Here’s a fun little post to break up your day with some Halloween cheer and complete toddler cuteness. I have to admit, I am (at times) the hot mess mom that does not have a costume till the very last minute and doesn’t have the cool Halloween giveaway treats for the class. I am lucky if I ever make the Halloween parade at school.
This year, in my attempts to find better balance, I promised that I would be ahead of the game – or at least not buying from the 10 costumes left in the clearance rack at Target while my daughter cries because the princess costume she wanted was all sold out. So here’s a little nudge and fun read to everyone that Halloween is right around the corner.
I’m often bored about the same old cartoon-inspired or Disney costumes. (Although – let’s be real, my daughter will probably still be a Disney Princess.) So I decided to do some recon, and here are the top 5 unique toddler costumes that spoke to me that I feel you could desparately put together with something in your closet. Well…here’s a blog post for you…the moms like me, who had to put together a last minute costume. Check these out for some inspiration!
Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hephburn – Feel free to laugh, but a last minute mom sees black and white sheets, over-sized glasses, and a pearl necklace. DONE!
IMAGE CREDIT: UNKNOWN
2. FLO – from Progressive – I love this, but even easier…white everything, blue headband, and a heart sticker with some red lipstick. HELL YA!
4. A League of Their Own – Here I see a red hat with a big R made out of construction paper, a pink dress with lots of stickers as patches, red socks and a belt. DONZO!
5. Hot Mess Mom – This would be my preference if my daughter wouold ever let me. LOL Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner, I know every mom has every piece of this costume.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! From my crazy mom life to yours. Hope your cups are filled with wine and your kids sugar crashed by 8 pm.
I’m late to the game here on the topic of Mental Health. It’s been a big topic the last few years, and it’s never meant so much more to me than after I became a mom. From all the stages we could go through as a mom, postpardum depression, mom guilt, to just plain, “I don’t know what the f*ck” to do moments,” I found myself in mounds of stress and very little sleep.
If you already know our story (like many others), we work a lot, at times, too much. And when I mean by too much, it’s the point where work or EVERYTHING else has grown into some obligatory priority that starts to impact your livelihood as a person, your relationships personally and with your family. The last few years have been that exactly. At some point, I didn’t know how to separate my life from my work. I was taking conference calls from birthday parties. I never let go of my laptop or shut it off while on vacation. I held my phone at all times anticipating whatever I was working on. And you guessed it! That went from annoying my family, to really pissing them off.
At some point in this journey, my marriage was greatly impacted, and my daughter was too accustomed to me being gone than I was comfortable with. Most importantly, I lost myself. Before working motherhood, I found time to cook, eat right, work out, and find time with my friends. Post motherhood and fast forward 2 years after having Everly, I went from working out nearly every day and playing competitive volleyball to sitting on my @ss, completely tired and barely finding the time to make dinner.
I never went back to my pre-baby weight. I never felt the same way. I lost confidence in wearing ‘nice things.’ I was too tired to do anything fun, and I gave up on my social life. I convinced myself that my true purpose was to make everything I could and provide money to fund my family life, and that later in the future is when I would get my time to rest.
Whoever said, “We will sleep when we die” maybe didn’t realize that doing that would send you to the grave ALONE, and FASTER.
THEN A MOMENT HIT ME…
I had attended a women’s conference, happily funded by my company (very awesome). It was meant to be career development focused for leaders, but I attended a session about prioritization. There were 30 women in the room. We were first handed a sheet of paper and given 10 minutes to write down everyone we take care of. I was certain I had it accurate. If anything, I started to feel bad thinking, “wow, do I take care of ENOUGH people?”
The instructor begins with, please raise your hand if you wrote down yourself on your list. I was thinking, “oh…wow, I definitely did not.” I looked around the room, and ONE WOMAN had raised her hand. ONE WOMAN out of 30 made a realization that she takes care of herself! The rest of us commiserated about how we definitely don’t do that.
That was a wake up call for me to focus on self care, and since that conference, I have tried very hard to provide myself the self care I need to sufficiently and happily take care of my family. No one likes a grumpy mom. NO ONE.
NO ONE!
