I have been having an identity crisis lately. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be "Mommy," "a mermaid," "a princess," "a deer" or a "witch". We have entered the land of imagination big time in our household. It begins at sun-up and does not end until sun-down.
I love all of the extra time I have with my girls. It has provided me with so many opportunities to interact with them. I love to read to them. I love to color with them. I love to do puzzles with them. I love to swing, dance, chase, hide, twirl, wrestle, laugh and veg. However this new activity of constant role-playing is really, really annoying me. I don't have another word for it.
What is strange is I enjoy acting. I've taken some acting classes. I've done a bit (wee bit) of amateur acting. I have read scripts, received direction and redone scenes over and over again. But when it comes time for Mommy to turn into a deer, resting in the grass, waiting for the baby deer to bring her flowers and then wake up and say, "ohhh what pretty flowers".... I just can't get into character.
I'm not sure if it's the timing of day (or that it's all day!). I feel like I always have some other task I am trying to juggle at the moment when I am asked to put on my mermaid face by my three year old.
We have been off schedule a couple weeks with vacation and such. Syd just had her dance class yesterday, and it had been a couple weeks. It was a good thing for her. When I used to hear about moms putting their kids in this class and that class, I thought to myself, "sheesh, give the kids a break. Let them just play." Some kids, though, I think really need that class, structure, activity to look forward to in order to keep them moving.
In a little over a month my Syd is going to be starting pre-school. It's just twice a week, but I get misty at the thought of it already. However, I think she is ready! She really thrived when she was in school before. School time will allow her to use that little whipper-snapper brain of hers in a variety of ways, in a new setting.
I just hope when it's imagination time at school, that whoever is role-playing with Syd, they know she gets to hold flowers. The baby deer always gets to hold the flowers, the other deer just smells them.
It floats and dances in the air,
though its color is what makes her stare.
Her Sis gazed high to spot the moon.
This little girl loves her balloon.
High in the sky, attached to a string,
Playfully bouncing...what joy it does bring.
The balloon is simple, follows her with a jiggle.
Oh, to see her eyes bright and to hear that giggle.
This is a picture of me when I was around 10. Yes, I am sporting a sequined glove, a la Michael Jackson. I made the glove from a kit. This was how I passed the time on my vacation with my family in Minnesota. I posted this picture on Facebook today, so figured I'd spread the fun on here too!
I was very happy when I stumbled upon this picture, actually. It took me awhile to locate it. This picture brings back a lot of memories for me. I, like many people from my generation, haven't really thought about Michael Jackson in years; but the event of his death has sure stirred up some fun memories that his music and entertaining style brought to my life.
This picture is also interesting because I mentioned above that I was on vacation with my family. This was not a common thing. Since my parents divorced when I was an early age, I didn't spend summer trips to the beach. And since I was an only child, I don't have those stories of fighting over the middle line in the car. I did visit northern Minnesota a couple times with my mom and grandparents or with my mom's immediate family. And I do remember the car ride up to this resort...and it was dreadful. However, I also remember how pretty the resort was and how much fun it was. The saddest news about this beautiful vacation spot is that it is now dead too.
A few years ago I was up in Minnesota and we drove by this place. It was no longer a resort but a overgrown grass and weed plot of land. The cabins were all dirty and sagging. The signs of life were all gone and the lake looked sad. This was a very strange moment in my life. It was so odd to have such vivid childhood memories of a place and see what it had become years later without any care. This was the first time I had ever experienced anything like this. It was the first time I realized really just how old I am...and truly how fast time goes by. It had only seemed like yesterday that I'd been there and the resort was full of laughs. Then in a blink, a place I knew no longer existed. I've driven by old places I had lived before and maybe the paint had changed, or the trees had gotten taller; but to see a place turn into a ghost town was very...haunting.
I find this picture also so apropos since my family and I just returned from our vacation. We spent the holiday weekend driving in our van many, many hours, through three states, over two thousand miles. We took a family vacation. My husband and I spent a great deal of time trying to point out the animals and water towers and mountains and trees and beauty of nature. The girls were kind and looked most of the time as to what we were trying to point out. They also gave us the in unison "wowww!" We were, however, dealing with the attention span of toddlers, though. Now that I think about it, I wonder if when they're teenagers it'll be better....probably not.
What I do hope though is that as our family continues to plan and go on family vacations and see new things and experience new places and take pictures of it all. I hope our girls are able to embrace it all and hopefully take with them found memories from them. Because in a flash, time zips by and you're looking back at that girl you once were, on vacation, by a beautiful lake, sporting a killer, sparkly hand accessory. Good times!