots of personnel management, which I hate (oh and I am bad at it as well).
So, nursing. Lots of options that do not involve management. Flexible, part-time options. Decent starting salary. When I leave, I am finished - someone else takes over and I get to just go home. And I get to help people (I had to feel like I was "helping")! Coming to nursing started as a "head" decision as opposed to a "heart" one, but somewhere along the way, it started to feel a lot like another calling. And, yes, isn't it adorable how I am following in my little sister's footsteps?!
A rather long post dedicated to my fabulous five year old.
Dear Annie,
You are of an age that often makes me think, "I wish I could freeze time." I would freeze you exactly how you are right now, but I guess I really wouldn't, because then I would miss all the awesomeness that you are going to become.
Today was your first day of kindergarten! You did so fabulous because you are so brave. I often look at you and think, "oh, yes, I know that girl," because you look like me and you act like me in so many ways. You are careful and thoughtful and you love activities like puzzles and books. Then you surprise me because you are so much braver and yet gentler than me. You are friendly and kind and will try pretty much anything. No, you aren't going to blindly leap from the monkey bars in a death-defying jump the first time, but you are going to quietly try until you can do it too. You are open to adventure.
You like jokes. You have an exceptional memory and your favorite memories usually involve funny times. You also like to hear my "real stories," and I tell you about what I used to be like before I met you.
You are a sensitive little soul and that makes Dad and I extra careful not to hurt your feelings. Speaking of Dad, you love him. L-O-V-E him. You are the two buddies. Of course, he is a cheat. I made you a lovely lunch today for the first day of school and he stuck a note in there: I love you. Love, Dad.
You love Maren too. You are almost always patient and loving with her because it is just so great to have a friend around. And the thing about Maren that we both know is that she is a little crazy but she is very fun.
You are still an almost full-time resident of imagination land. You paint, draw, and dance. We do daily shows that you orchestrate with Maren. You are extremely clever and creative. You absolutely love dance and will be taking jazz/acro this year because one of your top goals of the moment is to learn how to cartwheel.
One of your preschool teachers called you "the Carrie Bradshaw of Christ Methodist." It is true that fashion is one of your passions. You have a very definite style (and you love to talk about "style," as in "Maren has a really good style for being only two"): one that is bright, sparkly, and a wild mix of patterns. You love to shop and lay our your clothes, and you really care about picking out something good. Your new thing is doing your hair. You recently cut bangs. NO!!!! And yes, you and I have spoken on and on about how girls with curly hair cannot have bangs and you have promised you will not cut your hair again. You like your hair down with a center part, and sometimes you (already) hate your curls.
You are growing up so quickly, but you are not all the way there. Today, when you came home from kindergarten, you took off all your clothes, made a big mud puddle in the backyard, jumped in it, played with the hose, played dress up with Maren, gardened (more dirt), picked some flowers and put them in a vase on the kitchen table, had a very sudsy outdoor shower, and read Amelia Bedelia before bed, which had you laughing like crazy. Do you see why I want to freeze you right where you are?!
I did a brief birthday interview with you:
How old are you turning? Five. How does it feel to be five?
Good.
What is your favorite color?
Bright sparkly pink.
What is your favorite animal?
Baby kitty cats.
What is your favorite thing to do outside?
Play water.
Inside? Play.
Who is your best friend? Hannah.
What do you like learning about?
I am interested in snakes.
What do you want to be when you grow up? Artist. What is something you like to do with
Mom? Play with the art box. What is something you like to do with
Dad? Body slams. What is your favorite toy? Girlsey.
Where is your favorite place to go? The park.
What do you love to do? Suck [my
thumb] with blanky in bed.
Do you think you will get married some
day? Yes.Of
course.Laughs. How old do you think you will be when you get
married? I don’t know.You never know how old you will be when you get married.
Are you going to have children?Yes!Of course.
What is one of your kids going to
be named?Sabrina.
What is your favorite food? Blackberries.
