A Day in the Life of Little

Kids can suck the life right out of you. If they also sucked the fat out, at least I would be exhausted and skinny. But no such luck. Once upon a time, I was healthy, active, and upbeat. Now, a mere 13 years after I've had my children, I'm a crumpled shell of my former self.

You always hear folks saying about children, "I wish I could bottle their energy!" Ain't that the truth. And the more hyper, the more intense, the more 'spirited' those kids are ... the more rapidly they age you. I am old before my time. Both my girls stopped napping at 12 months. Not because I wanted them to! They just didn't need the sleep. My girls are energized bunnies, running on some internal power source that defies my ability to find the 'off' switch. Every hour those kids don't sleep, is one more gray hair on my head. I have a lot of gray hair.

At times as a parent you might think, "I can't wait to get through this stage." Like those early baby years - the sleepless nights, the endless diapers. But it doesn't last forever. Some of the most beautiful sounds you can hear are the toilet flushing and the sink water running … as your child outgrows diapers and moves forward into a new time of life. Every age and stage has both its challenges and its joys.

It's funny ... we used to call our younger daughter "Little" because she was just a peanut. And now we have friends with younger kids who call her the big kid. Life marches on. Sometimes it marches right over you.

When my kids were small, I did publicity for our local M.O.P.S. group (Mother's of Preschoolers.) I found an article I wrote in one of our newsletters about "Little" that still cracks me up. So I'd like to share it. It's a reminder that they do grow up fast. So try to enjoy your kids, even if they can make you a little crazy!  

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A Day in the Life of Little

We call her "Little." Little is our two year old daughter. The nickname indicates her diminutive size but does not describe the incredibly huge amounts of trouble she gets into. 

A typical day for Little will include:

• Trying to climb into the oven (thankfully cold) while my back is turned. "While my back is turned" can vary from 10 seconds to a minute, but no longer, because as our 8 year old commented, "When she's playing and we can hear her, it's fine. When it’s quiet, you better find her fast 'cause there's sure to be trouble."

• Stacking my glass spice jars 5 high while perched precariously on a shaky little plastic 4-drawer organizer jammed between the kitchen table and the kitchen counter.

• Having a party with the sugar bowl, after climbing on the above kitchen counter. Sometimes this includes making her way across the entire length of the counter and the sink to peek into the cupboards above the (thankfully cold) stove top.

• Commandeering "read: stealing" tea from my teacup. I haven't had a cup of tea to myself in months. Little has several tiny plastic play teacups in her arsenal. She will get one and dunk her cup into my ceramic tea cup. She's a precise child, always turns her cup so the rose pattern faces her and she can grasp the tiny handle on the right. Drinks her thimbleful of tea. Then she dips, and repeats. Dips. Repeats. I don’t believe the expression "tea for two" meant quite this. When Little has drunk her fill all that's left is backwash and a memory.

• Then there are the frequent escapes from the house. We have had to install deadbolts on certain doors to prevent our little Houdini from escaping unexpectedly. If the front door isn't latched tight with the extra lock fastened, she will pop out of the front door like a jack in the box. Whoever is closest will charge out after her and retrieve the wayward child. My favorite of her escape attempts was during a particularly severe nighttime rainstorm. There was of course no time to put on a coat (much less shoes) for the chase. Squishy, squinchy, squelchy socks.

• Little enjoys water play when she can get it (rainstorm or tub, it doesn't matter.) In between regular baths she likes to scale up the bathroom vanity, toes clinging to the drawer ledge to play with the water in the sink. Splashing happily away on the walls and the floor as well. Good way to get me to mop, I guess.

• Pantry raids are a favorite activity, too. If we are watching TV, Little will bring us all sodas. She will conveniently have her tiny teacup at the ready, waiting for us for serve her the coveted beverage. If we do not open the soda, she will raid the pantry again and bring more sodas. We call this the "take the hint" technique. This also applies to any snack food she can reach. Raid. Repeat. 

Then there's the whole potty training fiasco. I repressed the whole experience from my first daughter. Now I get to 'potty' all over again with the new kid on the block. I know that Little is ready for this stage: she's quite aware when her diaper is wet (or worse). Sometimes if we're lucky she will gleefully take it off and carry it to us to show us the contents. She’s happy as a clam to wave bye-bye to the poopy pebbles as they go down the toilet. I can't say the potty chair is completely ignored, though; she uses it as a step stool to reach the light switch in the bathroom. On, off, on, off. Repeat endlessly. But to actually use the potty? Not going to happen any time soon. Regardless of the fact that I am ready for her to be ready. Ah, well.

This is a typical day in the life of Little. I thought my older daughter was difficult at that age; I now know she was just a warm up to prepare me for the real deal. I wonder sometimes which of my kids is going to get me first, one from an ulcer, or the other from a heart attack. But for all the craziness in my life, I really am thankful for both of my girls. I'm also really thankful that they’re not twins.