art with children / MOTHERHOOD

staying cool, staying sane

It’s been so hot and humid here lately we’ve mostly had to hunker down(definition #1, NOT #3!) in the house. The heat hits you in the face when you walk out the door. Even hanging clothes on the line causes one to work up a good sweat. I hate being hot, heat sweating in odd places. And even though I love her to death, Elizabeth gives me lots of other places to sweat, too–a sweaty neck, sweaty crook of my arm, sweaty where her heads rests on my chest when she’s in the pouch. Sometimes, I have to peel her off of me in order to lay her down in her crib.
Now, that I’ve spent a whole paragraph talking about sweat….
In order to stay sane and cool, we’ve been getting in to lots of art projects.
P1010012

P1010005

Emma has been figuring out how to draw birds, horses and turtles lately. And I’ve been working on the beginning stages of swallow mobile for Elizabeth’s room.

P1010002

And the staying sane bit of this post? Well, my sweet three year-old seems to be going through some difficult phases lately. I’m attributing them to "my newborn baby sister’s not so exciting anymore, I’m now the middle child" feelings. She’s become completely attached at the hip with me. I can’t get her to go anywhere, do anything, without me. Even my best safety net–going down to the pool with my Dad’s wife–doesn’t work anymore. It worked last summer. It’s all a bit exhausting.
And as of this week, she’s become afraid of EVERYTHING when she’s going to nap or bed. Everything. I really mean it. She hears every noise and sees every shadow–from me dropping something out in the living room, to a car driving by, to someone walking past her door, to the fan in her room making her sheets flutter. Usually, she can even identify the noise she hears, or why something looks scary to her–but admits she’s still afraid.
And thunderstorms?? Forget about it. Yesterday afternoon she was so scared by a thunderstorm her teeth were chattering. When I walked into Elizabeth’s room to pick her up out of her crib, Mary walked beside me with her hand stuffed in my pocket. Yup, this phase is exhausting, too.
But, I’m hanging on to that little word: "phase". Confident that it all will pass. Either that, or I’ll pass into insanity. One or the other……

It’s been so hot and humid here lately we’ve mostly had to hunker down(definition #1, NOT #3!) in the house. The heat hits you in the face when you walk out the door. Even hanging clothes on the line causes one to work up a good sweat. I hate being hot, heat sweating in odd places. And even though I love her to death, Elizabeth gives me lots of other places to sweat, too–a sweaty neck, sweaty crook of my arm, sweaty where her heads rests on my chest when she’s in the pouch. Sometimes, I have to peel her off of me in order to lay her down in her crib.
Now, that I’ve spent a whole paragraph talking about sweat….
In order to stay sane and cool, we’ve been getting in to lots of art projects.
P1010012

P1010005

Emma has been figuring out how to draw birds, horses and turtles lately. And I’ve been working on the beginning stages of swallow mobile for Elizabeth’s room.

P1010002

And the staying sane bit of this post? Well, my sweet three year-old seems to be going through some difficult phases lately. I’m attributing them to "my newborn baby sister’s not so exciting anymore, I’m now the middle child" feelings. She’s become completely attached at the hip with me. I can’t get her to go anywhere, do anything, without me. Even my best safety net–going down to the pool with my Dad’s wife–doesn’t work anymore. It worked last summer. It’s all a bit exhausting.
And as of this week, she’s become afraid of EVERYTHING when she’s going to nap or bed. Everything. I really mean it. She hears every noise and sees every shadow–from me dropping something out in the living room, to a car driving by, to someone walking past her door, to the fan in her room making her sheets flutter. Usually, she can even identify the noise she hears, or why something looks scary to her–but admits she’s still afraid.
And thunderstorms?? Forget about it. Yesterday afternoon she was so scared by a thunderstorm her teeth were chattering. When I walked into Elizabeth’s room to pick her up out of her crib, Mary walked beside me with her hand stuffed in my pocket. Yup, this phase is exhausting, too.
But, I’m hanging on to that little word: "phase". Confident that it all will pass. Either that, or I’ll pass into insanity. One or the other……

13 comments on “staying cool, staying sane”

  1. Poor you! My almost 4 year old, K, has still not recovered by the arrival of her 2 year old sister! Hopefully Mary will adjust quickly!

