11 Things To Do With Your Little Girl (part 3)

Finally, my final installation of:

"11 Things To Do With Your Little Girl."

 (To read Part 1, click here.)
 (To read Part 2, click here.)

I started this series back in September and October, and those holidays sure crept up on me! I even had to get through Valentine's Day just to get part 3 out!


If you've been following along, you know that I just think life with my daughter Ivy (age 3) gets better each day. Infancy was a little hard on me, and motherhood in general took some figuring out. I had to figure out what Ivy likes, and to figure out what I like in this role called "mom."

So here's #8, #9, #10 and #11 of things we do together:

Sometimes you just have to get out the cups and saucers, fill those miniature carafes with water, sit in a too-small chair, and have some tea with your daughter. Last spring I re-finished a kids Pottery Barn table and chair set, (see that post here), which gave me a great excuse to take it outside and use it in its full glory. My daughter was in 7th heaven, holding those little cups to her stuffed animals' mouths and pouring me "tea" every 30 seconds, watching me sip it. It was just me, Ivy, and our best manners. (Oh, and grandpa popped in for a bit). Such a sweet memory and so simple to do.

Throughout my pregnancy the smell of coffee made me vomit (literally). Within weeks of giving birth, I started drinking coffee again, especially since Ivy refused to sleep longer than 2 hours, night and day (until I made her cry it out at 10 months old). Getting coffee at Starbucks has always been a fun treat for me. As soon as I was mobile with Ivy, I started hauling her in the infant seat and enjoying a few nice moments at Starbucks with her, before she'd cry or need a diaper change or something. As she got older, started eating solid food, began to walk and such, I'd order her an organic chocolate milk and a muffin or croissant. At first she wanted to climb around (or worse, run around by those stacks of ceramic mugs!) but with some patience, practice and sometimes having to leave earlier than I would have liked, I trained her to sit there and "have coffee" with me. Just because I'm a mom now, doesn't mean I have to sacrifice those simple pleasures. But I did have to figure out how to still make it enjoyable-- for all parties involved. It is now even more enjoyable sharing "a cup of coffee" with my precious daughter. She loves it and looks forward to those mornings where I say, "You wanna go to Starbucks?"

I like to paint furniture and sew bunting. That's why I started this blog. My husband also likes to paint, and is also an amazing painter on canvas. The first thing Ivy does when Kit or I go out to the work tent to paint is say, "I wanna paint! What can I paint with?" I'll be honest, my first response is not always, "Ok great! Help me paint, Ivy!" It's usually more like, "Ivy, this is something mommy needs to paint, can you find something else to play with?" That response doesn't go over well at all. So I keep a few "projects" handy that Ivy can "help" with. For example, when I go to garage sales, I pick up old acrylics, paint brushes and wooden shelves, etc., so Ivy can feel like she's painting something like mommy. We have a gravel driveway and Ivy LOVES to paint the tiny rocks. I had a bunch of pumpkins left over from her Cinderella Birthday Party (see that post here) and one day she helped me paint them. It's pretty much a 100% chance (50% Kit + 50% Becca) that Ivy will be artistic. We might as well foster the creativity now! 

I might be cheating a little with this one... I choreograph 4-5 days a week at home before I head to work at the dance studio. So Ivy has no choice but to watch me move around our tiny cottage creating dances to teach to kids and adults. But sometimes, I have to stop choreographing with purpose, turn my eyes toward Ivy, take her hands, and dance with her. Especially when she says to me, "Mommy, dance with me!" Many evenings after dinner, instead of flipping on the television, we turn on some music and tell Ivy to dance. She may request some sample moves from Kit and I (yes, Kit), but soon gets on a roll herself. And, contrary to common belief, you don't have to play those overdone nursery songs to get a kid to dance. The other day I was playing the most Indie/Singer/Songwriter/Emo mash of music for work and Ivy kept telling me to play it again and again. Kit loves reggae. She dances to that. I love Christian worship music. She dances to that. I play hip hop for work. She dances to all of it. 

And that concludes "11 Things To Do With Your Little Girl." Hope you're able to take a little of this information and be inspired with new ways to spend time with your sweet daughter. 

Aloha, Rebecca