I have a new thing. I wake up early on the weekends. It’s not on purpose. I don’t set an alarm. It’s just been happening and I’m enjoying it. It’s super quiet when no one else is awake. Except for my cat who is sitting next to me staring at me and purring and trying to convince me to go back to sleep. No dice, Oreo, I’m up. (PS, when I say early, I mean, like 7am. It’s now 8:13am and everyone in my house is still asleep. To all of you moms of babies who are up at 5AM, soon that baby will be approaching the “tween” years and you will get to sleep in again. Promise.)
I want to write about my kids. I *must* be the best mother in the world because my kids are pretty awesome people. They are kind and smart and funny and they do things every day that surprise me. They actually inspire me to be more like them. They can also be obstinate and whiny and challenging, but I like those qualities as much as I like kind and smart and funny. Obstinate tells me they won’t give up easily on things. Whiny tells me they are using their voices to express their feelings and argue for what they want. Challenging tells me that they will question authority when they need to. I try so hard to not squash those things in them that might make it difficult to parent them now because I know they are as important as being kind and smart and funny.
And now one of my kind, funny, smart, obstinate, whiny, challenging kids is up. Better go parent.