Tuesday, April 03, 2007

My children

I love my children so so very much. Like most parents there are frustrating and challenging days but the fulfilment and happiness they have brought to my life can never be replaced.
Alice is my eldest daughter. She’s 5, going on 15 – she has all the attitude and door slamming ability, I just don’t have to worry about her being our all night and what boy she is with! She is fiesty, strong-willed, independent, confident – although on a bad day she could be described as being stubborn, out of control & loud. But the positive descriptions sound so much better!
She amazes me everyday with her strength and the thoughts she has about life. She is a passionate girl with endless energy and enthusiasm and is very emotional – she gets angry and shouts and cries very easily, which I can’t help but worry about but all I can do is continue to provide her with security and love and hope she can learn to cope with her own emotions.
She is very cuddly and when she laughs, it is infectious.
I am guilty of treating her as older than she is because she has always acted older than she is and she seems so much older than Lucy but I need to remember that she is only little, and a 5 just a baby really, in the great scheme of things.
And we do have our difficult days when we argue and she winds me up because she knows she can but I can’t thank her enough for what she has given me and I feel very lucky to have her in my life – she has given me meaning to my life and a direction that was missing for many years and this has only been enhanced by Lucy.




Lucy is an absolute cutey. As a baby she was very easy and placid which made the transition to 2 children much easier to handle. I haven’t worked during the day since having Lucy and she has been really easy to look after and balance with my teaching and looking after Alice as well.
Lu is a calm child in many ways, she can play by herself for quite a long time and she is incredibly cuddle and kissy. Having said all that – my god does the girl have a temper!
She has been my baby but she is growing up fast – her language is coming on loads and she can’t wait to start at Alice’s school, which she is set to after the summer. I just can’t imagine her in a school uniform but she is very ready to go. She loves playgroup and has always been very secure in that she can be left with other people because she knows I’m coming back, she settles at playgroups really easy.
I’m sure Lu will seem like such a big girl when the baby arrives.
She’s learning to play the game now as well – she causes the trouble but then smiles sweetly and gets away with it. I’m sure she gets away with loads that Alice didn’t at the same age and she has her dad wrapped round her little finger. Because Alice is so loud and energetic, she’ll always be blamed for things whereas I think Lu might be our little troublemaker who gets away with it cause she’s the quiet one. We’ll see…but I’m on to her!!

One of the big differences between the girls is destructiveness. I can't remember Alice ripping or spoiling a book or drawing on the walls or furniture but Lucy has done this so many times I've lost count. Maybe it's a 2nd child thing, to make their mark and not to be forgotten.

Before I had Lucy I had heard other parents say how they treat their kids differently and I guess we all do because we are at a different place when we have our different children. But I can't imagine favouring one more than the other. My girls are very different in a lot of ways and they do get treated differently so that we treat them like the individuals they are, not expect them to be the same, do the same and achieve the same.

My kids are my life, everything revolves around them. Yes I have other loves and ambitions. I love my husband and I love my work but the kids come first. I have worked very hard for the life I have now. It is in no way perfect – we’re skint, we’re tired but we’re happy - but it's not far off. Now we just have to hope that our 3rd baby will be healthy and that we are strong enough to cope if he or she isn’t. It’s hard to imagine that my baby could be ill because it is so strong, I feel it’s kicks and movements throughout the day. But they make me happy and, for now, full of hope.

1 Comments:

Blogger Anne said...

Hi Janine - I found your blog via your sig on Babycentre (good plan - must put my url in my sig!)

I love what you have to say about your children. I spend far too much time moaning about mine, and nowhere near enough thinking about the positives. I mean, I know I adore them, and they know it too, but I tend to think of how annoying son can be, rather than the positive side of the same behaviour.

Sorry, I'm not making much sense. Thank you anyway!

2:07 PM  

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