Your family birthday party, which you planned down to the very last detail:
First day of kindergarten:
Your birthday video:
It is a joy and an honor being your mom. I love you so much.
What is your dad's name? Chris
How old is Dad? Um, I don't know. Can you tell me? <me: any guesses?> No. <he is 36.>OK. My dad is 36.
What is Dad's favorite food? Steak and bacon.
What is Dad's favorite color? Blue and purple.
What color hair does Dad have? Hmmm. Blackish-grayish. I mean just black.
What color eyes does Dad have? Brown.
What is Dad's favorite sport? Definitely soccer because I do soccer.
Who is Dad's best friend? Conor. BecauseDad and Conor love each other. But Conor is taller than Daddy but they still love each other.
What is something that Dad always says? "See you for the Sunday!"
What is something that Dad is really good at? Definitely sleeping in. Not being late for work.
What does Dad love to do? See us.
What is your favorite thing to do with Dad? Hug him. And kiss him.
What is one way you are just like your Dad? That we both like milk with ice.
What do you love most about Dad? That he is off Sunday and Monday - two days in a row.
What do you do that makes Dad happy? Make him stuff like coffee and do the fish tank for him.
What do you and Dad like to do together? Cuddling.
What would Dad do if he had a lot of extra time? He would spend time with us because he has to go to work a lot.
What does Dad do at work? Make food for the people for the people who come to his work.
What is Dad the best at in the family? Cooking food and cuddling. Definitely. He is really good at cuddling.
What would you give Dad for Father's Day if you could give him anything? A BIG picture of Chris Dog with all of us and all his favorite things.
A secret message directly from Annie: Annie 4 ilove daddy maren is crazy mommy loves u daddy
Well it's been a blog-while, and I've lots to update, but I think today I will keep it brainless. Presenting.... the Barney of baby-big girls - MAREN! She never takes a bad picture - sister can work it.
Making the bunny ears look good:
Her I'm two years old pose:
Classic cousin picture:
Elwood, Annie, look!
Annie's beautiful in this one, but definitely not tuning into the camera like Mare Mare:
Circa Spring 2011: She wrote "Mommy" all by herself and I was over the moon!
Circa February 2013: The girls were outside digging holes in the yard and talking about moles per the usual. I walked outside, saw this, and said, "oh my gosh, I know what that spells!" She thought to write this and sounded it out all be herself! Can you read it?! (Sorry for the sidewaysness - can't seem to fix it.)
Happy second birthday! We absolutely adore you. You are the sweetest and most cuddly little girl. Ever, ever. You are funny and smart; and did I mention cute? Grammie and I were talking about you the other day, and we decided that age two just must be the absolute peak of cuteness, because you, my dear, are the cutest. So, congratulations - it's all down hill from here.
Let me tell you about YOU at age TWO:
You are mostly a pretty good eater. Your favorite food is probably smoothie, yogurt, or berries. You are not a big bread or pasta eater, which I do not get. One time Dad told you that if you didn't stop crying, you wouldn't get steak for dinner. You stopped crying immediately.
You would be potty-trained if your mom would get it together. You especially like to walk out of your room when you are supposed to be sleeping with your pants around your ankles asking to go potty. It is a good little trick because, of course, we can't say no to that.
You were kind of a difficult kid from about 14-20 months, but now you are back to your sunshine-self.
You are a helper. You clean up better than your big sister and you cry if I don't let you carry in the groceries.
You like to "peek." You walk around saying, "peek, peek." This means that you want us to pick you up so you can look at something: pots on the stove, clothes in the washer, better view of the fish tank, etc.
Through some combination of speech, natural progression, and awesomeness, you have vastly improved your speaking skills. You say maybe 100 words and have started putting two words together. You have a sweet little voice that sometimes sounds like a frog-robot. :)
Some sweet speech things: D=G for you (Dada=Gaga). T=H for you (Toby=Hoby). You tend to strongly emphasize the end of words. Walk=Ock with a strong "K" sound. Dog=Ogg. You call Annie, "Aaaa-Eee."
