Hey Yall! All of my friends and family ask me how I manage to make things look easy....... Ha! That makes me laugh! Motherhood is nothing even close to "easy". There are days where I (like I'm sure all other mothers do) (or so I like to tell myself that all other mothers do) hide in the bathroom and just cry, but that's ok. Its ok to acknowledge that we are not perfect. For example, this picture is of my daughter drinking a sugary "blue juice" at 7:45am on the way to the babysitter because I ran out of heathery things to drink.
It happens. She was delighted to have it, I was cringing as I handed it to her, feeling like I had already lost the battle for the day. But life goes on. That's what Motherhood is, winning some days and losing others.
I have learned that if I need to get something done, like grocery shopping or laundry or cooking dinner, it makes things easier on me if I have them help. "HELP?!?!" Yes, help me at the grocery! I know that when I tell my friends this, they laugh, but my kids LOVE to help me with things like this! They are at the age now where they are learning everything and they enjoy getting to do "big kid" stuff like cross off the grocery list, or place the biscuits on the baking sheet, or dry off the dog after going out to pee-potty in the rain. So my blog is about my little tricks-of-the-trade to make life a little easier being a mommy to toddlers.
1. Birthday cards are expensive and I HATE buying them! Am I the only one??? So what I do is let the kiddos pick out a couple cheap ones (Kroger has them for 99 cents, or the Dollar Tree has them for 2/$1) and then take them home to let them decorate! We have OODLES of stickers and crayons so I just let them create whatever they want to. Lets them show off their "artwork" to the birthday person, and keeps them busy for a whole 15 mins (if I'm lucky)!
2. " That's MINE!" "NO!! That's MINE!" ....... sigh. Almost everyday we have a situation where they are confused about who's is who's. So at our house, a heart means Sissy's, and a start means Bub's. This is easier right now since my daughter is only 3 and she cant quite recognize her name yet. So stars and hearts work great!
3. The grocery.... (dramatic music) .... the dreaded place where I used to HATE to go with my kids. One was always running off and one was trying to put random items in the cart, and then its the long sigh with "ARE WE DONE YET?!?!?!" So at the age my kids are now, we can assign "job's" and at this point and time, it is going great! My son's job is to check items off the list as we go. He is going into the 1st grade so we make it fun with sounding out words that he doesn't know and it becomes a great learning experience for him. He also calls off things that we haven't gotten yet, and my daughter's job is to find them. Like a scavenger hunt! She enjoys finding the items and placing them into the cart.
This is a picture of my list from the other day.... and the little note attached to the bottom. He melts my heart! :)
The second job is to help place the items on the belt. Our local Kroger will give both of the kids stickers if I request them, and they cant wait for that sticker at the end of our shopping trip! Taking those stickers home and placing them on a paper hanging on their doors is like a trophy to them! :)
Also, our Kroger gives out free cookies in the bakery and has little taste tester stations along the way of the store, which my kids LOVE!
The last part of the grocery trips is putting things away at home. As I am bringing in the bags, both kids are opening and placing all the items on the kitchen table. His job is to sort the cold vs. box/can goods, and hers is to pickup all the bags. Once all of the groceries are put away, we get a snack and both get a dollar!!! Woot Woot!
These tricks wont always work for me as my babies grow, but right now..... they are lifesavers!
I hope my tricks work for you, too. Let me know if you have some of your own. :)
Ashley
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