The Many Faces of Sidney.

I did this once with Kendall awhile back and wanted to make sure I captured this crazy fun time with Sid as well.  Sidney was the MOST mellow baby under the sun.  God must have known what he was doing, because at that time Kendall was going through the mother of all stages and was quite a handful.  So what should naturally happen when Kendall takes a leap forward in maturity?  Sidney decides to enter the land of the emotional.  This is what I encountered last July and it has not stopped since.  Sidney is a little bit wild, a lot bit mischievous, and VERY full of life.  At times it is utterly exhausting and truly infuriating.  Other times it is a kick in the pants.  It is fun to watch her grow and become such a friendly, fun and happy little girl.  On New Year's Eve, I watched her run screaming through the Brandt's house.  Yes a bit ear piercing, but she was throwing caution to the wind and having a good time.  Last night she introduced herself to a lady sitting next to us in the restaurant and would not stop jabbering.  Again maybe a bit over the top, but she would not have dreamed of doing such a thing a year ago.  

A few things about Sid...DO NOT leave your coffee cup lying around.  She will gulp every last drop.  I have tried to squash this little habit of hers (or at least put a limit on it).  As I recall, I think I was three years old when my coffee habit began.  Yes, I used to get up before the crack of dawn with my Papa (old habits never go away) and we would drink coffee and eat biscuits.  I am quite sure it was 90% milk, but I am also quite certain that I insisted there was coffee in the cup.  Her favorite saying as of late is "Nokay Dokay".  This is how she replies every time you ask her to do something she does NOT want to do.  She is a character.  I am glad to see it, but will also be glad when my sweet, mellow Sid returns.

Happy Face

 Surprised Face

 Puzzled Face

Crying Face 

Angry Face (this actually looks more like the mischievous face I am all too familiar with).

And my favorite,  Sleepy Face

Now for a few random thoughts.  Yesterday afternoon the girls were invited to a birthday party for one of their classmates.  It was actually for a little girl that is right in the middle of Sidney and Kendall age wise.  So both of my girls have been in class with her.  When we showed up, it was predominantly a family party with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  There was one other classmate there.  During the party, I could not stop thinking about what it is like to be a mom and how much you would sacrifice to see your child happy.  You see, one thing I am pretty certain of is that this family does not prosper materially.  Yet this little girls mom made it very special!  In fact, it was one of the most special parties I have ever attended.  It was not over the top in any way, but the love was clear.  Her mom had made cake pops.  When I asked her about them, she said she has never done anything like that and had actually practiced last week.  The mom had placed very special pictures of her daughter on the table.  She had decorated in purple.  When present time came, she set her daughter's chair in the middle of the room and watched her sweet daughter open every gift.  It was clear that she had taught her daughter to:  First find out who the present is from.  Second open the gift.  Lastly find that person in the room, look at them and thank them.  As I mentioned, I do not believe this family has a lot by the world's standards, but as far as I could see they had so much more of what really matters.  She had taught her daughter the most important things of all and had made it a very special day.  It is hard to type into words, but it definitely left an impact on me. 

After the party, I just kept thinking about priorities and what it is like to be a mom.  We want to protect and shelter our kids, but we cannot.  We never want anything bad to happen to our children, but it does.  We want everyone to love them and be nice to them, but they won't.  Instead we try to teach them resilience.  We are there to wipe their tears and bandage their knees and to tell them that they are pretty regardless of what "so and so"says.  After all of these thoughts (and there were many), I was awoken at midnight when Kendall threw up all over her bed.  Kevin cleaned the bed while I laid with Kendall in our bed and comforted her every half hour as she got sick.  While she would sleep in between, I would be up washing bowls, bringing cold washcloths to cool her off and rubbing her back.  Yes I was tired today, but all I kept thinking of is how fortunate we are.