Just Have to Remind Myself...

....WHY I love my daughter.

That sounded awful.  It was awful.

But before I explain myself I just have to share a quick mommy moment I had yesterday.  And by the way, why does it feel like I'm the only one who has these?  Like I'm the only one who manages perfectly to have every catastrophe erupt simultaneously as if I had planned it that way?  Okay - here's how it went.

The first hour after school is always nuts, but it can escalate to new hights when you have three extra friends plus a mommy over to chat for a bit before soccer practice, which all the kids went to after much scrambling for gear.  Soccer practice was great - sitting in the sun and soaking in the Vitamin D while the boys played soccer and the girls twirled and asked to go potty again and again.  I was feeling pretty good getting my kids out in the sun and knowing that I had dinner chugging along in the crock pot which would be perfect and ready just as we came home from soccer.  It was all going to go just as I had planned.  Then Bitty had the kind of accident where you just remove the undies and wrap them in a paper towel and shove them down in the garbage can under more paper towels and just have her go commando until you get home.  Then Bundle refused to put on shoes as she walked to the car and walked straight through a prickle plant of some kind.  Also, dinner was pork tacos (I'd share the recipe but it wasn't that good) and I didn't realize that somehow the pork "juice" had leaked in the fridge while the pork thawed all day yesterday.  So I get home with a screaming 2-year-old and a tear-stained 6-year-old and the most disgusting mess in the fridge ever.  And as I sat there on the couch plucking 100 minuscule splinters the size of hairs out my daughter's feet and thinking about how to contain pork juice, the other two kids start having little emergencies of their own.  I don't even remember what they were.  My brain couldn't keep up with that information. It was full already.  I just wonder why sometimes the forces of the universe see fit to leap into action all at once.

Okay, enough already.  Back to my daughter.  Lately, it's been the younger one causing me to question my suitability to be a mother.  But I think that might be mostly because she is nearing her 3rd birthday, day by day getting closer.  You know, I absolutely love the terrible twos.  Might be my favorite age ever.  The really rough infant-not-sleeping-and-often-screaming days are gone with just enough of the darling baby-ness left over to be delightful.

And then three happens.

What is happening to my darling baby girl?  She has gone from being sweet and playful, all blond ringlets and squinchy little smiles to spending her days furrowing her brow, shushing me and insisting on doing every last thing herself, despite the fact that she can't actually do any of those things.  And she's mad about it.  All the time.  She even tells me.  "I'm still very mad about you right now."  And she likes to just get ON me, in my lap, across my legs, over my arms, and then roll around and groan.  And kick.  And look miserable.  And moan.  And...and...you know, I just can't even describe the transformation she's made and you can only understand it if you've had your very own 2-year-old angel transform before your very eyes as he or she neared that dreaded third birthday.

Moving on.  I am going to remind myself about her most precious qualities and habits that I adore about her.  I just need a little refresher as to her finer points.

This gal adores the zoo and we spend a lot of time there, much to her delight.  I love putting her hair in little ponies.

We were lucky enough to get some tickets to the Disney On Ice Show with the Toy Story guys.  I was nervous that she'd be scared of the dark and noise, but Bundle spent almost the whole show on her feet shouting and cheering for her favorite characters.  The guests in front of us graciously appreciated her enthusiasm.

After only three short years my baby has just started sleeping through the night almost every night, partly thanks to her big sister who has decided that she likes sleeping with her.  Hooray!!

Bundle is an artiste - she paints her heart out almost every single day.

When she's not painting she dressing up in fabulous costumes.

But it really is painting that she turns to as her outlet - and it often leads to a little self-decoration followed closely by trip to the bathtub.

Need I say more?

Loved this - on our way to the Real game the other night she  zonked out momentarily and apparently quite suddenly, as noted by the straw in mid-suck position.  Luckily she does not take after her big sister and let cat naps ruin her bedtime.

So you can see, there is much to adore about my sweet little gal.  And seeing as how she has spent the day today keeping her undies dry, I'm feeling pretty good about it all now.