You Be The Mom: Bits and Pieces: April

A few weekends ago, Christopher and I were walking home from the playground next door. I let him walk on the wall between the sidewalk and the school parking lot, forgetting how high it gets toward the end. By the time I realized it, I couldn't reach him to get him down. He was doing fine, though, until he got distracted by who knows what. I saw his foot coming over the edge. I broke his fall, but he still ended up on the ground. He was screaming, I was shaking. He didn't hit his head. He was totally unhurt, actually, just scared. That made two of us. This is one of my continual struggles as a parent. Where is the line between letting them explore and keeping them safe? I feel like I say "be careful" way too much. But then I let Christopher walk on a wall and he falls off. Oof. Parenting, huh?

I feel like this month flew by after our England trip. Seriously, I know I write stuff like this all the time, but how is it nearly May? How??

Christopher has been calling everything by its color instead of its name - my red, more white, your green (hat, sour cream, jacket). It's pretty funny. More importantly, though, he can say his name now! No more fa-fer. He is still being a stinker about his naps. I am hoping if I just stick with the routine of putting him down he'll start doing it without a fight eventually. (Right? Right.) I am also thinking about the P word. That's potty training. So far he is not interested at all, but that could change. (Right? Right.) I am just going to put the little potty in the bathroom without comment for now.

Clare has started reading! She is very good at sounding out small words. It is fun watching her work it all out. Clare has been enjoying telling people about her trip to England. She only has about six weeks left of school. I am both excited and scared for summer vacation. We already have several things planned, though, and she is doing gymnastics and soccer and swimming. She also wants to take ballet, so I am looking for a class for her. We will hopefully be spending a lot of time at the park playing and picnicking with friends.

We've started having family movie night on Friday nights. So far, we've watched "Frozen" and "Mary Poppins." The kids loved "Mary Poppins." I was happy, because I loved that movie when I was a kid. I am not sure if we'll manage a movie every Friday. In fact, we skipped it last night because of other plans, but it is a fun tradition nonetheless.