Getting in the spirit

Winter is officially here. We enjoyed our first day after the solstice with 70 degree weather. Odd, but Kate enjoyed being able to roam free and unencumbered outside. Leaves are a favorite these days: tossing them, crunching them, dropping them, collecting them, and throwing them.







To compensate for the weather, and to help along the mood some we went to look at some Christmas lights tonight.







She struggled with it. She was tired and not happy she was up and outside when she is normally in the bathtub. She wouldn't let us hold her and only crawled into the stroller when she decided she was hungry for our make-due dinner. She wanted mom, then only dad, then only mom, on her terms and in her way. We managed as we could, and Daddy P and I enjoyed ourselves as much as we could, but we ended the evening a little quicker than we'd planned and headed home.

Tonight's behavior along with other things today have really driven home how in touch I am with her. Whether a product of similar temperaments, or being a mostly-stay-at-home mom, I definitely know what she wants before anyone else, and know what each tone of voice means and what will happen if I choose action or inaction. What I don't know is if this is good (nurturing, supporting, comforting) or bad (spoiling, over-identifying, smothering). Ah, shades of gray... I think it's like having a superpower and knowing when to use it for good and not evil. The *knowing* is not the bad part. It would be the always doing what she wants regardless of the consequences that would be the bad part...

Yesterday we went to the children's museum and I realized how the flipside of feeling safe and supported means being more comfortable venturing out. This side has not shown up much, and it made me want to rush home and order those "your phone number as a temporary tattoo" stickers for her so that someone would always know who she belongs to. That and I started scanning her outfit for places I could write my phone number.






In our rough spots today I started introducing Kate to some chanting. I started doing this several months ago during nap transitions to help her quiet and soothe herself, and it worked really well for both of us (me for when she's crying, and her to help stop crying). I bought a beautiful album of kirtan music that I've been using in my own life, and decided that today Kate would learn some. So, we chanted through the rough spots, and I for one felt better for it.