These are my two babies . . . when they were still babies. It’s one of my favorite pictures. I remember this being a challenging trip. We were down in Atlanta to see friends and my husband got sick and had to go to Urgent care in the middle of the night. And this was them at the hotel before bed. They were both eager for those bottles and then just sat there sucking on them waiting for my next move. Just staring. So many expectations or just wonder I guess.
What’s next mom? What’s next on the agenda? What exciting thing will you entertain us with next? What are we going to have for dinner mom? Who’s going to come over for playdate mom?
The list goes on.
When I was a kid, we found our own playmates down the street and only sometimes did my mom formally arrange them. But sadly, a lot of that part of America is history. I look down the street and rarely see kids out at play.
This photo. When I look at it, I see the little expectations again and I see two innocent and helpless
little human’s I am in charge of taking care of. Nourishing them. Teaching them everything. Comforting them when they are upset and helping them build their confidence. Helping them to build their own confidence as they learn to do things for themselves, and become quite stubborn in insisting to do it themselves. And then after all those seemingly never-ending small expectations. Filling a bottle, then a sippy cup, then one day they stop asking you and get it for themselves. And little by little they grow up.
They take pride in their accomplishments and suddenly develop expectations of themselves. My 4-year-old would barely sit down to finish a coloring page or a drawing, then suddenly overnight it seems he has been sitting and patiently coloring and drawing pictures constantly. And I love this because not only is he developing his creativity but learning to express himself in a healthy manner. Emotions of love or stress and frustration can come out in his drawings and it helps me to see more of what he is going through and open up a door of conversation on the topic.
I have also noticed he gets too hard on himself. Perhaps that is the artist’s blood in him, from our family of artists that expect a little too much of themselves. But how else do you grow if you never push yourself? Anyway, we are learning that it is ok to color outside the lines sometimes.
Have a little artist in the house with the abundance of sweet little creations? Here are some great tips for organizing all that artwork.
The kids love these! They will spend anywhere from 15-30 minutes flipping through them and imitating the voices of the different pictures. While Madeline is not picture reading yet, she will “picture” read to Milo. Aside from books, I will hand back one little toy at a time for them to play with and when they seem to get restless and are done with it we switch or move onto another little toy. Madeline loves these 
. She likes mixing and matching the different little outfits. Between toys, games and books, we pulled out little snacks here and there.
or iphone that they were quickly eager to use them and NOTHING but them! So my advice, wait to pull them out as long as possible. We did not have a 
for the ipad at the time, so when the battery was gone, it was gone for the rest of the ride, so we prioritized only pulling out the screens once it got dark! It is hard for the little’s to entertain themselves when they can’t see anything! So then we put on a movie for them.
to learn her states and see the different places we have visited and lived. Anyway, we just laughed and explained how far we were and reminded her of all the fun places we were going along the way.
for the kids so I was not twisting awkwardly back to help pick up whatever they dropped or what they want again and again. Don’t get me wrong, stuff will still find its way to the floor but I know that the kids would have loved their own little “stations” to help themselves to snacks or whatever they are wanting. Also, when it comes to reading books and coloring, they really needed something to lean their stuff up on so it didn’t slide off their laps as easily.
to take everything we needed!
is a 
. It was so peaceful. Those HOT summer days in North Carolina can get sticky and uncomfortable, so that is a great way to kick the heat.
it doesn’t pick up mud and dirt and I don’t bring the mess with me. It is also lightweight!
.
in the car ready to go!
3 times while we were on the east coast and I loved it. I think the most fun we had with actually swimming on the beach was at the end of the summer once the kids had gone back to school and we didn’t fall into that category yet so it was cheaper to rent a house with my family and we just had a blast! The other two times we went at the beginning of May and it was still a bit chilly since the season hadn’t started but still pleasant. The little ones really just love the giant sand box that is the beach anyway. I dressed the kids up in some adorable 
there in Kill Devil Hills (which gets its name from the heavy wind (which could kill a Devil). You can read more about our adventures from our first year trip to the Outer Banks 
! Why they are called Hush Puppies? Apparently, they use to feed them to the dogs to keep them quite during hunting… “hush puppy”! Why that should make you excited to eat them… they are not just for dogs! lol… but seriously amazing though!
and this 
which Milo loves as it is the perfect height for him to play with.
and 
or a small wrench
or light ivory cotton for the under gill of the mushroom
and 
and 
of your choice to match
, flat foam scraps or old grocery bags + 1 large trash bag
of water
or small shovel
for mixing cement
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