Category: Updates about Sylvia

My kids dislike wearing shoes.  And coats.  And for the most part, clothes.

That makes getting them out the door in cold weather a bit (ahem) of a challenge.

I’ve felt rather daunted these last weeks, envisioning the next six months of shoe and coat wearing season.  It stretches ahead of me like a dusty road of tears.

So I’m taking a new tactic.  I don’t want to battle over the little stuff, and I try to pick my battles.  So I have decided that Andrew and Sylvia get to choose if and whether they wear coats and shoes.  My hope is that by the time it really does get cold enough to be dangerous that they will both decide on their own to wear shoes and it won’t be a Mom/Child battle.

So far so good.  My kids aren’t wearing shoes and coats.  (I’m chuckling here.)  Yesterday it was raining and 45 degrees, and Andrew went out to the car barefoot with a short-sleeved shirt on.  Sylvia doesn’t like to wear shoes when we pick up Andrew from preschool, which means that she can’t walk, but she’s OK with that.  She likes her coat because she gets to pull up the hood, which is waaay cool.

My neighbors have wittnessed my barefooted kids running about while I am warm in a down coat and had.  Argh!  Whatever!!!

I’ve struggled with myself as I’ve allowed this situation to unfold.  But until frostbite is immanent, or until they get whiny about being cold, I’m going to let them be.

So to close, here’s a funny exchange between me and my smart little boy yesterday afternoon.  I was following his wet footprints as Andrew walked barefoot with no jacket in the nearly freezing weather.  I felt rather frustrated:

Me: “Andrew! You know, if you keep walking around barefoot without a jacket in this cold weather, you’re going to get sick!”

Andrew: (turns and looks at me quizzically) “No Mom!  That’s not true.  You don’t get sick from being cold.  You get sick from bad things…like germs. (pause and smile) You’re being silly, Mom. (pause and chuckle) I think you’re telling me a joke!”

Oh dear, I can’t fool my preschooler.  Education sure does make it harder to run a dictatorship.

Here’s hoping that he’s right!

Bryan’s mom is flying Andrew home from Texas tonight!  Our little guy has been having a fabulous time in Dallas and in College Station since November 1.  As far as I can tell, he’s had a supremely wonderful time.

He called me a couple times on Aunt Melanie’s phone early in his trip, and then I spoke to him one or two other times.  It amazes and delights me that he feels so content at Granny and Grandad’s home that he doesn’t need to check-in too much with us.

Meanwhile, here at home, Bryan, Sylvia and I are having a wonderful time.  It has been so great to spend one-on-one time with Sylvie.  She’s been just loving all the focused attention.  We talk about Andrew, but since we know he’s safe and happy, we’ve been enjoying the increased quiet and calm around our house!

Speaking of calm, I had no idea how much calmer, and cleaner life would be with one child in the house!  It will be great to have Andrew back home, but life has felt pretty easy these last 10 days being the mom of only one.  I thought that Sylvia was the noisier, messier kid, but it turns out that when it’s just her and me, we have significantly less dishes to wash, clothes to wash, and toys to pick up.  Plus, when Sylvia is napping or playing with something on her own, I am free to do whatever I want rather than immediately turning my attention to my boy.

So that’s meant that at the end of the day, I’m less tired since the overall parenting and home maintenance work was less than what I’m used to.  The coolest part, is that Sylvia goes to bed at 7pm.  Andrew goes to bed at 8pm, so every night he’s been in Texas, I feel like I have had a whole extra hour of free time.  I can clean the house for an hour and still have two or three hours of free time.  And since I’m less tired, I can get more done in that time!  It’s been awesome:)

So we’ve been faring well with his absence.  And I CANNOT WAIT to get some Andrew hugs and snuggles.  mmmmm  It’ll be good to have him back home.

THANKS to Melanie, Granny, and Grandad for taking our boy.  I am so glad that he had fun with you!  Thanks for the parenting vacation!

PS. I pulled all the pictures of Andrew from Granny’s Facebook page.  Thanks, Granny for sharing pics of our guy to keep us smiling while he was away!

On Sunday afternoon, Andrew and his aunt Melanie hopped on a plane and flew down to Dallas.  Andrew was so very, very excited about his trip.  He’d packed his back-pack about three weeks ago.  Apparently, he talked about it all the time at preschool.  And he showed absolutely zero trepidation or worry.  My boy was GUNG HO about his adventure. He’s been in Dallas with Melanie since Sunday, and today Granny is picking him up.  He’ll spend the next seven days with her and Grandad.  Andrew sure does love his family!  So do I:)

As we drove away from the airport, Bryan and I both got kind of misty-eyed thinking about our little guy and his big adventure.  There’s a lot of emotion wrapped up in the process of watching your kids grow up.  I felt so proud of him, I missed him, and my heart felt kind of exposed just thinking of the wide experiences he will have outside of our lives together.

If parenting is a continual process of letting go, this was a nice little milestone.  Hopefully it’ll make it a little easier when he goes to kindergarten and (gasp!) college.

On Sunday afternoon, Sylvia had me and Bryan all to herself, and she LOVED it.  We played in the yard and listened to our neighborhood owls hooting from a tree across the street.  We played in the leaves and finally raked them all up, we came inside and had a different, quieter three-person dinner.  Sylvia reveled in the one-on-one attention.  Really, she was basking like a lizard in the sun.  I think she’ll enjoy this week too.

LuAnn flies Andrew back home on November 10.  So until then, I get to be the mama of just a 20-month-old.  So far, it’s loads of fun!

Andrew has a grand Godzilla costume made with love by his granny.  And Sylvia is a blue bunny (from the 1946 story, Bunny Blue).  This is the same blue bunny costume that Bryan wore was when he was a babe.  Here, for your Halloween enjoyment, are pictures of my kiddos in their Halloween duds.  They’re so cute!  And I’m so lucky they have a grandma who loves to sew for them!

And now…(watch out!!)…Godzilla.

More photos of kids in costumes (I really held back here in this post!) are available in the photo gallery!

Andrew doesn’t usually like to have his picture taken.  Until, suddenly, he does.  In the last week, there have been a remarkable number of times that he has requested that I take his picture.  Especially when he’s snuggling with Sylvia.  I’ve been happy to oblige, and here are some of the results.

Be still my heart.

If you’d like any of these images as you desktop background or as a high resolution image to take to your local tattoo parlor to have permanently emblazoned on your arm, you can get them here (click on “all sizes”)!