Friday Family Fun

Today is Friday, and that means it’s almost time for “Friday Family Fun” at our house. Each Friday night, we have family game or movie night. We take turns being the person who picks the activity. Last week, Emma chose to play Animal Bingo. This week, Lily is up to pick, and she’s having fun keeping us all wondering what we will be doing tonight. Like many two-year-olds, she changes her mind every few minutes. It’s all part of the fun. I love that we have this time, not because I want to play Candy Land or watch Barney one more time, but because I am thrilled that the four of us look forward to hanging out together. I know that the years ahead will bring times when our kids will pick peer time over parent time, but I’m hoping that we can continue some version of “Friday Family Fun” for a long time to come. Along those same lines, I think forward to the years when our girls will date and hope to plan ahead so that they already have their attention, love, and acceptance tanks full and know how they should be treated (and how to treat others with kindness and respect.) Plus, I want each of them to have one-on-one time where they feel like they are so special that we can’t wait to spend time with each one of them. So, each month, we have Daddy / Daughter and Mommy / Daughter dates. Last month, I took Emma to the movie Winnie the Pooh and school supply shopping for our Mommy / Daughter date, and Conant took Lily to Monkey Joe’s bounce house for her first Daddy / Daughter date. Lily was so excited to be deemed big enough to start her dates, and she has talked about it for weeks after. It’s not just for the kids, either. I absolutely love my Mommy / Daughter dates, so grateful that I get a chance to enjoy each of my daughters for the unique, precious girls they were created to be…such a privilege to have special time to focus on each one of them. And the sheer number of pictures C took of Lily at Monkey Joe’s shows how proud he was of his cute little date.

 

All this talk of the girls growing has me ready to share the latest and greatest news at our house: we are almost diaperless. I adore babies, but I feel like I have washed enough diapers and wiped enough bottoms at this point, and I am so proud of Lily’s progress on the potty. I was inspired to train her by Emma, who got her to sit and go on the potty one day when they were pretend playing. A few days later, I started the effort to train her, deciding that if Emma could do it, I probably should, too. Potty training continues to be a task that stresses me out greatly, causing me to feel exhausted and defeated in the early days, but there have been high points, too. Lily loves when we sing her, “It’s My Potty, and I’ll Cry If I Want To” as she sits on the potty, and I can’t help but smile when Conant, Emma, Lily, and I all take turns singing our parts. Life with kids brings such different joys, but they are priceless ones, filled with celebration over poop landing in the right spot, songs that are rewritten to serve purposes like potty revelry, and cheers written for the sole purpose of motivating our kids to learn something new and make them smile while doing it. Lily has been doing so well, and while she was learning to use the potty, she also decided to start dressing herself. Although we have some unintended “Backwards Days,” she takes so much pride in “I do it” that it’s more celebration than sighs. The girls have continued to be great playmates. I love to watch them together and am glad that they play mostly harmoniously after a lot of bickering at the beginning of the summer. We have charts that we do each day, and Lily reminds herself to “Be kind and gentle” and Emma says things like, “I wasn’t having a cheerful attitude, was I?” It’s really helped them start to monitor their own behavior. Though they are still kids and I am definitely an imperfect mom, I am grateful to see how far they’ve come in showing consideration and generosity toward one another.

 

And though I admit to being a tired mama at least part of most days, I also feel like my cup overflows. The girls give me so many warm moments, and I thank God that I was given them to play with on “Friday Family Fun” nights, to take on Mommy / Daughter dates, to cheer on through milestones, and to see them become good buddies. Being a mom has so many highs, including the sound of a child’s glorious giggles and the sight of a triumphant face when a child accomplishes something for the first time. It also has its share of lows, like the sound of siblings screaming at each other over the same toy or the sight of a puddle forming on the floor. Today, I just wanted to step back from the ups and the downs and take a little time to record some of the ways we are enjoying the ride.