Words to remember

Today Addie said this to me, unsolicited:

"Mommy, thank you for all you do for me, and Daddy and Olive."

Followed by a big hug.

I'm posting this because I want to remember these moments.

Today I am thankful for these words. They were much appreciated, especially after what has felt like a really long week.

 

A March birthday post...in May

In my last post I wished Addie a happy birthday and mentioned that we took a trip back home to visit family and celebrate Addie's birthday. This is the add on to that post, the remembering (as best as I can, almost two months later!) of that trip.

This move to Kansas has been a little tough for my sweet Addie. Spending a year in Illinois, going to a great school, attending my home church, making some sweet friends and being around the comfort of family - all of this provided a really good year for Addie after transitioning from Florida, the life she'd known until she was a 3 1/2 and can recall with her amazing ability to remember. Leaving all of that was just plain hard. I told myself that she'd be fine and often kids adjust to change more quickly than adults. Those things may be true, but change is still...hard.

Since spring break here was just the week after Addie's birthday we thought it would be a good thing for her to see some familiar faces, so we took off after church on a Sunday and drove to Illinois. We had planned a casual party later that week at one of her favorite places (Chick-fil-a, which they do not have where we live now!) with family and a few of her friends. Addie was really glad to be back in Illinois and even more so, happy to see her family and friends.

Finally taking time to enjoy her cake after all of her friends went home.

 I've never known anyone who enjoys a birthday quite like Addie.  Throughout the year she wants to know how long it is until her birthday, or if she sees something she likes she'll say, "I want that for my birthday." At times it can get tiring, but when it is time to actually celebrate her day, her excitement makes it even more fun.

After our celebration in Illinois we headed to Missouri to celebrate with Sabian's family. We were staying in a hotel with a pool so, of course we had a poolside pizza party!

Wearing her awesome handmade unicorn hat made by one of our friends.

 When all of the celebrating was done, the next day it was time to hit the road back to Kansas. It was hard to leave home but we were so glad to celebrate with our families. I think it did Addie good to see everyone and we appreciate the love that was shown to our girl.

This birthday post wouldn't be complete without sharing photos from Addie's actual birthday:

Our annual birthday balloon tradition.

Pizza Hut for lunch, her choice.

We sure do love this girl. Five, not without its challenges, has been fun so far. She is fun to talk with, I still love overhearing her play imaginatively, and it is a privilege to watch her grow and learn. As hard as it will be to send her off to kindergarten in the fall, I really believe she will thrive there. Praying for her along the way.

I am thankful for this sweet, spunky girl!

I have a five year old

Five. Adelaide is five.

After we celebrated her special day together as a family we had a chance to head home to Illinois and Missouri to celebrate with friends and family there. It was a short trip, but it was good for Addie, as she has missed her friends since we moved to Kansas.

I am challenged every day by this little girl. Challenged on what I am doing wrong as a mother, challenged to do better, challenged to remember that the days we have are the days she will remember when she looks back at her childhood.

She loves to have fun. She can be very social, but also needs time to herself to play and dream up scenarios for her Barbies and ponies and dolls. I love to over hear her playing and imagining - she does a great job at playing independently. Currently, she loves playing with smaller dolls and animals, figures she can set up and create little worlds in which they can play.

She still hangs back a little when it comes to new situations. She wants to check things out, watch other people, before she dives in herself. But, when she does jump in, she jumps all the way.

She's a bargainer, and will let us know how she wants to do things, even when she's supposed to simply obey us. She wants to be heard. Sometimes what she says is valid - sometimes it's just an attempt to stall and to do things her own way. Sometimes she is completely compliant, polite and ready to do the right thing.

She's a sweet big sister. She will speak for Olive, who is just learning to speak. At times she wants to be left alone, and other times she is Olive's caretaker, her protector. She is learning to share her space.

She's still not fond of goodbyes, although she is getting better. She has a memory like none I've ever seen. She likes to be silly. She likes to tease. She can be very sweet, loving, and thoughtful.

She is growing up. I see it every day in the way she handles herself. She makes me proud, she reminds me of me in good and not so good ways, she makes me laugh, she makes me thankful.