Now, I want to bring this back to mental checks. The thing I had to realize is that mental checks don’t have to be negative, dramatic, or dire. I definitely don’t undermine diagnosis of depression, etc…, but my point is it’s okay to take a mental check for self-care when you start to feel like you are losing yourself. You don’t need to be depressed or anxious to realize you need to check yourself.
Waiting till you hit the bottom is like saying you aren’t going to have eat because you haven’t yet felt your insides trying to eat itself. For godsakes mamas, let’s FEED OURSELVES! We deserve it mentally. Don’t let any guilt take that away from you.
THE PROOF
Coincidentally, I came across an article on mental health days by U.S. News who reference Alison Ross. Alison Ross, a psychologist in New York City and an adjunct associate professor of psychology at City College of New York defines self-care as “taking a few moments on a regular basis to check in with oneself, to take stock of how they’re doing emotionally and physically. Are they exhausted? Overwhelmed? Burned-out? Completely depleted? Many people don’t do this in an ongoing way; they just go, go, go with regards to their work life and their home life, and this contributes to feelings of unhappiness, resentment and a sense of hopelessness about being on an endless treadmill they can’t get off of.” Ross encourages everyone to carve out “me time” that includes taking time to do something pleasurable. “This can include taking a mental health day off from their job,” she says.
– U.S News
I am purposely not looking at the camera because it annoys my husband.
And that’s what I did. That’s what I DO. This is the 3rd mental check day I’ve taken this year. The last few months I focused hard on work. I found myself slowing losing sleep. I was getting overly anxious with my travel schedule (I am going to be gone for 6 weeks straight in October). It was time for a mental check day. Today is about me. My daughter still went to school. I had coffee, I wrote, I am going to take a drive. At the end of it, I am going to feel refreshed. I will be more productive and patient than I was last week.
Here’s a reminder to you that you CAN take a mental health check day. Feed yourselves parents!
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Chores. There’s always more to do, and there’s always something to do. You see, I work from home. When I’m not traveling, I’m usually in my office, in front of a computer, on a WebEx also slightly annoyed or distracted by the fact that the kitchen is filthy and the laundry is not done.
(I literally stopped writing for 5 mins as I wrote the last sentence to put laundry in the wash, because I realized it would bother me.) Anyways, back to this blog.
I don’t know how we manage to do this, but even though we do get house-cleaning every two weeks, it takes us only 24 hours to absolutely ruin the place again (Dirty dishes in the sink and a million shoes stacked in the front entry way and on the stairs). During the weekday, my husband also has a 4 hour round-trip commute (yes, 4-hours in car and on the train to get to work which is another story) and is not around for the morning and typically not home till around bed time. This means the mess and dinner, are usually my responsibility and my annoyance.
This probably sounds like a story most of you have: Rush out the door, leave breakfast dishes in the sink, drop off your kid to school, start work, end work, and simultaneously cook dinner, watch your kid, and clean the mess that’s bothering you, while also trying to do the laundry, just in time to put your child down to bed at 7 pm. Which usually leaves me like this by the time my husband comes home
I felt like I was ALWAYS cleaning, and again, doing something completely separate from my daughter. I felt the guilt of ignoring her, and not giving her the full attention she deserved…not to mention the learning opportunities. So one day, I decided to talk to her about what I was doing while I was cleaning the kitchen, and why I was doing it.
Next thing you know, she says, “I want to help mama.”
And why not? I realized she is not really a “baby-baby” anymore (sobbing inside). She’s developing her independence at this age, both emotionally and physically. That’s what prompted me to start making some of our family chores more inclusive and use them as opportunities to teach her that we all help each other. (Not to mention, allow me to get some small help). Everly also does receive an allowance at the end of every week of 25 cents, which she knows is dependent on her completing her chores. She’s not used the money for anything, but does find joy in putting it in her piggy bank!
Here’s the top (non-exhausting) 5 Chores for Toddlers:
1) Sorting the Laundry
Every week, we do the laundry together. I dump out the clothes from our hampers on the floor, and I review with her the difference between “colors” and “whites.” She then digs through the laundry and puts them in two perfect piles for me. She is amazing at this. I had to check her for the first couple of times, but this was a perfect task for a toddler. TIP: It’s always good to explain the rules of the game every time to avoid confusion. Also, don’t leave them to do it on their own, but do something in parallel or help.
