Amanda says the word "flip flops" it sounds something like, "Plipfth-plthlops". It is the highlight of my summer. Sometimes I just ask her to say it to smile. The other day we videoed her doing this and we have watched it multiple times just laughing. She is so cute running around, bringing everyone their "plipfth-plthlops". So happy as we casually sat on the floor playing with her. Unfortunately, this is not the little girl most folks get to see.
This summer has been a challenge...we have two little boys who are not so little and one little girl who is, but doesn't think so. We have been doing a lot of "bigger kid" things and dragging our one and a half year old with us. She gets less play dates and park dates and is instead taken on roadtrips for hours at a time and to play outside on trails too tough to walk and toys too big to climb.
But she tries.
I get frustrated that Amanda is so impatient and screams to get what she wants. We don't tolerate, but it doesn't stop her. I have tried to put myself in her little shoes and come to the conclusion,her life is very different than her brother's were at this age. It's bigger, louder and faster and the little girl is just doin' her best to keep up.
This made me contemplate, that while part of Amanda's stubborness comes from what I believe is part of her internal tenacity that God gave her, another part comes from trying to keep up with the big boys. And maybe in order to help my little girl do a better job at communicating and not frustrate people with her screaming fits, I need to slow down.
I need to stop and give her more of the time my sons got when they were little...to practice using her words, so she can communicate, to go to parks that are her size so she can learn to climb the toys, to quietly read and play puzzles so she can learn to sit still, to stop and listen to her when she is trying to tell me something, instead of getting angry that she is so stinkin' persistant and yelling at my knees!
I need to be willing to drag my big boys to little girl things and not just my little girl to big boy things.
I want Amanda to be known for the joy we see in her daily, not the frustration she encounters daily. She truly is such a joy on so many occasions and I want others to see it too! And so once again, I come to the conclusion that mommy has more work to do and maybe it starts spending more time putting on our "plipth-plthlops" and less time running around in them.
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