bebestages

I have had the privelige of experiencing being a stay at home mom and a working mom. When Paige was 6 months old I returned to work full time. It was a sad time for me, but in the long run it was the right choice at that time of my life. My daughter was in a home daycare, she was learning lots of new things and having tons of fun. In the evenings when I would pick her up I would sometimes experience her screaming and crying when she would see me. She wanted nothing to do with mommy and wanted to stay with the woman who was watching her. It was very hard for me to experience this, but atleast I new somewhere in my heart that she did this because she was having fun and happy in her surroundings. I new she loved me because as soon as her meltdown was over she hung to me like any child would hang on their parent and I loved it.
I became pregnant with my second daughter when Paige turned 2. We were very excited, Paige was excited and we assumed life would proceed as it did when I had Paige and returned to work. After having to leave work at 7 months, I had plenty of time to think and came to the realization that working wasn't going to do us any good. I would be working to keep 2 kids in daycare, travel back and forth to work and lunch everyday. So the obvious decision would be for me to stay home with the kids and wait until Paige was in Kindergarten to go back to work, I was very excited about this decision.
I have to say that at this moment in time, I've had tons of fun being home with the girls but I feel it is time for me to return to work. For one thing Paige is of age to go to school she is 4 years old and will be attending school in September. Rylan who is 16months now is in need of some sort of interaction with children her own age. I definetly see the difference in what Paige new at this age and what Rylan knows. I don't blame myself for this it's just that Paige was surrounded by children who were older than her and she picked a lot of things up from them during her time in daycare. Plus during the day she had the sitters undivided attention because she was there alone until the other kids arrived after school. Anyway, getting to my point I've lost touch with the adult world, we are suffering financially which we all know can put a strain on any marriage and there are things we need and want that we just can't do right now and we hate to see our kids suffer because of it. Freelance can only get you so far especially when you don't have the means to do anything during the day for your clients and trying to start a business is near impossible when you have two toddlers running around and the only time to focus is from 10pm on. I will continue to work on our business when I return to work but i don't expect to have it off its feet for a while.
So to all the Stay at home moms- Life is hard being a stay at home mom and I give us all credit. And to the working moms, Life is just as hard working and having to come home and be a mom and no job is easier than the other we just learn to accept what we need to do to live a happy and fullfilled life.

This weekend was spent with my sister and and her two little ones. Her Noah, age 3, and my Paige, age 4, don't always get along. As parents we realize that these early ages are mostly spent bickering and yelling at each other; who won't share, who wants that toy etc. This weekend wasn't too bad though, I think that Paige is starting to realize that some things are just not worth fighting over. Here and there we would have to intervene and explain why sharing is important, and hitting is a BIG no no. But last night something magical happened. We let them be, we let them figure there own problems out AND they came together and sort of grew up. My sister and I were upstairs talking when these two little rascals came running to us, laughing and smile; and to our surprise they had each drawn a masterpiece for their mommy. They came together and did something they new would make us happy and proud. We were shocked beyond belief that these kids thought of something that didn't involve something in return except for a HUGE smile and a great BIG hug.
Sometimes you just gotta let kids be.

Raisinets
Peanut m&m's
Plain dark chocolate
Gummy candies made with real fruit juice
Fruit Smoothies with milk or yogurt
Flavored club soda
Frozen fruit (great alternative to ice pops which are loaded with sugar)
Yogurt with granola
Apples with cheese
Apples with peanut butter
Low-fat chocolate milk
Dried fruit such as raisins or crannberries
Bagels with tomato sauce and melted cheese
Pretzels, lightly salted or no salt
Popcorn - air popped or low-fat microwave
Vanilla wafers
Graham crackers
Animal crackers
Fig newtons

I've come to realize that my 3.5 year old daughter is addicted to the movie "A Christmas Story"! She has managed to teach herself how to work the DVD player. Last week she popped in the movie and watched it in spanish. Since then she has watched it a total of 5 times of-course not complete! With this unbearable heat in NY and carrying around a cranky 11 months old, I've resorted to movie time and free play. I guess watching this movie must be keeping her slightly cool because she hasn't complained about the heat while watching it.

Ever since we went on vacation with our first daughter, at the age of 18 months, she was never able to go to sleep alone again. After countless sleeping battles, I finally came up with the perfect idea to get her to go to sleep quickly. A few months ago, now this is 2 years later, I came up with the idea of sleeping fairies. As long as she closes her eyes and tries her hardest to fall asleep, the sleeping fairies will visit her and leave her a little present under the bed. This has worked perfect for her ever since. It doesn't have to be expensive either, a few times a week I will leave under her bed a small crafty gift that she can do the next morning. I've also left her change, a piece of gum, etc. I've even left her little notes from the "fairies" telling her how proud they are of her. She loves it and it's a great way to bribe her when she doesn't want to go to bed.

I’ve heard many parents ask the question, Should I give my toddler chores? My suggestion, don’t call it a chore. Of course we’re not expecting our 1.5 year old to clean the house, but we want to teach them to respect what they have and to be come responsible adults. Asking them to pick up their toys doesn’t make you a monster. We’re teaching responsibility, and yes responsibility starts when they are itty-bitty babies. If we don’t demonstrate to them when they are at their most vulnerable stage then you might just be creating a little monster that expects mommy and daddy to do everything for them. I find what works best is to ask your toddler to help you clean up, set the table, water the plants and so on. Remember you decided to take on the challenge of raising a child, and with that came the responsibility of molding them to be kind, helpful adults.