2) Putting all the front door shoe clutter away
I know some of you have this problem. The infamous front entry way or the stairway, cluttered with shoes and dirty socks from everyone in your family walking in and getting comfortable. For some reason, the stairs is a perfect catch all for sitting and leaving sh*t on. (*clink* – the sound of me adding to the swear jar). This was another awesome way to get Everly to MOVE and have a mission critical task – To bring her shoes into her closet (and into her bin) and to bring our shoes to our closet. It’s another great sorting chore, and one she especially loves when there’s a race – or if we’re racing!
3) Watering the plants
Watering the plants is by far, one of Everly’s FAVORITE chores. We have a few plants in the garden in our backyard that need watering, daily. If you haven’t fancied-it up with an irrigation system for all your plants, this is a great toddler-friendly chore. You can easily get a toddler-sized watering can from Amazon, and let her help you nurture your garden. It’s an opportunity for you to do something outside together and also teach her about the care of plants and living things.
4) Cleaning up after eating
This might not save you much work, but it does teach a toddler independence. Everly finds pride in showing me that she’s done with her food and will then slowly take her plate and utensils to the sink for me to wash later. You can also encourage your toddler to look for the napkins on the table to put them in the trash (if it’s accessible). I know many Montessori schools already emphasize this clean-up practice after eating, so why not emphasize it at home?
5) Clean out the backpack
When I pick up Everly from school, it’s usually packed with random napkins, leftovers from school, loose paper, and spare clothes. It usually needs to be emptied in some capacity. This is another really great help to me, and wonderful way for Everly to take responsibility for her things while learning about “sequence.” She takes out the items in her backpack. She does 3 things: 1) Throws away the loose papers 2) Empties out her lunch box (putting her bento box into the sink) and 3) puts the ice pack back into the freezer.
Whatever chores might be piling up on your to do list, think about which ones could be toddler-friendly for your family. Whether it’s any of these above, or others like feeding the dog, the types of chores that have worked best for us have been sorting, clutter-removal, or destination-driven tasks (i.e giving an item to my husband upstairs).
We hope you enjoyed our list of chores! We also always love to hear more of what chores work for your toddlers. Share them in the comments!
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The point is, most toddlers have an inside banche waiting to come out. And if you have a toddler, and have never had a meltdown, please write a book about how you managed to do that, and teach me. I would be willing to sell my soul for it.
Tantrums and meltdowns are the most draining parts of being a mom (for me). Most of the time, I don’t mind the constant clean up or the constrained schedules of nap and bedtime, but the irrational tantrums that I can NOT remedy with pure logic, is the bain of my existence. Many times, I’m pretty sure I look at my husband and say, “I think I’m not built to be a mom.” Everly is already a very vocal and strong willed little girl. For the most part, she is excellent at accepting the word, “NO,” but when her inner banche is unleashed, it’s a true live emergency. There are loud noises, screaming, casualties, and running, all from a small ticking time bomb.
Most of the time, we have to wait it out, but sometimes the wait is too long. Sometimes we don’t have the luxury of waiting when you are in a public place. I searched online for different methods, looked in my mommy groups, and this idea of a “calm box.” had come up a few times. It seemed too easy, but I thought I would give it a try.
What is a calm box?
The objective of a CalmBox is to encourage a child to take time, use some tools within the box to self-regulate and calm down their feelings of intense anger or emotion. I found these boxes are sold in a lot of places (For adults and children). But these can also be made in very inexpensive ways through sensory tools and activities that you can create for your toddler.
I personally love having a mix of both consistent activities/physical motions that my daughter can do to calm herself, and pair them with something that is sensory.
Here are the 5 different activities/exercises that we usually use when Everly throws her fit:
Smell the flower and blow out the candle. When she’s throwing her fit, I’ll hold an imaginary flower towards her, and ask her to smell the flower. To get her to exhale big, I hold up 2 fingers and tell her to blow out those candles. I repeat until she’s calmed down.
Put your hands in the air and breathe. Sometimes physically showing them to put their hands in the air is a small enough distraction to redirect emotions.
Touch your toes. Same as above.
Count my fingers. This encourages a pause from the situation by counting to 10.
Hold their hand on your chest while you hum. This sounds odd, but it’s part activity distraction and part sensory. Hum a calming tune your toddler will respond to, and they feel the vibration from your throat or chest which can be calming. If they’re able to, have them do this on their own.
