Little Miss. Independent

For the past few weeks Lola has started informing me that she "can do this" or "can do that" all by her little 2 year old self. Needless to say.....I'm scared. I hate this phase almost as much as puberty. They think they can do things even when I know they can't. For example...I know she can't climb into her carseat without me helping. I just know this. She doesn't, she thinks she can do it and she gets very pissed off if I try and help her. So I let her try, stay close and catch her when she falls. She wants to pick out her own clothes, her own foods, her own shows to watch and she makes sure I know she can do it herself, she feels the need to remind me by saying..."I can do this all by myself, Mommy. Lola can!!". Yes, she speaks in the first person. It's hilarious. If you've been reading my blog for a while then you know that Lola was delayed in walking due to a high fever which triggered a febrile seizure which set her back almost 6 months. With Early Intervention and lots of patience and love she can walk, run, climb and all that other dangerous fun stuff. She is still very slow, more cautious with stairs, but we're working on that. So you can understand my anxiety about this phase. I'm nervous she's going to hurt herself. I'm afraid I won't be there is she is trying out her new found freedom. But I can't be afraid. She sure isn't! So, I'm stepping back. I'm letting her do things by herself. I'm not fighting it anymore. We've already needed 3 bandaids today, but that's ok!! Lola can do this and so can I!

What We've Been Doing.......

We've been celebrating.........

Torturing small animals........

And small children.........

 Playing with other peoples things while they're away.......

 Painting the teenager's room.......

Playing with bubbles OUTSIDE.......

Really enjoying being OUTSIDE..........

Flying kites.......

OUTSIDE..............

Sliding.......

Being sweet........

Being silly.........

Taking pictures of other peoples dogs........

Laughing..........

Giving Mom a heart attack..........

And being sporty...........

Fretting about our "pretties" (hair).........

And being silly some more........

Being fashionable.........

Sleeping better than I have in years......

Being goofy........

And loving the "SuperMoon"

In other words.....we've been very busy. :)

Wordfull Wednesday......Instagram

When we first got the iPod touch there were so many apps to choose from. When the games got old, I went searching for photography apps and found Instagram. It's easy and fun!! Here are a few pictures I've edited and shared using Instagram.....

And this one is currently my favorite.......

This hawk is always at our tree in our yard. It makes me a bit nervous since it's always eyeballin' my dachshund, Lucy. LOL!! But it's just so beautiful, I had to snap a few pictures of it and link it up to.....

ENJOY!!!!

15 & 5

I am now the proud Mother of a 15 year old daughter and a very grown up 5 year old boy. It's been a very crazy, hectic 2 months around here. So much to do and hardly any time to do it. Throw in all the sickness and well, you get NO TIME!!! I'm so ready for Spring. Anyway. The teenager got a new iPod touch, money and a new phone. She is now "just like all her friends". -_- I want her iPod. It has a camera in it!! Not that my camera isn't great, but just imagine all the social networking I could do with that thing. Yes, I am addicted to Twitter. Follow me. :D When I gave the teenager her phone I said...."With great technology comes great responsibility......be responsible. Please." It's a shame that in this day and age I have to even worry about my teenager sending inappropriate pictures, or sexting or cyber bullying. Ugh. It's just the way things are now. I have to hope she's learned from past mistakes and doesn't do something stupid. But then again, we are talking about teenagers......they don't think. They feel. They're so emotional. The important thing is this....she is happy, I can get in touch with her whenever I need to and I can stalk her online. LOL!!!

My son is now 5. He woke up on cloud 9 yesterday. Jumping around, telling me repeatedly that he is now 5 and is growing up and can do everything on his own. Except make pancakes. Because "only you can make the best pancakes, Mom. YOU MAKE THE BEST PANCAKES!! UHHH!!!" :D I'm proud to be the best pancake maker. We got him a new magic trick, a set of magnets and a science kit. He's in to science and magic. Interesting combination. :D He sat at the dining room table almost all day playing with his stuff. We made some glow in the dark goo and had a blast. If you're interested in the recipe here it is...

• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 30 ml water
• 2-3 drops of food coloring or choice

Add water slowing until mixed, then play!!! I never did that experiment in science class so I was AMAZED!! It's a liquid, NO, it's a solid!!! BAAAAAHAHAHAAA!!! It's the little things, people. :D So yeah, we had a blast!! I made him a cake and surprised him with it after dinner. He jumped up and down and squealed and laughed. I love seeing him so happy with simple things. He ate 2 pieces of my cake and declared that I was "the BEST pancake AND birthday cake maker. EVER!!" :D Today the hubs and I are taking him to see RANGO. He's so excited to see it, it's all he's been talking about for a month. He loves it when we take him to the movies. We've only been a few times, but he just loves it. It's nice that he can now sit through a whole movie. :) His birthday party is on Sunday. This is the first year we're doing it somewhere besides the house. I didn't want to have it here in case all 12 of the kids in his class show up. o_O Nooooo thank you!!! HAH! And plus, this places takes care of everything, I just bring the snacks and cake. Perfect. So my very grown up 5 year old boy will be very excited. :)

That's Lex all dressed up as Willy Wonka. HAH! I love him. :)

Are You A Wimpy American Mom? Or Are You A Tiger Mom?

A few weeks ago I went to the dentist to be tortured have my teeth cleaned. While I waited I grabbed TIME magazine to have something to read. On the cover was a picture of a pair of legs in a skirt standing over a little girl holding a violin. The title caught my eye...TIGER MOM. I began reading the story and was, at first, appalled at what I was reading. The story was about a woman named Amy Chua, who calls herself a "Tiger Mom". She's also the author of the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. The article in TIME magazine was all about her parenting skills, she uses Chinese "strict, Old World, uncompromising values". In short, she's strict, very strict. Going as far as to make her daughter practice the piano through the night until the girl got the piece right. She says Americans are weak, we don't raise our children strict enough, we don't push them hard enough...and so on. Crazy, right? They talk about a few other incidents that you can read about here if you like....READ HERE. I read the entire article and by the end of it I felt a bit better. She talked about regretting some of the things she did and said to her kids, she talked about compromising with her daughters now and how she was cocky and thought she could control her daughters when they were first born. We can all relate to that one!! Her parenting style may be a bit rough for some, but there are some aspects of it that I actually agree with. For example....I do not coddle my children, I do not praise every. single. thing. they. do, I push my teenager just a little bit more every time, I encourage my son write his name until he gets it right (with praise, of course) and I am not their friend, I am their Mother. Don't get me wrong, I cuddle with my kids, if they get hurt I comfort them and I do praise them when they do something well or good or on their own without me asking. I would never call my children names, make them do something into the wee hours of the night and I would never not except a homemade gift. My teenager is an honor student, all A's and one B. She pushes herself to do better every day, she studies all the time and she is really just a good kid. So I guess I'm doing something right. But am I a Tiger Mom? I don't know about that. I'm not out to raise perfect children, I just want to raise them well. And so far, so good. :)