Tiny Fingers; Terrible Twos; Enormous Potential

I'm not going to lie to you...

The the terrible twos are challenging enough.  In fact, before we adopted Willow, the thought of that  challenge being multiplied by two (YIKES!) scared the you-know-what outta me!!   Buck up I told myself.  How much harder could it be??

The good news:  My two-year-olds are not travelling through the terrible part of the twos at the same time.  HOORAY!!
The bad news:  Some days, you only need one child's irrational behavior to push you to your limits.



The good news:  Willow, our first "traveller" into the terrible part of the twos, seems to have tip-toed out of the terrible part of two and has hit a little more logical, reasonable season in her twos (whew!!).

The bad news:  Immediately afterwards, Noah's head spun around exorcist style and he entered that irrational, unpredictable stage of two-ness that Willow had just exited.  SERIOUSLY?!?!  

The good news:  Willow, reaching some sort of "logic" in her two-ness (is there really such a thing?!), can see when Noah is being completely irrational and now offers anecdotes. 

Like yesterday for example...Willow picked up one of the 20 hotwheels Noah had methodically spread out all over the living room floor.  Noah proceeded to freak out.  Willow calmly looked at Noah, then at me, and said, "Mommy, Noah needs to go to his room." 

Spending so much time in the Land of the Twos, makes me really want to CONQUER it (that's just the way I am!), although I know there's no way to do that.  So I'm striving to get through our second round of terrible and come out a better person for it.

In order to do that, I decided to make a plan...a roadmap.  I want to track progress and measure successes!

Step one:  Establish Family Rules.  The first step is usually the hardest, but this was pretty easy and I'm really excited about it!  We will focus on these three rules with all the kids.  When they have mastered one, we will set it aside and add a new one. 

Step two:  Stop and smell the roses!  I was reminded of this step when I put Addyson to bed the other night.  She held her hand up in the air (telling me a story, I'm sure...though I don't remember now), and everything but her little fingers blurred a bit.  Look at those tiny little fingers!  How long has it been since I relished them...I mean, really RELISHED in the potential of them??  Far, far too long...

Those tiny little fingers reminded me of how when she was the only babe in the house, long, long before Willow and Noah, back when I just basked in the glory of her.  I mean seriously...I still remember the amazement and overwhelming "WOW" I'd feel, just by looking at her.

Now, hanging out in The Land of The Twos, I realize that it's easy to let the glorious potential in her go overlooked.   A poopy diaper here (will they EVER decide to use the toilet?!?!), a temper tantrum there...how can I so easily be distracted?

I put my newly created list aside to focus and listen.

The good news:  I didn't beat myself up for long about this. 

And...I realized the potential I was reminded of in her lies within me too.  Heck, it lies within you!  How long has it been since you've stopped and really drank in YOUR OWN potential??

Thank you, God, for dancing those tiny little fingers of potential across my field of vision and reminding me that all that I need is Right Here.