On the sensory side, Lemon Lime Adventures has a great post about sensory hacks specifically for an angry child. Dayna is a National Board Certified teacher with Early Child Development background. I admired her story of parenting and the methods she used for her son who was diagnosed with SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder). She talks about how sensory is part of her child’s frustration and anger, and shared some really great sensory hacks posted below that I think are great additions to a calm box:
Use glitter glue to make these Lego Calm Down Jars. Simply shake and wait for the calming to begin.
Making worry stones for children to use when they are feeling nervous or anxious. Great to use in the car, at a desk or on the go.
These DIY stress relievers are a great hack to creating your own squeezy tool. Have kids squeeze and take out their anger on these instead of hitting or pushing others.
2 simple ingredients will help you make DIY Squeeze Balls for your child to use anytime they are angry. Squeezing the balloons helps provide proprioceptive input and organizes their sensory system.
Make a DIY Squoosh Box out of a cardboard box to give your child somewhere to calm down.
If you are looking for something to have on hand at all times, you can put together an anti-anxiety kit complete with essential oils, songs, and stress balls.
Will this work for every child? NO. Every child is different. Every child responds to things differently. If anything, we hope this gives you some inspiration, on other methods for calming your child’s emotions. Whether it’s a calm box, a time-out, time alone, or whatever, find what works for you!
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I confess…I lie more often than I want to, and it’s a bad habit. Please don’t judge me. Let me explain. Growing up, I had a very superstitious upbringing (being Filipino). I was fed stories of mermaids who could potentially grab and drown you if you stand too close to the river or monsters who ate only children. A horror movie in the making? You BET, and there have been many made since then. #gottalovefilipinoroots
As I grew older, I obviously saw the intent for these stories and swore to myself I would never use those tactics with my daughter. In fact, I set myself a standard to NEVER lie to my kid. I envisioned my very logical-self being able to reason with whatever my daughter would challenge me with. I swore to myself I would do this with the intent that my daughter would mature. I would use the same logical reasoning with my husband but with the patience of Mary Poppins. And honestly, I did pretty damn well in the first 2 years of Everly’s life.
THE EARLY NON-LYING STAGES
Everly was a smart and balanced little girl. She learned sign language early, and by the time she was 6 months old, she communicated with us. She was mellow andshe took “no” very well. Once she was a little over 1 year old, she was speaking. By 2 years old, she could hold a full conversation. We would go to Disneyland and toy stores where she would ask for us to buy her things. We would say no, and she would simply give them a hug and say ‘goodbye.’ If I asked her to eat something specific, and she originally refused, I was able to tell her WHY this was important, WHY she needed to eat it (logically), and she gave in. Then, something happened. I remember it vividly…
We went on a family vacation to Orlando when Everly was 2.5 years old. In the last few months prior, she had been playing with another 2 little girls at her school, which her teachers at the time warned me they were negatively impacting her. They were a little bossier and one child was physical. That’s another story for another time, but it did change Everly. In addition to that she was also turning into a threenager. She screamed, she didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. It was a challenge, but we stuck to our guns. Sometimes we won, sometimes she was in time out for a long time, but we were getting worn down.
We took a red-eye flight to Orlando (our mistake, which we will never do again). Everly didn’t sleep at all. We went to Disneyworld after we landed, hoping she would crash when she was tired, but instead, she was worse than a zombie. She was a flesh-eating, shrieking zombie who needed what she wanted and needed it now. She needed to see a princess, and if there wasn’t one available…MELTDOWN CENTRAL. The pepperoni on her pizza fell on her napkin…MELTDOWN. She wanted to eat, but she didn’t want to leave the room…MELTDOWN. This all happened before noon.
She was clearly overtired. It was a perfect storm of what she had been exposed to in the last few months, the development that she experienced going from baby to vocal toddler, and the fact that we all had NO sleep. And then it happened…
THE LIE…
It was dinner time. We were staying in the Animal Kingdom Lodge, conveniently with animals outside our balcony. She hadn’t had a proper meal all day. She was flipping out with the food that was on the table. She was screaming, pulling her clothes, yelling “NO,” and would just not eat. We were frantic trying to keep her volume down not to bother other hotel guests who probably thought we were torturing our child.