So many times I fail and so many times I wish I could rewind and redo. But each time she forgives me and we start over.

I am so thankful to be her mommy.

Happy Birthday, Adelaide. I sure do love you.

Miss Olive

My Olive is 18 months old.

I fear as she reads through this record of our lives some day, she may feel slighted - her first year has not been as well documented as it should have been. I am sorely behind in doing so. What a crazy year her first year has been for our family. But, I've said it before - she has been a source of joy in an otherwise uncertain time.

Olive = fun. She loves to have fun. She smiles big, toothy, drooly grins. She belly laughs when you tickle her or flip her around or nuzzle her neck.

She's her own little person, but if big sister is around, she'll willingly imitate her, whether it's mom-approved behavior or not.

She's still tiny, toddling around on sweet, spindly legs and wearing about a size behind her age in clothes. But those legs are long like her sister's, so finding pants to fit that tiny waist and those long legs is proving to be an ongoing challenge.

She's talking. This is one of my favorite things about this age. I love hearing this new voice. I've heard it plenty in yells and general noises, but now I hear the words apple, owl, yeah, Daddy, Maaaaaama, bowl, door, boo (moo), and many others. She roars and has her own words for baby and doggy, two of her favorite things.

She's my little bookworm. Ever since she was able to scoot over to the bookshelf and pull book after book after book down, she's been enamored. More often than not you can find her in a corner, on the floor, sitting on the couch, flipping through a book. She'll drag a book, bigger than her, over to you, open it up, and start pointing. She may even grab your hand and want you to hold hers as she points to pictures and looks to you to tell her what it is. It's likely she'll already know what it is, especially if it's an animal, but she may just want you to say it anyway.

She's running. Doesn't like the word no. Teases when she knows you want to change her diaper. Likes to hug. Has a personal rule of one pacifier in the mouth, one in the hand.

She's so much fun. There's something about this age that tempts me to want to freeze my kiddos, knowing full well that even more great times are ahead as they get older and, frankly, who wants to have to figure diapers in to the budget for the rest of time?

At times I feel sad that she's no longer quite a baby but I love being on the front row of watching her learn and grow and I'm so grateful she is healthy enough to do the things she does.

I'm so thankful to be her mommy. 

My ABC

Did you know that my Adelaide's initials are ABC? Adelaide Bell Chaney.

When we were naming her we knew her first name would be Adelaide, but what about her middle name? When my sister suggested our maiden name, it sounded right, we loved it...but then I realized her initials would be ABC. 

I wasn't thrilled with the idea, although Sabian loved it. It stuck, and I do love her name.

And I love her.

My heart feels a little sad for her lately. While moving to a new place can sound fun in theory, when it's lived out it naturally comes with challenges. When we told Addie we were moving she was excited, and we were excited with her, and we talked about the fun aspects of moving. We did talk about how it meant we would be leaving family and friends, but then we talked about visits to and from them.

Now, not quite a month later, I see the signs of transition playing themselves out in this sweet four, almost five, year old. And I feel sad.

I want to make it better. Quickly. I want to make it easy. Now. But it doesn't quite work that way. There are plenty of opportunities for learning and communicating and growing. I want it to be comfortable. Soon.

I find myself wanting to shield her from the not-so-fun side of all of this change, but I can't, and it would be counterproductive. I know that the best thing I can do for her is show her I love her. To listen, to be patient, to be gentle, to be understanding, but to not let her get away with bad behavior at the same time. And really, the best, best I can do is to surrender her little self to God and pray for her.

I know that if God has sent us here, He will provide in every way. I know it, but to be honest, I don't always feel it. But I know it and I do believe it.

I also know that this super strong little girl is going to adjust better than her worrisome mom, and that when she says, "I miss my friends," in the same minute she's off trying on the day's favorite princess dress and hunting down a crown and missing her friends moves to the back burner. While I know it's important to address the "missing of friends," I'm learning that it might just be more important in that moment to find the shoes that match that crown, and to trust that God is guiding and directing us and that He is taking care of my little girl.

So, I might be a little sad, but I do have hope.

I am so thankful for Addie and so thankful that God cares about the little things, the big things, and everything in between.