    I recall the hot summer when K was born & how I broke out in heat spots from nursing! (I never knew this could happen ~ I pondered an allergic reaction to K!)

  2. So true! It is enormously hot here, though it’s not humid – for which I’m immensely grateful.The mobile-in-progress is looking so beautiful. It makes me want to make one for my little one.Oh, “phases”…I just read something today in the book “I Didn’t Plan to be a Witch” by Linda Eyre, that I’m using to get through some teething/independence issues. She said the only constant about the present is that it will soon be the past. And that mothering never ends, it only gets bigger. :)Exciting, isn’t it? ;)You sound like you’re doing beautifully and that your Mary is just trying to find her place. I went through a similar thing when my little sister was born. I think I’m still there.

  3. Our humidity finally broke, but it looks like we passed it on to you. Sorry about that! I wonder if you might make Mary some kind of “super hero” softie or a protector softie. I wonder if that would help her. I had a mom come in when I worked at the baby store and she bought a dragon plush for her daughter, who was afraid of the dark. The dragon protected her at night, standing vigle. I wonder if Mary would by that!

  4. Oh, that swallow mobile looks so good! And hang in there, soon enough Mary will realize that it is nice to be “big sister”!

  5. i had to LOL at the sweaty paragraph. Oh how i remember those days of babe in sling causing me to sweat. and the smell of her baby shampooed hair all sweaty. LOVE THAT SMELL. LOL

    I’d love to hear more about your mobile. How to make one, etc. I’d LOVE to make a fairy mobile for my daughter. She’s 10 next month but adores fairies and collects all things fairy. A handmade mobile would be a delight!

    It was 94 degrees here yesterday, today… just 72.. thus making the “cool snap” feel like 50 degrees. Kiddo has a JACKET on today playing outside!

  6. My youngest is 8 years old and I can promise you, it really is a phase. At some point they get so capable (if you’ve done your job right) that they need you less and less. It seems like it would be sad, but it’s not. Such a relief that they can occupy themselves for hours on end, but still want to play when you do.

    But yah, the heat sucks. We’ve been living in the basement all summer.

  7. Love the swallows. I just try to remember when one of mine is acting so clingy that before long they won’t be needing me so much and I will want them to. It’s still hard but it reminds me to savor it too, just a little bit.

  8. It must be something with the age. My three year old, also my middle child, has been doing some of the same things. He is constantly on top of me and gets scared as well. He’s recently started crawling into bed with me at night because he says his bedroom is scary. Hopefully this phase will pass soon! Good luck 😉

  9. I like that word phase as well. My youngest daughter, 9, still likes to snuggle and curl up with me at night when daddy has to work. I know that it is a phase too, but I’m letting it happen cuz I know it won’t last forever.

    The funny thing is though, all I have to do is hold someone else’s baby and my “baby” is right there next to my hip again! Wonder if she’ll still do that in high school, college, when she’s married? hmmmm

  10. My only girl has been joined at the hip since birth and she’s 9 1/2. 🙂 I love it more than I don’t so take heart. It’s great to be loved and wanted so.LUV the mobile. I want one for my room!! I think I’ll make one for me. Truly wonderful.

  11. love the swallows! are they paper or fabric? when I go to the fancy paper stores, I always find myself wishing that the fabric stores would carry the same prints. i keep hoping that because the scrapbooking trend is a tad ahead of the new sewing trend, fabric will soon catch up. not sure that it’s as lucrative, though… sewing never is.

  12. Everyone talks about 2 being the difficult age -I think 3 might actually be harder for children in alot of ways -they aren’t babies anymore, but not really that independent either.You are right though -PHASE is the magic word.Hope you cool off soon:)

  13. molly, I’ll look at my draw, write, now series books and see what they have for learning how to draw birds and see about taking some photos for you to show her.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.