I'm not a busy person. But like all things, my children, most especially my sweet daughter, seem to challenge all things I believe in parenting.
Like, I'm of the mindset to homeschool, H is hell bent on attending school.
I believe in lots of unstructured, free range play, H demands structure and busyness. It's like she needs it to thrive in a way I've never experienced.
So when we have days like Mondays where she has swim lessons, gymnastics, and dance class, I'm exhausted, but she's all revved up and ready for more.
As is parenting, I suppose. You want one thing, your kids want another. And I just have to stop and take a deep breath and remind myself that my children aren't me. And sometimes that's a really hard concept to swallow. I mean, I carried them for 40+ weeks in my womb. They were physically connected to me. But when it's all said and done, they're their own little people with their own thoughts and ideas and needs and wants. And they don't always line up with my own.
And that's okay. Because it's my job as a the mom to filter through them all and separate the wants from the needs and take action. And accept that their needs will time and time again differ from my wants. And I can't be selfish enough to enforce my wants just so my ideals can be played out.
I digress.
Sort of.
Today was a busy day. A typical day. A beautiful, wonderful, fantastic day.
The kiddos had swim lessons at 9am. This is good at getting me prepared for when they start school in September. Having to be out the door at 8:45am still has my work out schedule thrown for a loop, since I typically do it in the morning. But we also typically have an extra hour, so I just need to find a new groove, which will likely consist of getting up at 5:30am so I can work out before they wake up. But that takes a lot of motivation...
After swimming we visited one of my good friends who had a sweet baby boy last week. Miss H was over the moon holding the tiny babe, and Mr. B was excited about the pirate bubbles she gave us for his birthday party next month. (WHAT!? How is my sweet baby a month shy of three?!)
When we departed I'd intended to go home and get some cleaning done and do some packing for our upcoming trip, but the kids asked if we could go to campus and play, so per typical, I obliged them. Who can say no to playing when the alternative is cleaning and packing!?
We made a pit stop at home for 40 minutes for lunch and then met my baby sister and the little boy she's baby-sitting for bowling.
I've not been bowling since I've been married, and then quite some time before that. So it was the kids first time. They were totally stoked and it was so much fun just watching them.
We topped off 3 hours of bowling with piano lessons for H, gymnastics for B, and then dinner with Papa and Grandpa J.
H is learning "Do a Deer" on piano, and I obviously think that is awesome! If I thought she'd sit through The Sound of Music I'd make an afternoon of it. But I doubt it. If it were a live show, for sure. So maybe eventually!
I love my kids. I love my husband. I love my life.
And sometimes, okay most times, I have to just bite my tongue and accept that things have a way of working out the way they are supposed to. It's hard some days to let go of my control-freak ways. But Lord knows that when I do, it's all for the better.
I can't force H to not want to dance or do gymnastics or the million other things she's involved in. I could prevent her from doing them, of course, but where would that get me?
So to the momma in me that once said I would never have over-scheduled, over-structured, too-busy kids - well, screw you. You had no idea what you were judging. You had no idea what you were against. Because your busy, busy daughter is awesome. Just freaking fantastic. Even if her needs differ from what your ideals had once been. Because she is perfect. She is ideal. Vivacious, stubborn, high-maintenance and all. She's everything I could have hoped for, even if I had no idea once upon a time that this crazy structured, play-by-the-rules, girl was the one I was meant to mother.
I can embrace anything.
So never say never.
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