Frustrations
Currently, one of my greatest frustrations as a parent is how sometimes it is so difficult to accomplish anything. Of course, it's not always hard to get things done. But it is often enough that I always have to plan for the fact that it could be nearly impossible or simply not worth the effort. Sometimes I need to run real quick and change my clothes, or need to brush my teeth or something small like that. Kayla likes to go with me upstairs to do these things... but in the 30 seconds or so that I take to do them, she has emptied the bathroom drawer of my stuff and started taking some of it into the other room. Or she's pulled everything off our bed-side tables and is pulling things out of our clothes drawers. Or in the living room... if I'm sitting at the dining room table and she tries to touch the blinds (which she knows she's not allowed to do), I get up to open the blinds so she can't reach them and meanwhile in those 5 seconds she has climbed on top of my chair and is pulling stuff off of the dining room table! Or if she is eating lunch and I'm unloading the dishwasher, or trying to cook or something, she is over there throwing food on the flood or rubbing sauce in her hair! It seems like an endless losing battle and it drives me crazy! I get SO frustrated by these little things sometimes... it makes me not even want to try to get something done because it's more work that it's worth!
It's funny to me how the frustrations change as she grows (I realize this is an obvious concept, but it still is interesting to me). I remember a few months ago talking with David about how the #1 frustration I had with Kayla was regarding nap time. And now she typically naps great! There is a song that I heard on the radio several months ago. Ironically it is by Darius Rucker, the lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish, a group that I rather dislike. But he's gone solo in country music, and I've fallen in love with his song, "It Won't Be Like This For Long". The first time I heard it I was on my way to the YMCA and I literally was crying so hard that I almost had to stop driving. My eyes were red and puffy when I get there; It was rather embarrassing, actually! But anyway, David and I quote this song to each other often. Things won't be like this for long.... the current frustrations will change if we can just hang on. Those are rather comforting words for us when she is acting up. At the same time, it is so sad to realize how quickly she is growing and changing. We want to try to have extra patience with her because she is just learning so much right now and she doesn't mean to frustrate us. And in a few weeks we'll be talking about the way things used to be and it will be sad!
I'll copy some of the lyrics... as I wipe some tears away!
...It won’t be like this for long
One day soon we'll look back laugh'n
At the week we brought her home
This phase is gonna fly by
So baby just hold on
It won’t be like this for long
...
But right now she up and cry'n
And the truth is that he don't mind
As he kisses her good night
And she says her prayers
He lays down there beside her
Till her eyes are finally closed
And just watch'n her it breaks his heart
Cause he already knows
It won’t be like this for long
One day soon that little girl is gonna be
All grown up and gone
Yeah this phase is gonna fly by
He's try'n to hold on
It won’t be like this for long