goals

To all you mamas out there… congratulations! You’re doing terrific! Why do I say this? Simply because I know you are even if I do not know you – first, you’re reading this in the little spare time you have – and because oftentimes we, as mothers (parents), internalize guilt and overthink the choices we make in our children’s lives. This week the duality of motherhood has been in the forefront of my mind.

I am a stay-at-home mama to two children under the age of two. I love having the kids so close in age; however, currently having a 22 month and a 7.5 month old, we are getting into a tricky phase. The baby — we call him Lulucito — needs more attention now that he’s somewhat mobile — I think he will figure out crawling quicker than I expect, but he cannot yet move to keep up and interact fully with his sister. The toddler, we call her Bird, is now realizing that Lulucito needs more attention and that this requires sharing — something that is a work in progress.

If you’re like me, I am always on the lookout to learn something new and being a parent is no exception. I continuously read magazines, articles, and books on parenting, as my husband and I try to figure out what style we like best for our children. I recently found the following quote on social media posted by Raised Good (blog and website), which is a page that really mirrors how I would like to parent.

This quote especially resonates with me, because Bird’s personality is really presenting itself lately – she’s daring, extremely active, and supremely independent. She wants to explore, experience, and devour all that she sees! I absolutely adore this about her and I love that I get a front row seat to watch her enthusiasm for life unfold as she grows.
I let my kids explore life, nature, food, etc. because I think it is vitally important to their growth, physically, mentally, and emotionally. However, sometimes we need to run errands, leave the grocery store, or share with others — here is where the duality comes into play.

I struggle some days to make decisions: do my children have too much freedom or am I holding them back from their potential? Am I scheduling too many activities into their days or should I get them more involved? Am I coddling my children or pushing them to grow too quickly? These, and more, are the daily thoughts I have and I am working to find what comes naturally.

My overall goal is to be a calm parent: to listen to my children and their needs, not worry about the unwashed dishes and clothes, and focus on their growth and development. My goal for this week is much more humble: I want to remind myself that I am human and I encourage you all to do the same. Impatience and voice raising can sometimes win over, so my goal is to continue my self care routine with meditation and yoga. These practices help me to breathe in times where I feel overwhelmed and frustrated; this breath sometimes gives me the time I need to access the situation logically and to be proactive, rather than reactive in situations.

These are my goals for this week, what are yours? I am always searching for additional resources … please share anything that works for you and your family! Look forward to hearing from you!

Not sure if I mentioned this, but every year, I like to give myself goals. Not resolutions necessarily, but goals to focus on during the year. I personally love to learn and I am not picky… languages, new skills, professional development for work, pretty much any and everything. This year, some of my goals include: learning more about composting to incorporate composting into our daily lives, with our own outdoor compost bin, working on eating more local foods (i.e. meat, vegetable, fruit, etc.), and to learn to knit!

Knitting was the first goal I started on and since I have barely even clamped eyes on knitting needles and only used yarn in crafts, I started at the beginning, of course! I am what is called multi-modal, which means that I utilize multiple learning styles to best absorb new information or a new skill. I am an auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learner. What does that mean? That means that while I am listening to a teacher (who can be actual teachers, family, or friends), I incorporate visuals, which help me to remember the skill or information. Then to help it to sink in completely, I need to actually physically complete the skill or put the knowledge into action (which could be teaching someone else that information or utilizing the knowledge I recently learned). Long story even longer… to start, I went onto the good ‘ol Youtube, just like I never had in the days of old.

I watched this video: “How to Knit: Absolute Beginner Knitting, Lesson 1 – Even if you’re clueless!” by Expression Fiber Arts. Do not worry about my feelings being hurt, I was completely clueless and I am not too proud to admit it! This video was perfect, and thankfully I was able to pause it from time to time to “cast on”, or get the yarn on the knitting needle. I was so excited to get started that I failed to do some necessary research regarding the yarn — I did not roll the yarn into a ball, but kept it in the packaging that I bought it in, assuming I would be all set. Well, I started knitting and before I knew it, my yarn got tangled! I had other issues, like losing about 10 stitches, so instead of 25 stitches, I was down to 15, when I wanted to make a scarf. With all of this minor issues, my attempted scarf turned into a tiny pot holder!

Thank goodness for good friends who take these things off your hands, right?! Thank you, Christy, for being the new owner of a tiny pot holder… that may come apart quickly. Why?

My last issue was that I rushed through watching the “cast off” method of the aforementioned video, and as you can see, that pot holder does not have a sealed end. Oops! Thankfully, we live and learn. This is where the kinesthetic learning style comes in handy, because now that I have started to learn the first parts of knitting, like casting on and the knit stitch, I can only improve. Next time, I will be able to focus more on the casting off correctly. Before I start the next one though, I’m working on rolling my balls of yarn, which is taking a good amount of time… fellow knitters out there, any suggestions?!

Until next time, make sure to take some time to enjoy the simple things in life, like learning something new!

Duality of Parenthood

To be or knit to be…