Look At Me!! Watch Me!!

Does anyone else ever feel like that is all they hear?

I'll be doing the dishes and Alyssa will come tugging on my pants..."Mommy, watch me dance and twirl. Are you watching, Mom?"

Sitting down to write this post and Allison stands here begging..."Watch me, Mommy. See what I can do?"

It's never ending!! What's funny is I can remember doing this exact thing to my mom...and aunts...and grandma...and ANYONE that would watch! Haha.

To be quite honest, it would be bad enough to have one child this way, but the two of them together is just exhausting!! Just around the time that one girl is done showing me her latest moves, the other one is ready and waiting to show me how she can jump off the chair and go straight into a 'head stand'. So I huff and puff and drag myself away from whatever housework I am doing at the moment to ease their need to be the center of attention.

Then it hits me...THESE are the moments that I never want to forget. It's moments like this that I want to burn into my brain and remember when they are graduating, walking down the aisle, or getting frustrated with kids of their own.

There is nothing a kid wants more than to feel like she is loved. To feel like, at that moment, there is nothing on this earth more important than her. That is the way I want my girls to feel. There is no better way to build a child's confidence then to give them that attention and then 10 minutes later when they are still doing the same goofy moves and look over for a quick glance at Mommy, she learns that you have been watching her all along. Without looking away, you have been watching her and making her feel special. That eye contact, the reassurance that she is my everything...it's the best gift I could give her.

So now, when both girls come begging, I stop! I stop whatever I am doing and give them that 20 minutes to shine. I smile. I watch. I tell them how much I love them.

. . . . . . . .

Madelynn Jane had her first birthday a few days ago. It was a fabulous day that was spent spoiling her, eating cupcakes, shopping and letting her stay up a little late. Her daddy was out to sea, but still found the time to order her a special birthday gift, which she loved, and send her a special email. She is so adorable and everything I could have wanted in a third born. :)

So silly!