It has struck me over the past couple days how much I feel like I am missing out on making amazing memories with Gen. It started when we went out with a couple of friends to the waterpark nearby for our family home evening with Gen and their two year old little boy. Afterwards, our friends invited us to go out to dinner to a fancier restaurant. Eric and I decided to take Gen home in between the waterpark and dinner and have Eric's parents babysit her. We met them at the restaurant and they had their little boy with them still. Somewhere along the course of the night they mentioned how they allow him to stay up till late and that he doesn't have a definitive bedtime. I felt a tug at my heart strings then, but yesterday I realized that after I got home from Young Women's Mutual that I normally would have just put Gen down to bed right then. I thought to myself why am I so worried about bedtimes and naptimes if I don't get to enjoy my daughter as much as I should, so I allowed her to stay up. I understand that when they are this young they need their sleep to grow and be healthy but there comes a point where you have to wonder--are we so structured that we aren't having any fun? (I have also come to realize, to be honest with you, that sometimes I am just putting her to bed at her "bedtime" in order to be able to have some "down time" for myself.)
This isn't how I want her childhood to be spent, so yesterday I let her play for as long as she wasn't tired and instead of eight she went to bed at nine, and I find that I am okay that she didn't go down at a scheduled time. I think the reason that this has been on my mind is that I have recently read articles from other blogs about similar things. View
here and
here. Both blogs I absolutely adore. If you have never read the second woman's
blog then I suggest you do. I especially love her post about the birth of her second daughter (who has Down's Syndrome) a couple of years ago. She has a book out that I would love to read called
Bloom. (It makes me cry everytime to watch this video for her book). I hope that I am making everyday of Gen's childhood memorable and if not I hope that I am trying too. I think this cutie deserves it, don't you?
p.s.-Sorry that this wasn't well worded I didn't have much time. Have a good Day!
I could have wrote this myself. I couldn't agree with you more. I too follow the blog with the 2 little girls. I would love to read her book. She inspires me to be a more creative/fun mother. We have been letting Ellie stay up later for about 2 weeks and I love having the extra time with her. However, she has stopped sleeping through the night, possibly as a result- not sure. We are going to have to start putting her back in bed at bedtime and see if that will help. I am trying to be more creative and focus on the time I have with her during the day. Every minute that passes is 60 seconds we will never get back. Such a sad thought, if that minute is wasted!
ReplyDeleteGen is such a doll. I love seeing pics of her. We still need to plan a play date :)