Sometimes it takes I LOVE YOU....

So I take care of a wonderful, sweet two-year girl.  We are preparing for her to become a Big Sister on September 7th.  However she knows she'll be more grown up once the baby comes, since she turns three in October.

The morning however hasn't been one of the best mornings we've shared together.

I won't go into detail, but the last ten minutes stand out to me.  Every day we have a routine after lunch.  We pick up from lunch and I let her know how many books we have time for (for me to read to her).  She usually likes to guess, which is pretty cute.  Her voice is enough to make you smile. :)

Today I chose three books.

I told her to go pick them out and I would be right there.  When I got in her room she had a pile of around 10 books lying on her rug.

"Honey, I said three books.  Can you pick out just three?"

So she takes out three books and tells me to put them away, meaning the rest of the books are for me to read.  Sorry, that's not what I meant.

I laid all the books out on her rug and told her to pick three of them for me to read, and then to help me put the rest back on her bookshelf.  That got accomplished faster than I thought it ever could.

I start reading the first book.  A new "routine" is me sitting on a chair and she sits on her beanbag chair and I read them to her like they do at story time.  It's worked since August first.  However, today after the first book she decides she wants to read them.  I told her she could read one of them while I read the other one (done this before).  No, she wasn't excited about that.  Which is odd for her...but I guess not odd when you're two.  She was pretty upset and didn't want to sit down anymore.  I asked her to please sit down so we  could read.  She didn't want that.  Then she told me we were done reading and it was time to put them away. As soon as we started to do that she decided it was time for me to read again, realizing it wouldn't complete our normal routine.  So I said okay, as long as she sat down.  Sitting down again, I began to read.  Not before my first sentence read, did it start to upset her again.  I told her it was time to put the books away and go for a nap (it was her tired cry).  I've been with her for five months now, and I feel like she is my own.  I know every cry, whimper, and plea.
So I told her I would continue to read if her happy voice can back.  She didn't want to, she just wanted to cry.  Since I gave her the warning, I couldn't go back on my word.

I put the books away and I picked her up and sat her on the potty...the thing we normally do after reading books.  I stayed on the routine!  I stayed calm the whole time, thank you Jesus.  After I got her to sit on the potty, while she cried and cried and cried the whole time.....I let her flush, pull her stuff up, and helped her wash her hands.  Like we always do.  She was happy finally and giggled with me as we washed hands.  Her smile can melt your heart for sure.

I helped her back to her room and tried to get her tucked in for nap.  She wasn't excited about that.  Reminded her of her sleep rules and she told me she wasn't going to follow them and not lay down in bed.  I told her she would have a time out after nap time if she didn't lay down.  She then laid down for me but not long after started to really cry.  I closed the door and started to fold laundry.  After a few minutes she changed from crying out to mom/dad and started saying, "I need you Ma-dy!  I need you!"

So, that's what it feels like when you are a mom! Geesh!

I wanted to cry back out to her and say, "I need you too!"  But I knew if I just leave her for awhile, she would probably fall asleep soon.  She was so wiped out.  I texted her mom and she said she didn't have a nap yesterday and she should go down for a nap early today, so that helped me feel better about my decision. (It's hard when you've been away from a child for four days and you come back not knowing how they've been doing.)
So not long after calling for me, I started to hear her say she had to go poopy.  I questioned back and forth and decided to go get her up.  She usually poops before nap, and she hadn't yet.

I went down to get her and she stopped crying as soon as I opened the door.  I picked her up and told her:

"I love you Norah.  Know that I love you.  I'm sorry you are sad and upset.  Let's go to the bathroom."

She ended up not going, but I ended up with a sweet little girl who stopped crying and is sleeping now.

Sometimes it's good in the hardest times with kids, just let them know you love them. :)
Just like the Lord reassures us.

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