my anxious child

Sophie is officially scared of her own shadow.
 I put her down for the night and a a few minutes later she started screaming. I try to be a good mother so I ran to her, did the comforting scoop up and nuzzle and set about seeing what was the problem. "A shadow! A shadow!" she managed to screech around her terrified gasps. I looked at the wall and there was her silhouette smashed up against mine. It took me almost 45 minutes to calm her down. I was almost fed up with her other fears:
~ stinkbugs
~ladybugs
~hair washing
~dogs
~cars
~diaper changes
~does daddy miss her when he's away?
~not touching me every moment of the day
~etcetera, etcetera, etcetera (<-please read this in the way king in 'The King and I' said it. It's just better)
But in the (very lengthy) time it took me to comfort her I think I had a few breakthroughs in my own heart about how I can best deal with her. A few words kept swimming through my head.
 #1: Be slow to anger.
        I need that. The first few upsets of a day I can handle but by bedtime I'm just thinking (and occasionally saying) "Would you just shut up already?!" Lots of praying for me to be a more patient mommy. I make my kids pray for that too. It helps us understand each other if we pray for our faults together (or I like to think so at least)
#2: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything give thanks.
       This is the direction in which I felt I should urge my daughter. I laid next to her reminding her of everything she has in her life for which she can be thankful. From a good brother who flushes stink bugs for her, to a daddy that treasures her, to warm socks and yummy cheese. Seriously everything I could think of. She slowly relaxed, but took a bit of coaxing for her to be okay with me leaving.

a little explanation

I haven't been happy with the blog heading for a while but never could quite articulate what I wanted it to convey. I was listening to Dean Martin earlier today (love me some Dean Martin), and when he stared crooning about sweet sweet family love I decided to steal his lyrics and adopt them as my own. If you aren't, at least, humming that song by now, you probably need a refresher.

Taking her seriously.

Sophie has started announcing, as she enters a room, "I not kidding Guys!".

Stuffed eggs

The kids helped crack, peel, and stuff hardboiled eggs today. It was a huge hit. I was explaining to them that this dish is named Deviled eggs, or sometimes stuffed eggs because of the stuffing. Emanuel matter-of-factly informed me that the last egg he had handled was actually a stuffed egg because he had stuffed it into his mouth.
No, patience is not a prevalent virtue here.

The king has spoken

King Emanuel informed Queen Betsy and the princesses Sophie and Mommy that, "We're not people anymore; We're Majesties.

them's fightin' words

Emanuel: "This is not Kung Fu, this is Jumpy-Kicky Bad Guy Killing!"

how we eat

I do not like ripe bananas. If there isn't discernible green on the peel I won't eat it and would prefer to not smell it or touch it. It just gets too sweet and mushy and banana-y. Unfortunately the bananas that I bought on Saturday are past what I consider edible.
Betsy however had no such reservations and ate 2/3 of a banana! That's the most she's ever done, because usually we share and I'm faster than she. She was kind enough to share the remaining 1/3 with her big sister, who is the fastest banana eater in the whole wide world! (side note: my dear son loves exaggerate and say, "Whole Wide World!" about everything. I love it.) Betsy never really seemed that interested in eating (drinking?) until she started solid food and she has taken to that like a champ. She's never turned down anything!
Sophie is a little bit pickier, but not much. Dustin had some jalapeno pretzel crackers and the kids were begging for some. He doubted they would like them but shared anyway. Emanuel popped his in his mouth and then popped it right back out, whining that it was hot. Sophie kept asking for, and eating, more and more, until she was cut off.
Emanuel is very picky and opinionated. He puts on his apron and declares himself chef. If I switch up the recipe on any of our regulars, he gets very upset and informs me that, "These are not the right ingredients."
It seems like my children are constantly hungry so we eat five times a day usually. Breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner. If for whatever reason they do not finish their breakfast or lunch, that food is saved and must be eaten before they are allowed any snack food.
Snack foods are more fun foods, fresh or dried fruit, crackers, rice cakes, cheese cubes, etc. Lately we've been enjoying our snacks while sitting on the kitchen floor. This was Sophie's idea, and somehow it's really fun and cozy.
Dinner is the only meal we share with Dustin and usually we all sit at the table together. We do not always eat the same foods. Dustin and I love spicy and exotic foods, and our kids, well, don't. It's not at all unusual for them to have a sandwich while Dustin and I indulge in something a bit more grown up. Occasionally, if I'm late getting dinner started, we'll just feed the kids and put them down and really enjoy a nice dinner together.
If there is any dessert to be had we dish it up and eat it on the sofa after the kids are in bed. It's one of our favorite times of the day. Sweet food, Sweet company, Sweet life.