Livi’s first day of preschool!

It was Livi’s first day of school on September 15th, and she did me proud!  I had mixed feelings about how she was going to react with dropping her off and not being able to go in with her.  Our school has a strict policy in place that requires the parent to stay in their car at drop off so a teacher can escort them into the building.  I was concerned Livi would question why I was letting someone she didn’t know take her away when we’ve been teaching her not to go with strangers since she was in utero.  Okay, maybe not for that long, but close.  Being that Livi was chosen off a wait list at the last minute, we missed the open house where we would have had the opportunity to meet the faculty and staff.  With that said, I set up a meeting with her teacher so Livi and I could meet her in advance.  Not only did this make Livi and I feel more comfortable about the first day of school, but her teacher was no longer a stranger.

I’d say I need a vacation if my kid weren’t such a trip

Being a stay-at-home mommy to a 3 year old, while rewarding, is more challenging than anything else.  Luckily for me I’ve always had a lot of patience.  Or at least I thought I did, until Alivia turned 3 and started to prove me wrong.  And while there are days I’d like to curl up in a ball, suck my thumb, and cry myself to sleep, most days I try to see the humor in things.  I try to step out of my body as if I were an outsider watching us on TV.  I try to imagine the genre we’d fit it into on each particular day.  For instance, one day on my way upstairs to see what Alivia was doing, I found Vaseline all over her face, neck, clothes and, yep, in her hair.  It was awesome having to scurry to clean her up as we had plans to go out.  Yes, I’m being facetious.  On that day, I’d say we were a comedy; the two of us!  See, I can be easy going.  While “the episode” was rather inconvenient, who wouldn’t have laughed at the sight of their toddler all greased up with that “deer in headlights” expression on their face while mommy repeatedly asked “why would you do this?” as if it could be rationalized.  Seriously?  Of course, I’d take those days over serious ones any time.  In fact, days like those are a break from what seems to be the norm these days.  The norm being Livi doing something she’s not supposed to and mommy having to put her in her room.  If you read, Crying, and whining, and tantrums, oh my, I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about.  It’s been a struggle for the both of us lately. 

Crying, and Whining, and Tantrums, Oh My!

It donned on me, while I rinsed off dishes to put in the dishwasher, that I just asked my 3 year old if she was going to cry every day for the rest of her life as if she were capable of answering it honestly.  Or as if it were a fair question to ask a child that age.  

At the time, I'm sure she thought she was answering honestly as she mumbled what I thought sounded like a "yes", but I can't be sure since it got lost in the high pitch sounds of what resembled a puppy cry.  This is what it sounded like when Alivia started to whine.  Between her crying, and whining for what seemed to be the one millionth time that day, I thought I was going to lose it!  Mind you, I haven't been feeling well.  I have been fighting a sinus infection that spread through the house like a forest fire and even still, I mustered up the patience to make a silly game out of asking her not to run around the kitchen island near the hot stove.  I would physically redirect her every time she would get near the stove, turning her around and pushing her off towards her dad who would do the same thing as she approached the other side of the island.  All of a sudden, before the hubby and I knew it, she was crying and acting like her moody little self.  You can imagine my patience, at this time, was dwindling, and quickly.  I still demonstrated control when I demanded she go to her room in a relaxed and eager voice as if I were asking a waiter for the dessert menu. I can't deny that I was eager for her to go to her room so that I could enjoy some peace and quiet.  I don't know what I was thinking.  No sooner than we closed the door to her bedroom was she in full out tantrum mode.  Screaming, kicking, crying, whining, etc.! 

Parenting like the Parisians - a contributor post

I've written about French parents before. So it's not too much of a secret when I tell you that I am a Cuban American parent who j'adores French parenting (whew)! That's a whole lot of culture in that one sentence. Maybe that's because in the world of parenting, my style seems to fit in with that of Parisian parents.

 

Let me explain...

 

My ideas of being a mom, when I had my first bébé, didn't seem to fit what I had always seen. It didn’t seem very American. Much of what I knew about parenting in the states included sacrifice and identity loss. Many conversations I heard revolved around how much of yourself you had to give up, when you have kids, in order to be a good parent. I spent all of my 20's being focused on me. When I got pregnant, I believed this changed.  To completely focus on another would happen naturally when I gave birth. Like I would deliver a baby, a placenta, and a complete selfless attitude in one push. That didn't happen. Rats. By these standards, I was not a good parent.

 

10 Tips to Grow a Non-Picky Eater

Hello readers of Cropped Stories! I'm Alicia and I blog over at A Sweet Fragrance. My family and I are American-born but live as expats over in SE Asia. I blog about our life overseas, recipes I attempt to make while substituting lots of ingredients, projects I do around the house, "tot school" lessons I teach to my toddler, and lessons I learn through parenting and walking with the Lord. I hope you'll stop by my blog for a visit!

Is there anything quite more frustrating than a child who doesn't want to eat anything you put in front of him? Not even a nibble! I know of this frustration very well. Not only am I (unintentionally) raising a picky eater, I grew up being a very selective eater myself. Unfortunately, I can't blame my child's eating habits on genetics. Whether I want to admit to it or not, I'm the one who has created these picky tendencies of his.

Tips for parenting two children under two!

In the last few weeks of my second pregnancy, I remember thinking one constant thought. When this kid comes out, I'm going to have two kids under the age of two running around on this earth. And the idea of that immediately wall-slammed me to this thought: I wonder if there's a way to keep this second one in my belly a bit longer, at least until he's on solids.   Unfortunately, our ObGyn said this was not "advisable."   So, when he came out a week shy of forty, husband and I hit the ground running with our pre-planned ideas of how to parent two children under two while trying not to go Cuckoo Clock bonkers in the process.

Do you miss them being babies & my July sponsor giveaway!

When Alivia was born, I asked my sister who has two children (one was 15 at the time and other was 13) if she missed them being babies.  She answered without hesitance “no”.  In disbelief I asked “really”?  I was both surprised and enlightened by her answer!  After briefly explaining the things she was enjoying about my niece and nephew’s current ages, she went on to say that she thought of childhood as a temporary place for the child to become their true selves, the adult person they always had been just hadn’t grown into yet.  I had to think about it for a few minutes to really grasp the concept, but I was intrigued by the idea.  Could it possibly be true?