You're happy...

This actually happened yesterday, but I forgot about it. With the kiddos sick, coughing and all can disrupt naps and whatnot. Yesterday, Monkey was having a harder time napping (although in the end her nap was nice and lengthy, it just got chopped in 3) The first time she woke up crying, she woke up Moose. (them being in the same room and all.) He had been asleep, but came out shortly after she went back to sleep. As I went to shut their door and meet him out on the couch, I made a very conscious decision to be alright about his being awake and not make him sleep more (even though he probably could have and might've needed it, being slightly sick himself.)

So often, we will tell Moose, it doesn't matter how long you sleep, or what time it is (he used to be obsessed with waking up at 4.) but that you sleep. I knew he had been asleep, so I decided to make sure I practiced what I had been preaching. I went and sat down next to him and talking to him quietly like I always do when he wakes up from a nap.

He was so pleased with me. He made note of how happy I was and touched me gently and seemed to pleased. I reminded him that since he had slept, that was what mattered and that I was happy with him. It was such a small moment, but really made an impact on me. I'm glad that he recognized I was being happy and nice to him. I guess that goes to show how often I'm not happy when he's not napping.

Anyway, it was a nice moment for me.

Kiddo moment: Monkey's been walking quite a bit the last few weeks. So, despite how small she is, I've decided to try and have her walk more when we're out and about. Walk to the car, walk from the car to the library doors, you know, just little things. She's so small we always carry her everywhere. And she's not too fast. With Moose, he was so huge, by the time he was walking at 15 months, we made him walk because he was so heavy for me. Especially when we had to go up or down stairs. Monkey's so much smaller than he was (although she's still just passed 20 lbs.) that we'd probably carry her, for convenience sake, for a good while. But I like how independent it made Moose, and want to give her that opportunity too.

I must say, she really enjoyed walking around the library. I'll have to deal with the regular "don't touch that", "don't put that in your mouth", but for us, we're more willing to put the work into their behavior now, when they're young, versus doing it later. Hopefully, it'll work out in the end!