And I blurt out…”Everly, if you don’t eat and calm down the BEARS will hear you!”
And Justin, blurts out…”Yeah, and they’ll EAT YOU.” (as I whispered, “too far, babe, babe, too far.)
And Everly’s response?
She went completely silent.
Looked at us with big, wide eyes with a slight feeling of concern.
“Bears?”…she said.
“Yes, Bears…” I said in a nervous tone.
“Okay, then we better hurry.” Everly says, as she heads to the table, and complies, without a fight, without tears, and eats ALL her food.
We thought, what are we thinking? Bears??!! WTF – How messed up are we? But it worked… And we abused it. We’ve now taken it to another level.
When she fights sleep or fights eating, or can’t self regulate herself, the bears knock on doors.To this day (a year later), she still complies. She sometimes yells, “BEARS, DON’T COME, I’M EATING, okay?”
Do we feel like horrible parents? We totally did, and then I realized, YOU HAVE TO DO WHAT KEEPS YOU SANE AND YOUR CHILD HEALTHY.
Logic doesn’t always work with a child. When time is limited, reason doesn’t always work, and I don’t have hours to let her figure things out. We use bears. I stopped being critical of myself. I stopped letting judgment hit me on our methods. I don’t use it all the time. I use it when all else has fails and she’s at risk of impacting her health – eating, sleeping, self harm. Sometimes you need to access your crazy imagination to help your kids.
I think of the alternative. I could let her not sleep (or pass out). She will likely not pass out. She will be tired, cranky, upset. I could let her skip dinner, wake up hungry with stomach pains. I could let her cry until she’s done. I’ve tried this before (and she will outlast 45 mins). Her throat hurts and she’s upset.
OR, I can tell her the bears are coming. In the same way parents use Santa Clause, or the Easter Bunny. I chose the mythical creature. One day, I will tell her the truth. Until then, my child is rested, and happy and safe from the bears. Until the next time she decides she doesn’t want to listen.
Share this blog with someone who needs a reminder they’re not crazy…because there are crazier parents like us. 🙂
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Oh, The ‘coveted’ Mom Tribe! I never knew something I hadn’t heard about until I was in my 30’s was going to be so valuable in my experience as a mom. What is a mom tribe (or what I’d like to call a parent tribe)? A mom tribe is a valuable and irreplaceable group of moms (or dads) who will support you in every emotional crisis of being a mom. This tribe is who you go to when your crying on the kitchen floor postpartum after losing it because your newborn won’t sleep. They remind you that you are not alone. This is the tribe who you call when you’ve convinced yourself that you don’t know what you are doing because your toddler has just lost her sh*t the whole day . They remind you that you DO know what you’re doing. It’s the tribe you call when work has taken over your life, and the ONE day you are home with your daughter, she tells you to “Go back to Colorado,” (Side note: We live in California, and I travel to Boulder for work). The reminder you need to get it together because you’re a strong PARENT and what you’re doing is amazing.
You can see why this is such a coveted tribe. Guess what else I learned? I suppose I never thought of the day that some of my friends would be having children too, and some won’t. I also never knew that after having already evolved my group of friends from High School to College, and College to my adult life, that it would need to evolve again when I became a parent. In the beginning, it was awkward and guilt-ridden. I was trying to balance becoming a parent (while also still trying to maintain a career), taking care of a child, staying married, staying employed (and valuable), and if there’s any time left, spending it on me.
My weekdays are non-stop: School drop off, make the 7 am meeting, work through lunch, rush to pick up Everly, bring her to ballet, rush home to make dinner, clean up, put her to bed by 7:30 pm, finish whatever I was doing before, and CRASH at 9 pm. FIVE DAYS OF THIS, and all I want to do on the weekend is sleep. Some friends understood this, and some friends didn’t. That’s okay. It did highlight the need for a tribe. If I wanted to keep sane and not turn into a complete hermit, I had to make some friends. This meant opening myself up to new people, or rekindling with others who maybe had kids before me…of course, in addition to gravitating towards some of my other friends who were in the same phase of life as me.