You like "wawa, wawa, wawa." ("OK Mare, got it. Water.") "Iiiii, Iiiii, Iiii." ("Yup, ice, got it.) I appreciate this because I like water with ice myself. I do not appreciate this at 2am.
Sleeping. Oh, sweet sleep. You used a pacifier until about 21 months. You loved it, and quitting was hard. After you stopped using the pacifier, you also stopped sleeping independently. I became your comfort object, and it has been interesting. This is how things go most nights lately: you lay down with Annie in her bed. We have to walk you back into bed around five times. You wake up around 1am and walk into our room (we have taught you to do this with as little crying as possible), ask for milk (answer is no), ask for wawa (ok) with iiii (ok), then coze up with me and go back to sleep. It's not the most ideal situation, but it's the best we can do right now.
Your love the beach. It is so funny because we go so rarely in the winter, but you always know when we are close to it. I guess you see all the palm trees and lack of other trees. And then you say, with more than a hint of desperation in your voice, "beach, peas; beach, peas; beach, peeeeeeas."
You love animals, books, baby dolls, and the color blue. You constantly point out blue items.
As Annie said, when she was staring intensely at your eyes in the bathtub looking at you recently, "your eyelashes are as long as the world." I just love your beautiful brown eyes.
I can't decide about your curls. The hair growing out of your head seems straight, but I don't think we could cut your curls off either. Mysterious and TBD.
Annie thinks you are great. She is fond of looking at you and saying, "we are the best of sisters." And you nod your head. Yup, we are.
That's all I can think of right now. Above all, know that YOU (at TWO) are fabulous. You are happiness and joy and, although I wish you had a speck more middle-of-the-night independence, I am so grateful for our perfect mother-daughter bond. We love you more than words can say.
Mom
In a box:
Dress up and deets:
Your favorite place:
Just love your little face in this one:
You are your sister doing what you do best: making a big mess and being fun:
FAMILY 2012...
#1 most exciting event of 2012 - Elwood is here!!!
Lots of good family time, including two trips to Colorado and three visits by Laura!
Several trips to the springs and time camping
Coming in 2013...
Prioritize correctly and enjoy each other
Spend time with family and friends
Live frugally and pay of debt
Plan for new careers
Start (don't get excited yet) talking about #3
Lots of new babies to love (especially excited for Brian and Jess Jr. and Baby Cook #2)
CHRIS 2012
Two new jobs - Sysco Corporate Chef then J.J.'s
Lots of time underwater:
Broken wrist
Beer brewing Coming in 2013
Being challenged and finding creative happiness and success in his new job
ANNIE 2012...
Learning, learning, learning
Happy, gentle, sweet, little girl
Joyful, loving daughter and sister
First ballet recital:
Made her own best school friends (Sofia and Hannah):
Super student:
Learned to skip:
Coming in 2013...
Kindergarten!!!! (why is that word so hard for me to spell?!)
Learning to read
Second dance recital
Playing some organized sport (I thought soccer but Annie told me that she "heard softball was for only girls" so she wants to play that.)
MAREN 2012...
Learned to walk and then run (I cannot get enough of Maren running with her flapping arms and cute little diaper-waddle ... it is the cutest thing I have every seen and I have a million videos of it):
Learned to communicate almost every need
Sweet, little, cuddle-girl who is so loved:
French braids for that long hair
Coming in 2013...
Expanding her vocabulary seven-fold and putting more words together
Sleeping in her bed, all night, without crying
Stopping nursing
ME
For some reason, it is more difficult to do a bullet point highlight of my year, but it has been a good one. Starting nursing school was obviously the biggest event of my 2012,and becoming a nurse will be my big event for 2013. I feel like my priorities are in the right place, and I am growing into a life I want to lead. This year, I want to make my home and myself more beautiful, show my husband he is loved, and grow spiritually. I'm excited to see what 2013 has in store for the Prevatts.
Oh, and I am going to learn to skateboard this year. Why the heck not?
