A little family update

I just had a little parenting thought and wanted to write it down so that maybe I can actually try to do it. Kate's "terrible 2's" are exhausting so I'm working on finding a new perspective. Here it is:

I need to have realistic expectations for Kate's behavior. She is, after all, a 2-yr-old little girl who is definitely still under the age of accountability. She is just child trying to learn about life and I am her most influential teacher. The things I teach here are not as important as how I teach her. If she feels my love and sees my patience with her, she'll have the confidence to be herself and to live a deliberate life. She'll also have courage to work hard on hard things and to pick herself up when she falls down.

So that's my little nugget of wisdom. Love and patience. I'll return and report once I've mastered it (so in the next life?).

A little summary of life at the Gibson household. Charlotte started taking steps about a month ago and is now walking a lot. She's learned to climb up and down the stairs also, so nowhere is safe. This has added stress to Kate's life since now she just can't get away from Charlotte if she wants to play alone with her things. She still has a few havens (Charlotte can't reach the bed, the couch, or the kitchen table) but she's pretty grumpy about Charlotte's mobility. Charlotte seems a little grumpy about it too. Now that she's had a taste of two-legged transportation she doesn't want to go back, but those stumpy legs and clumsy feet just can't keep up. And I think she sees Kate bustling around and wants to join in the fun.

Charlotte's still toothless but her hair is halfway down her back. I figure that her head's too busy growing hair to worry about teeth yet. She still loves peek-a-boo and being outdoors. Pulling all the wipes out of the wipe container, unraveling the toilet paper, tearing tissue into tiny pieces; these are some of her favorite pasttimes. She loves her big sis and her pooch, and her dad too. She's very guarded with strangers as long as I'm around, but if she can't see me anymore she usually loosens up and makes herself at home. She's sleeping pretty well now at night but her daytime naps are not that regular. I'm thinking of consolidating to one nap instead of two sometime soon.

Kate has mastered the English language and is now working on adding to it. She makes up words all day long. If she doesn't know what something's called, she'll give it a name. That goes for kids she meets at the playground too. On a few occasions she's been playing with a random girl and I've heard the girl go up to her mom and say "Mom, she's calling me Sissy." Even after they introduce themselves she won't let go of "Sissy". She also loves to pretend all day. Today I was trying to wrangle her after she ran down near a neighbor's house. She was looking longingly into the distance when she said the reason she couldn't come was because she was "dreaming about Prince Eric." Snow White eating the poisoned apple and Rapunzal's inner struggle about whether or not to leave her tower are often part of our pretend playtime. I usually play the prince so that she has someone to dance with and someone to kiss her to wake her up.

She is already excited about getting married and about driving. Her main motivation to grow big is to be able to drive. I love her innocence and excitement about life. The other day we walked into a Payless and as she looked around in wonder she said "this is amazing!" and really meant it.

Her prayers are so sweet too. She always blesses everyone in the family and usually includes her blanket too. And she loves to sing and play singing songs (name that tune, and fill-in-the-blank). Sometimes she'll hum a song or make up nonsense words to a familiar tune and it's so adorable. She can sing in tune most of the time too.