Last night my girls attended a birthday party at a family's house that I just love. They are wonderful, with a whole pile of daughters, and very family and faith oriented. I totally trust them with my girls, so nothing that I'm about to say should reflect on them!
They were asked over to watch a movie with the girls to celebrate the 12-year-old's birthday. And they watched National Treasure II.
Now Katie, my 10-year-old, doesn't always handle movies well. She loves Pride & Prejudice, Ever After, anything romantic really. She can handle Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean. But this movie freaked her out. So did Scooby Doo and ET.
When they bounded through the door and changed into their pyjamas, the first thing Katie said to me was, "can you lie with me for a while?".
When she was 8, the answer almost always was "no". She needed to figure out how to go to sleep on her own. Oh, sure, I might lie there for 15 minutes, but nothing more than that. I needed my rest, too! So I'd pray with her, and sing with her, and help her focus her thoughts on something else.
But these days I'd be happy to lie with her all night, because I know the days when she wants to cuddle are quickly coming to an end.
As we lay there, all tumbled up in each other, I was stroking her hair, and kissing her head, and praying over her, and it was just lovely. I don't know how many more opportunities we'll have like that. She's growing up so fast.
But last night whatever I did didn't seem to be working. I prayed, we talked about how to combat evil thoughts, but her breathing just kept getting shallower and shallower.
And then suddenly I realized why.
I think the revelation came around the same time as she jumped up, ran to the bathroom, and threw up. The first time was rather orderly. She had time to get her hair back, and hit the toilet, and everything was hunky dorey.
She must be better now, she thought. But then, as she was crawling back to bed, she suddenly whipped around, ran back to the bathroom, and basically missed the toilet and hit her hair.
So we plopped her in the shower, and I cleaned up the bathroom, and she went to sleep pretty quickly after that.
This morning I am sitting here, tired from cuddling with her so long and yet happy for the chance to do it, but now my stomach is feeling a little iffy. And I can't figure out if I'm about to ralph or if it's just memories of last night.
Isn't being a mother grand?Labels: health, mothering, parenting |
Stumble It!
Hey I don't blame her, ET is scary! It scared me so badly as a child, that I still have nightmares to this day!