Perfection

Body image. Two words that are bandied around a lot in magazines, on the news, on parenting blogs. And, two words, that as a mom raising two girls in this culture, give me some of my greatest parental anxiety.

Every single woman I know has been knocked down once or twice by the pain of not feeling adequate. Of wishing her thighs were thinner, her skin had fewer freckles, her hair was straighter ... oh wait, is that just me? Well, to each her own issues.

But, raising two girls in this world has me yearning for them to escape unscathed. Untouched by the pressure to be stick thin, to have shampoo-commercial-ready hair, to be exactly like everyone else. I don't want them to feel inadequate. I want them to grow up feeling strong and powerful and proud of what God and I gave them. Hey, I grew them in my belly for 9 months, I figure I get some credit.

So, since the day they were born, I have been telling each one that they are perfect just the way they are. That they are beautiful because of who they are. I have told them that it is what is in their hearts that matters and that they have beautiful hearts. I emphasize being strong, having muscles, being able to run, and eating healthy food because it will make you stronger, faster and smarter. I never say "diet" and I never talk negatively about myself because I know girls imitate and get a lot of their views from their mother. I try to not always talk about how cute they look and try to focus on what they can do. (That is a lot harder than it sounds, by the way.) I've written a couple times about these issues before here and here.

I have tried to do everything every parenting book/article/blog post says. I have tried my hardest to combat the culture of "not being good enough." And, two weeks ago, I had my heart broken.

I was on the Facebook on my computer, and Molly was looking over my shoulder. There was a girl's picture on a posting from a photographer. I didn't know this girl and neither did Molly.

"Mom, who is that?"
"I don't know, honey. A girl who got her picture taken by a photographer."
"Is she prettier than me?"
My heart stopped. Surely I'd hear her wrong. "Is she bigger than you? Is that what you said?"
"No. Is she prettier than me?"

Seriously. I think I felt my heart breaking. How could my precious little girl possibly be comparing her beauty to anyone else? How could this already be happening at 5?

Catching up with Charlotte

I know I've been a bit negligent on the blogging lately.
Molly started school then I started the complete dismantling and renovation of my living room. I'll have a post on that later. With all that going on, the blog has kind of been put on the back burner.

But, since I've had a couple posts about Molly and kindergarten, I thought I'd let everyone know how Charlotte is coping with having big sis gone all day.

Turns out, she's coping really well.

Before school started, I was worried about how I would entertain her and keeping her busy. I was afraid she would miss Molly and wouldn't know what to do. But, well, she's kind of blossoming.

The girl is a talk-a-holic now. I mean, not around other people. She's still WAY to shy to say stuff around other people. But, when it's just the two of us, she is telling me stories and singing songs and telling jokes. I'm not sure if she was just being overshadowed by Molly before or what. But, now, she's a genuine Chatty Cathy. I, however, cannot prove this to you because she also shuts up if I ever get the video camera out.

Pretty much the only time we have to play is in the morning. Then we have lunch, then naps, then we go pick up Molly. So, I've been trying to keep us busy in the mornings by meeting up with friends. It's been pretty beautiful weather lately, so we've been going to the park or the local petting zoo. Pretty much whenever someone invites me somewhere, I'm there.

 We met up with Kelli and Ally and their kids at the park. Charlotte held her own with the boys.

Checking out the ducks with Emerson and Kaesen.

Playing with two boys taught Charlotte all about playing in the dirt. She was quite proud of herself for getting that dirty!

Charlotte was "reading" to Emerson and Kaesen. She is quite sure of whatever she's reading. Usually it's, "O, S, S." I have no idea what that is about.

Bieber to BNL

I'm not sure how I made it over five years into motherhood without listening to annoying children's CDs in the car. I know my kids probably would have loved listening to all things Nikelodeon and Disney Channel while driving around town, but I also love to be sane. I just couldn't do it. I put my foot down and the kids never knew the difference.

So, we drove around town listening to my music. And, I didn't really think anything about it. It was cute when Molly sang along to some of the popular songs on the radio. How cute was she when she could sing the chorus to "All the Single Ladies?" And, I didn't even really mind when she told me that Johnny Cash's "Cocaine Blues" was her favorite song.

BUT, when she started singing Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" song and wanted a pair of pajamas with Justin Bieber on them at the store ... I thought, maybe I should start finding some more kid-friendly CDs to play in the car. (Total honesty: I've been known to sing along to Justin Bieber, too. Probably totally uncool of me to admit it, but it's the truth. I really think it was the pajama thing that threw me over the edge of the cliff.)

Enter: Barenaked Ladies' Snacktime. 

Um, duh. I can't believe I didn't think of this one before. I mean, I've owned it since before I even had kids. I've been a fan of Barenaked Ladies since I was 14, so I don't know why I didn't think of this one earlier. Granted, the actual name of the band is not so kid-friendly, but we'll just call it BNL, and we'll be all good.