Almost Christmas Eve!

I am so addicted to Lucy. Sigh. She's just so stinking cute and I love her to bits. She's going to be spending 5 nights away from me next week. I'm excited about having time with Andrew before PJ arrives, but I don't feel like a vacation is coming at all. We have a few dates planned and I plan on sleeping in every single morning, but I'm still just sick with anxiety at the thought of Lucy leaving me for even a few hours. I'm just going to miss her way more than is humanly possible. I have no idea how I can be a stay-at-home mom with NO help in the area and still want to be with her 24 hours a day, but I guess God works in mysterious ways.
She's having SO much fun having her daddy home this week! She's going through a huge Daddy phase and spends much of her time alone with me yelling for "Daaaaaa-eeeeeee!!!" so I'm really glad he's got the opportunity to spend that time with her when she's actually just spending her days wishing he were here anyway. We've been having plenty of family snuggle time in the mornings, relaxing a little bit on naps so that she and Daddy can cuddle and pushing bedtime here and there to have more fun. Once that pesky molar came in, our good sleeper came back to us and she's consistently doing good naps and easy bedtimes again, which is a huge relief. She really had me in panic for awhile, there. It's really hard to see your incredibly happy kid so miserable! Our new schedule has helped out a lot and I've been working really hard to follow good sleep routines during the day. As long as she does her hour in her bed or at the very least falls asleep alone for awhile, she's allowed to come downstairs and cuddle and chat or go back to sleep if she needs more rest. We've loosened up on Playhouse Disney again as well, and as long as she's cheerful and following a decent routine throughout the day, she's allowed to wake up slow in the mornings with her milk and whatever's on. She wakes up like her Daddy and needs plenty of time to get moving, so Playhouse Disney is our compromise. I'd much rather let her wake up quietly watching The Wiggles than shock her into the day and have a cranky kid for the first half of my day.
I'm slowly learning that I need to parent her the way that works for us and in whatever way produces a happy and adaptable kid. As long as she continues to grow into a civilized person and is thriving, we try to give her plenty of freedom in her own home. We bought this house because it's so perfect for our kids to be themselves in. Sure, the floors are worn and the walls are dinged up, but there's nothing that can't be repainted or cleaned. I love our old house because you can just feel life in it. We encourage Lucy to "help" with the dishes and the cooking, even if it means extra clean-up time. We allow her to climb up the back of the couch to watch for cars- how else will Andrew see her waving with her entire body every time he leaves and arrives? We put a chair at most of the windows so that she can see the neighborhood; sticky handprints are the least of our worries. We encourage uncontrollable splashing in the bathtub. It's a bathroom, after all. We eat chocolate before lunch more than once a week. Life is far too short to limit chocolate. Ask anyone. We try to wrestle on Mommy and Daddy's bed at least once a day. It's a terrible bed anyway. Toddlerhood is just too brief to follow all the rules, and if we had to follow all of them she'd be spending an awful lot of time in time-out...and I'd be in the looney bin.
Broken rules aside, I'm so proud of the little heathen we're raising. She manages to be such an obedient and caring little girl. She understands that outside of "her" house, we ask her to act like a young lady and to be well-behaved. She's such a gem and loves to make us proud. I adore taking her out and have very few complaints about her behavior in the past few months. She's turning into a very good little companion and I'm very confident about where she's headed.
I'm excited about next week, but I'm going to miss the little savage an awful lot.

And tomorrow is Christmas Eve! Stay tuned for all of the awesome pre-Jesus festivities!