I then realized, it was key to have the RIGHT people in your tribe. Having the wrong tribe can just add more drama and can fuel your insecurities as a mom. It took time for me to evolve the right balance of mom friends to create a tribe, and here are some tips I learned to ensure you have the right mom tribe.
1) Have a diverse tribe
It’s easy to find a mommy/daddy group, that meshes well, and does everything together. If you have this rare unicorn, that’s great! But make sure this group can support you in the different problems you might encounter in each facet of parenthood: Work, home, interfamily relationships, marriage, and aspirations! It’s important that you have someone in your tribe that you can go to for different things. No two moms are alike!
2) Have a Candid tribe
Being candid doesn’t mean your tribe can say ‘whatever’ they want, ‘whenever they want.’ It means that they will be honest with you, at the right time, in the right way. They don’t let issues “fester” and are honest with their relationship with you. This makes for a lasting friendship.
3) Have compatible parenting styles
I’m not suggesting you can’t be friends with all moms/dads. But when it comes to your tribe, there is an importance in parenting style compatibility. The time you have together has to be stress-free, and you have to be on the same page about how you may deal with your children (especially in public). Let me give you an example. If you’re a parent who emphasizes the importance of independence – allowing your child to explore, fall on their own, etc.. – it can be very stressful for another parent who doesn’t agree with those methods to have their child(ren) interact with yours while they see “Bobby’s mom act differently.” It might be a small difference reading it in a blog, but I have seen this first-hand cause stress among the kids and their parents.
4) Have a drama-free tribe
If you find yourself stressed out about what your tribe is going to say to you or behind your back, that’s a red flag. A true tribe should be your getaway. An opportunity to let go, be yourself and simply exhale. If you find yourself juggling gossip between your tribe friends instead of healthy venting, and you’re hearing a lot of complaining, then find another tribe. That environment can be toxic and contagious. Enough said on this one…
5) Have a tribe that supports you, not enables you
A strong tribe means strong women (or men), which means there is also some healthy tough love. As much as your tribe should be there to listen to your struggles as a parent, they should be there to help you through it, not just enable it. If they feed into your negative thoughts and consistently validate them – no matter how good it feels in the short term, it’s not healthy. You want to be understood and empathized with, but your tribe should also be willing to help see you through victory in these situations. They don’t just show up to hear the drama, they show up to help you through it in a positive way. They are the ones who show up to play dates, not just to take advantage of some playtime outside their home, but also help clean up! They are the ones who listen to your struggles but are also the first ones, yoga pants and all, to pour you a glass of wine and help you figure out what you’re going to do next.
I always heard that “It takes a village to raise a child.” They weren’t kidding and it also takes a village to keep you sane as a mother. I’m grateful for the tribe I have, and all the wonderful things they have taught me. Bonds from your tribe cannot be broken, no matter how often or infrequent you actually see each other. Cheers to all your rockstar parents, supporting other parents.
If you’re thankful for your tribe, tag them, and share this post with them. Thank them for keeping you sane.
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Meet Everly. The star of the show (and my life) and the “owner” (kind of) of the Oh, Everly! Boutique. Everly is a force to be reckoned with, as are most 3-year-olds, and at an early stage of her toddler-hood developed some strong preferences for ‘fashion.’
Let me preface this story first, by explaining to you, that as I grew up, I considered myself anti-dress and anti-pink. I wasn’t necessarily in the bucket of tom-boy, but I was a jock. I spent most of my ‘free-time’ (even after college until I had Everly) playing sports. My favorite color was green. I was critical of the idea of princesses because I was an ultra-feminist and hated the depiction of helpless women who needed someone else to save them.
That’s why it’s all too fitting that I was…blessed… with a little girl who is the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of me.
Even with limited access to TV and all my attempts to influence my child, she became a ‘princess-obsessed,’ ‘crown-wearing,’ pink-wardrobe loving girl. If there was a loud costume, she was going to wear it. There was nothing I was going to be able to do to change her mind. If that’s not proof of nature overcoming nurture, I don’t know what is.
In fact, she prefers to only wear dresses…EVERY DAY. She will only entertain shorts or pants if I can somehow reference a princess who wears the same things. Heaven forbid I try to bring up Dora the Explorer and her shorts and shirts outfit, where I am starkly reminded that she is NOT a princess. Dressing up Everly used to go like this:
Me: (Pulling out shorts/tights and a shirt for school)
Everly: (Freak out at immediate sight) What???!!!! Mom, no, please, no!!!! (hysterically crying…like the kind of crying you would hear if someone’s first born child was being taken away.)
