The parent I never was...

This morning as I was driving to work, I glanced in the rearview mirror at Hadley who was happily watching an Olivia DVD, and it struck me in so many ways I am SO DIFFERENT as a mom than I ever thought I would be.
As a teacher, I had the unique opportunity to work with a wide variety of kids and as a counselor I get to see how all kinds of situations affect kids; this gave me a pretty good idea of the parent I thought I was going to be and about how my child would behave.
What I couldn’t have known is how much parenting changed me. How much having this little person that I was 100% responsible for would be so different in practice. I thought I would never have a child that would make a public display/tantrum, my child would not watch TV, and she would do as she was told, because she respected rules and boundaries. I would be patient and not ever get frustrated. She would be easy to potty train…the list goes on.
What I have learned is that a lot of times parenting, especially single parenting (another component I never fathomed would be in) is that more often than not, it is about finding what works for you and your child. My child watches TV in the car, because we drive about 20, soon to be 40 minutes, one way. She hates the car seat, but having a DVD going more often than not, encourages her to climb on in. She seemingly forgets that she is strapped in (I must note my child hates being restrained in anyway…) and the car ride is pleasant for everyone. Besides she watches educational shows, because of Kai Lan, Hadley prefers to say “push” in Chinese rather than English…so that’s kind of impressive, right?!?!
Hadley is probably the most hard headed individual I have ever met, yes even worse than me. Her strong willed attitude means that all the traditional approaches to parenting don’t always seem to be effective…I didn’t know how strong willed a two year old really could be.
What I am saying is this: this journey of parenting is a lot different than I expected it to be. I had expectations for myself as a mom, and more often than not I am not the mom I thought I would be. However, I love every minute of it. I have had to let go of how I think it supposed to be and embrace the day to do for what it is- doing the best I can to provide an environment in which my child is happy, well cared for, and above all else loved. I don’t think that Hadley questions how much she is loved; she is such a happy little girl and I guess at the end of the day that means maybe, just maybe, I am doing something right after all!

A little catch up

The original purpose of this blog was to chronicle the everyday life of Hadley, and occasionally me. I have not been all that great at actually doing that lately. It has been a bit hectic around here.



We have some pretty exciting news; in just a few weeks Hadley and I will be moving into a house in Rockwall. I am beyond excited about this move for so many reasons: 1) I have wanted to live in Rockwall for about 8 years, 2) we will be closer to church and everything else that we have been driving all the way to Rockwall for at least twice a week, 3) we will have A LOT more room, Hadley will actually have a playroom (no more toys all over the place!!) 4) we will have a back yard and this means a dog, and 5) it will be so nice for Hadley to be in an actual house and not an apartment.

As I said, I am pretty excited about the move, but it will be bitter sweet to leave the only home that Hadley has ever know. The place she came home from the hospital to. Not to mention it is all happening so fast, we literally just looked t the house last week and now in a couple of weeks I will hold the keys. I have packed a good portion of the apartment, but one accumulates a lot of stuff in three years!

Also, last week was Valentine’s Day, and of course Hadley had two weeks’ worth of Valentine’s Day outfits. I tried to get her picture in them, but she is going through a phase in which she DOES NOT want to have her picture taken, especially in the morning, so this is the first out of three Valentine’s days, that I don’t have several different photos of her adorable outfits to show!



Here are some pretty major milestones/happenings that I want to remember

• Several times recently, Hadley wakes up from sleep saying she needs to potty; she does and stays dry for most of the night!
• She is doing so well at recognizing colors; sometimes, mostly when she doesn’t feel like being quizzed by mommy, she will just blurt out every color
• All day every day, she wants to do EVERYTHING by herself, most bothersome, crawling up the flight of cement stairs to our apartment (for this reason I can’t move soon enough)
• We made chocolate covered pretzels for her valentine’s day party- she loved them, I got frustrated because I forgot to put them on wax paper….
• She is obsessed with the “play ground” she talks about or asks to go to a play ground every single day, multiple times on the weekend
• She has a love for ice cream (especially rainbow sherbet)
• I have started trying to make fish weekly, always Hadley will scarf it down- she also calls all meat chicken
• She is drinking a lot, I was a bit worried, but after some research it seems to be more of a way to pass time or a habit, but we are keeping an eye on it
• She is learning the sounds of letters at school, they have done A-C and she has B down pat!

A beautiful weekend calls for some fun at the park!