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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Sorta done with some (relief) and sorta not done with others (sniff)

I am getting rid of more and more baby stuff in this next consignment sale.  One of the crib mattresses is being sold, as is the high chair.  (Unfortunately the drop-side crib can't be resold, so I am going to make stuff out of it.....but that's another post for another day).  I haven't done the figuring, but I am hopeful that there is at least $125 worth of stuff to be sold.

Today I took down the baby gates.  M is capable of getting down the steps on his own, and I have had it with G slamming the top gate and then whining for me to open it up (he can unlatch the one at the bottom of the steps but not the top).  The gates' only function at this point is irritating me, not keeping anyone safe. Those will probably end up in the sale as well.

My neighbor asked if I was sad about getting rid of baby stuff, and I said, "Heck no."  I am sick of having infant paraphernalia all over the place.  I am this close to getting rid of the pack-n-play, but there are still some times when I need to put M in it, like when he is clinging to my leg as I desperately try to finish dinner.  Once M is put in, N and G immediately get in with him.  It's kinda funny (as well as somewhat pathetic) how much fun the 7.5 year old and the almost 4-year-old have playing in the pack-n-play.

So that will stay a little while longer.

While I have no qualms about getting rid of baby stuff, including the kids' baby clothes, I am borderline heartbroken that N doesn't want to buy picture books anymore.  Yesterday she and G turned in their summer reading charts at Half-Price Books and received $5 gift cards, and N spent hers on chapter books.  I think it is great that she wants to read chapter books because I know her reading level is "up there," but I still want to enjoy picture books with her.

Well.....I guess since she and G share a bedroom and we read books to them together at rest time and nighttime, we DO read (and enjoy) picture books together.  G would not be able to sit still if all we read were her chapter books, so I always pick out picture books or short readers at the library that I think she will like.  But to her, picture books are a little babyish.  They are what her kid brothers read.

I guess what I really want is for her to be little again and be excited by the wonder that is picture books.  She is almost to my neck.....53 inches tall....and when I see pics of her as a chubby little 3-year-old it sorta makes me ache inside.

I am sometimes out of sorts with this stage she is in, which will likely last a few years (her being in it and me being perplexed by it).  She is eager to be "grown-up," and buy blingy t-shirts with sequins and window shop at Justice, but at the same time asking if I can pick her up and swing her around by the arms, as I do her brothers.  I feel that I am frequently telling her, "N, you are too big," and I hate to say that, but she is physically too big for many of the things she asks me and D to do.

And I feel that because she is tall and halfway through her 7th year there are some things I shouldn't have to remind her of 8 trillion times.  But I do.  Which reminds me that she is still a child, and children (and husbands) need constant reminders of everything.

Being a kid is hard.
Being the parent of a kid is hard too.









2 comments:

Swistle said...

Even though I have whined many a time about wanting more kids (though I think I may be done whining about that now), I still feel tremendous relief to be getting rid of all the INCREDIBLY-SPACE-CONSUMING baby stuff. It was very satisfying to pry loose the exersaucer, the swing, the crib. Ahhhhhhhh.

It was a little hard to get rid of the baby clothes, but I'm not finding it very hard to get rid of the clothes Henry is now outgrowing (3T and up): I'm so happy not to have to STORE them anymore!

Kelsey said...

About the picture book thing... (is it annoying to pick THAT to comment on of all the comment-worthy things in this post?). Have you read Patricia Polacco? Her picture books are best appreciated by older readers and might be good for the two of you to share, not that you asked for suggestions!