Just a Little...

...Patience. Lately that is my mantra. Being the parent of a young toddler takes a lot of it, sometimes more than I have. I consider myself to be a pretty patient person, especially with Ava, but there are times when I have to take a deep breath and think "patience." Meal times are the worst. At dinner she makes a big mess, when I give her utensils she just uses them to play with her food and make a bigger mess. She hates sitting in her chair and tries to get out, and usually starts fussing while Brent and I are still eating, so it's rare that we get to sit all the way through dinner.
While I love the fact that she is getting so big and learning to do so many new things, I remember how nice it was to be able to put her down somewhere and know that she couldn't move! I remember back then thinking it was so hard having a small baby, but honestly, once you get the sleeping stuff down, the rest isn't so bad. Keep them full and clean and your good! Now I am constantly chasing after her, making sure she isn't getting into anything (which she almost always is) and trying to entertain her. She gets bored pretty easily, and I would describer her as being very impatient.
One of the hardest things we are dealing with now is discipline. How do you discipline such a small child?
Today I went and looked at a couple of pre-schools for her. One was really more of a day care than a school. The couple I work for are about to have another baby, and their son Max turns 2 next month. They were thinking it would be a good idea if Max & Ava start pre-school, and they will pay for them both. The school they chose is the best in the area. It is a school that focuses on the arts - they have dance and gymnastics, art, spanish, music, just like a school. Max would go 3 mornings a week, and Ava would go 2 mornings, and they would be in the same class. When I walked in today it was nap time, and there were only 6 or 7 kids in the whole place. There was soft music playing, and it was so quiet and peaceful. It is the kind of place where parents put their kids not because they have to work, but because they want their kids to start school early. Most of the kids only go part-time, and I would bet that a lot of the moms don't work or own businesses.
The other place I checked out was a day care, very typical. It was dumpier, and seemed like it had less structure. The teachers seemed less trained. The one cool thing about it was that it had webcams so I could watch Ava during the day. I think that would be both good and bad - good because I could peek in on her, but bad because if I saw her get hurt or another kid be mean to her, I would want to jump through the camera.
My sister left yesterday to go to Spain for 7 weeks. She texted me this morning at 7:45 to let me know that she arrived. It took her almost exactly 24 hours to get there. She had to fly from Tampa to JFK, from JFK to France, and then to Spain from there. To say I am jealous would be an understatement.