It’s summer (not officially, but it’s here). It’s a time for fun in the sun and flexibility of schedules, for catching fireflies and going to a drive in movie on a whim. But lately I’ve been feeling like a bum mom. A real dud. The blow up pool has been up for a week now and every day my daughter asks me to jump in with her. I always find an excuse to sit in a chair on the side and watch, scroll through my phone, and read a magazine. Why was I saying no thanks to that sweet face? A lot of the time I tell myself I just want to relax when I come home from working all day and I almost said it out loud for the hundredth time when I stopped myself. I wasn’t going to get endless days of this little girl wanting me to do fun things with her. Soon she’d get bigger, make friends, and run the neighborhood with them leaving me behind. So, as I walked up to my dripping, smiling daughter and I said yes! I hopped in that little pool and it was amazing. She brushed off the imaginary dust from her floaty seat for me to use and then snuggled up to me. We talked uninterrupted until our skin was pink from the sun about her day, my day, and whatever craziness happened to come out of her mouth. She let me hold her and gave me hugs and kisses and she made me laugh genuinely in a way that warmed my heart. So, I decided to keep this yes train moving. We went inside and showered off and then she asked if she could dress up like Belle and if I could do her hair up like Belle too. Yes! It was a quick, girly fun way to bond some more and her praises for the hairdo were too cute. We ate some dinner and watched a few minutes of Beauty and the Beast so she could sing along with the song.
Before the end of the poor provincial town number, Charlotte had a stroke of inspiration. “Let’s take a Belle walk!” She grabbed a book, found some slip ons, and we were off. She walked the neighborhood with her nose stuck in her book and I smiled the whole way.
This doll is too cute. As we walked we collected wildflowers for a DIY project I’m doing for our new house. We’re collecting flowers from 3 of our favorite walks, drying them out and pressing them, and then we’re going to put them in a floating frame for the entryway. She had so much fun being involved in this. Every time we saw a flower she got so excited, asked if it was prickly, and if not told me to pick it for the pile.
We had some fun Gaston role playing with daddy and then it was time for bed. All that whimsy and smiling and laughing had detoxed me from my long day of work and actually gave me the second wind I needed! The one I never would have found if I had sat on the couch and watched TV instead. So, if you’re feeling a little sluggish and don’t feel quite up to doing whatever cockamamie thing your kid wants to do, my advice is to say yes and do it. You might just feel like a kid again yourself.
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