I subscribe to a motherly-related newsletter through ModernMom.com and generally I find the information entertaining, if not entirely useful. The other day the newsletter had a youtube video from Sandy Gold called “Sandy’s 5 min. Wake.up and Make.up Routine!” I think the exclamation mark at the end of the title alone should have served as warning that this was going to be perky. Very perky.
By the end of Sandy’s little video I was ready to reach through my computer screen and slap her — the woman readily admits that she has no kids and yet goes on to tell us moms to find 5 minutes in the morning to slap on some make-up. Between waking up, taking the dog out & feeding him, getting dressed, feeding 2 kids, getting THEM dressed… and then undressed to change a diaper and then dressed again… getting myself fed, putting together the bags to go in the car, finding my shoes, and doing the myriad of other little things that constitute part of my morning routine (and this is on a good morning when there are no temper tantrums to deal with!) I don’t have five minutes to put on make up, much less smile while I’m at it. Little perky Sandy makes a few assumptions too: that I own foundation; that if I do own foundation that I know where it is; that if I do own it & know where it is… that it’s not 3 years old (coincidentally the age of my oldest child?) and hasn’t gone rotten in the tube.
I’d like to see Sandy Gold in 10 years from now after she’s had 2 kids… she’ll be lucky if she has time to pee & brush her teeth in the morning.
… I’ll take it. For the past 3 days we have had nary a temper tantrum. I am in heaven. And it’s not that there weren’t any opportunities for temper tantrums. There were plenty, but for whatever reason Richard and I were able to reason through a situation with Maja. The real breakthough, though, was when Maja reasoned through a situation all by herself. Be.Still.My.Heart. Here’s how it went:
Me: Maja, why don’t you pick out some books for us to read on the couch and I’ll get your milk.
Maja: I want to help you. I want to pour the milk.
Me: Ok, you can help. Let’s go to the kitchen.
[I got the milk out and poured it without her help. Before I fully realized what I had just done...̲]
Maja: Mom! I wanted to help! Oh, that’s ok I guess, I can pour my milk tomorrow with this big jug.
Please note: a few weeks ago Maja would have had a complete meltdown, an on-the-floor crying fit. Yesterday she did not. I want to know what alien took my child and replaced it with this agreeable 3-year-old. I have to remind you, that I have accused aliens of taking my agreeable child in the past and replacing it with the disagreeable one. I think they’ve returned her. Phew. It’s only been 20 months.
To further my point:
- Maja has with my urging, taken to getting up out of bed by herself in the mornings instead of lying there screaming and crying until someone comes and gets her. She did it for the first time on Saturday morning and it was awesome as she came downstairs proud as punch with herself and a big smile on her face.
- Maja was an angel at the dinner table yesterday. She ate pizza and then even had some taco: complete with seasoned ground beef, tomatoes, cheese and sour cream. We worked on table manners: “can you please pass me the xxxx” and she had a great time with it!
I hope this continues!
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