Girl Time

It's always nice to spend one-on-one time with your children, and it's a practice I want to make a habit of as the kids get older.  Right now one-on-one time with Reed consists mainly of middle of the night feedings, and with Grady it's cuddling on the couch in the early mornings, watching Sesame Street and reading the Johnny Tractor board book over and over.  But QT with Lilah is a real treat.  Since she's older (thus easier to take on outings without having to chase her around), we get to go do fun, girly stuff like shop at the mall or eat brownie pops at D'Amici's.  She is quite the conversationalist, and our girl time is usually very entertaining for me.

Tonight after dinner, Daddy was on duty with the two boys, and Lilah and Momma went to the mall.  TJ Maxx was our destination, and our mission was to buy sheets for her new bed arriving this weekend with Memere and Grandpa.  I decided to put my personal preferences in home furnishings aside and let her choose on her own.  Believe me, this was a big deal, as I always have a vision for what I want a room to look like and letting go of the reins (to a three year old, no less!) was no easy task.  But my girl did not disappoint.  In fact, she showed some amount of particularity about things matching in her final choice, and I'm pretty excited about the direction her bedroom is going in now. 

Having three young children in what is technically a two-bedroom house has amounted to a great deal of creativity on our part as to where to put everyone.  Reed is currently in a bassinette in our bedroom, Lilah has her own bedroom next to ours, and we created a small nursery for Grady last year in what used to be a storage space.  We had thought that when Reed arrived we would move Grady into Lilah's bedroom with her and put Reed in the nursery, but recently came up with a better plan.  Grady is a fairly light sleeper, and we weren't sure he'd be able to sleep through Lilah's bedtime ritual of reading books in bed for a little while before falling asleep.  Instead, we are putting Reed's crib in Lilah's room, and praying that everyone will sleep well in the new arrangement!  This room-shuffling required downsizing Lilah's current double bed to a twin, though - thus, the new sheets.

Anyway, after perusing the linen aisles of TJ Maxx and contemplating all of her choices, Lilah finally decided on a bedding set with fairy ballerinas on it in shades of  pink, green, and white.  I shouldn't be surprised, as her current interests are leaning heavily towards dance and dress-up.  She's pretty excited about the pieces all matching, and I already have visions of some fun DIY projects to go with the ballerina/fairy theme.  I had to let go of the idea that Reed's crib bedding would match the rest of the room, but I am thrilled with her choice.

We had to make our usual obligatory trip to the Disney store, take a quick ride on the mall fire engine, and I had to do some smooth-talking to curb a tantrum when it was time to leave.  Then we listened to the "Mean Song" three more times in the car on the way home, took a quick tubby, and read a few books before bedtime.  But my favorite part of Girl Time?  Lilah giving me a kiss right before bed and telling me, "Mommy, you're so nice.  I love you."