Me: Evelry, this is cute! …(Finding other ways to convince her)…Princess X wears it. You’re dresses are dirty. You’re going to get them dirty because you play in the dirt!
Everly: (Still hysterically crying while mumbling)…I NEED to wear this cat dress with the sparkles on them. I NEED to mom…
15 Minutes of this back and forth happened almost EVERY day I didn’t have a dress ready for her to wear. Sometimes she won, sometimes I won. But it was painful.
Justin and I decided it wasn’t worth the hassle. It took me letting go of what I thought she had to wear or how she would ‘look’ at school or in public. (There’s, of course, a line there.) We decided that if our daughter felt so passionate about wearing specific things, and doing so wouldn’t hurt her, why stop her?
What do we do now?
We now go shopping with her regularly, where she picks out (you guessed it) A LOT OF DRESSES. We now hang them on the bottom rack of her closet. And guess what happened? MAGIC…
The next day, Everly woke up, and she independently picked out a dress (one of many which we approve for school) and dressed herself. She picked out a pair of shoes – HAPPY AS A CLAM, and walked into our bedroom to wake us up and happily tell us she’s dressed. The look on her face for this routine is full of pride, and I can see she FEELS good in what she’s wearing.
She does this almost EVERY morning.
Letting go of what I thought she had to wear made a world of difference in our lives:
It taught and encouraged my daughter to develop her own independence.
She is HAPPY!
We start the day off with minimal arguments
She’s got space to develop “herself” in a safe environment
We get occasional cameos of Princess Elsa and Princess Belle at grocery stores. Well…because princess costumes are for special occasions, like the weekend
She’s developed a fashion sense. While sometimes it’s a bit wild, I think she’s found her toddler calling.
OH, Everly… is what I think as all these stories of embarrassment, triumph, and humor rush through my head. After writing my first blog post – EVER – I learned quite a few things about myself. If you have already read the <meet us> post, you know I was hoping to share our story through our journey to find a semblance of sanity in a messy life that includes work and being a parent. I had always dreamt about writing a book to share my experience to anyone willing to read, but year after year, I left “writing something” an unchecked item on my list of New Year’s Resolutions(among many other things). I gave myself plenty of excuses: There’s not a lot of time. It will just impact the time I spend with Everly and Justin. How would I even start? No one would read it anyways. I’m a bad writer. I have so much to talk about and nothing to talk about all at the same time.
Lately, something felt different. I started feeling a wisp of inspiration around me – from my family and friends, and my daughter. As Everly grows into a little girl, I realized there are so many stories I wish I would have documented and so many that I should in the future. I began to realize that she was freakin’ hilarious, and that was enough to share and write about so my family and I can hold on to it in the future. I decided to stop thinking, start writing, and start up a WordPress blog. I sat down with a glass of wine (of course), and started to free-write. Day 3 of this journey, and this is what I learned:
Writing was therapy I didn’t know I needed – It forced me to really think through my thoughts, my experiences, and see how they impacted me and the mark I want to make with others. It was the self assessment I never have time to do, but is so crucial to my mental health.
I do have time – Because writing even just 2 posts purged my soul and my mind, I found it has given me time back. It gives me an opportunity to let things out so I can be more present in the future. It’s almost as if I was trying to read multiple books at once because my mind was processing all things – about my day, about my performance, and what I did or didn’t do, and about what I wanted to say. It has forced me to dedicate 30 mins a day to release what’s on my mind, which clears my mind to maximize my time with my family
It forced me to embrace the mom I’ve been thus far (even more so than I have before) – I get to look back and think, reassess what I did wrong, celebrate what I did right, and help me remember I am a good enough mom. Perfection is overrated! Writing forced me to look back at all I’ve accomplished as a mom, despite the obstacles of mom guilt and working, and it puts it all in perspective for me.
So moms and dads – find your therapy. You are an important piece to your family. What will be (is your therapy)?
Share or like if writing has been therapeutic for you.
Or comment below with things that you find therapeutic or something you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t.
I’d love to hear!
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Oh, Everly!... 
