Stopping to smell the coffee

The Napping Wars have begun again. And yes, they are with Lily. Again. But she is armed and not alone- she has a cute co-conspirator and his name is Sungu. And I guess Topher heard about the war so he decided he would 'play' today too.



Jeehon battled the children last night, while I was at my Small Group and Chris was working. Barb was here for moral support, but she was busy making sure Topher and Gabe didn't hurt/kill themselves on our many many stairs. The big kids took turns coming out of their rooms, crying, screaming, and carrying on like- well, big babies. Why is there not a giant crib that is big-baby-proof? This whole big girl/boy bed is nothing but a big pain in my butt.

Now it's nap time- about 12pm. And the kids have been crying and carrying on for about an hour... oh to have some peace and quiet...

Ok. It's actually Saturday night now. And I started this post on Wednesday afternoon I believe. Things have definitely gotten much better, but the war's not over yet. Though it isn't nearly as painful getting the kids to go to sleep (painful on the eardrums that is), it is still very time consuming. But here's the big question that always looms about in my head- so what?

So what if it takes a long time trying to get the kids to fall asleep? The other day I was sitting outside of Lily's door, waiting for her to come out just so I could yell at her to get back into bed. And as I sat there, I could hear her 'reading' in bed. She would mumble something and then say 'there it is'. That's how we read books in our house! And now Lily was doing it by herself! Then later she started sliding the books under her door, and saying 'Uh oh!' and I was sure that was her clever ploy to have to come out of her room- but instead she just cried. She did this three times! It was all so ridiculous I just had to laugh. If she had been good at falling asleep on her own, I would have missed all of her funny ridiculousness.

Then today I was in her room trying to get her to go to sleep, and I just stroked her forehead, the way I used to when she was just a wee little baby, and she was falling asleep. She just looked so stinkin beautiful and peaceful. She isn't going to be a cute and sweet little 2 year old for long. I was really trying to stand there and drink the moment in. Everyday seems so redundant and difficult, but it really is going to be just a moment in the grand scheme of things! What is the rush? Why am I trying to get my kids to go to sleep so quickly? So that I can get on the computer and update my facebook page and blog about how hard it is to parent toddlers? Like that is more important than reading just one more story, or watching Lily drift off to dream land, or rocking Topher to sleep, even though he is more than capable of falling asleep in his crib on his own? Why am I always in such a rush?

A couple mornings ago, Sungu showed us just how tall and agile he is. He 'blindly' reached up onto the counter where the coffee pot was brewing my morning cups of coffee, and he pulled and dropped the pot on the floor. Somehow he managed to jump out of the way without getting a drop of hot coffee, or a piece of shattered glass on him. Amazing. Anyhoo, me being the coffee affectionado (read: addict) that I am, I had another pot from a different machine in the pantry. It fits in the coffee machine, but you have to tilt the pot 'just so' in order to fill the pot, and not the filter/grinds-area with coffee. So every morning I have had to stand at the coffee machine for about 5 minutes watching my coffee brew, drip by drip. And again- it's just five minutes in the grand scheme of my whole day. And it's actually been a very peaceful five minutes. So I am trying, really really hard, as a parent, and just as a human being who is too busy for their own good, to slow down, enjoy the big and small moments, and to stop and smell the coffee.