Now

A few days ago I read a blog that reminded me how lucky I am NOW.  Now that Grace is entering the 'terrible twos', life has been a little more demanding, to say the least. I was getting less patient, more frustrated...and missing out on some of the 'terrific twos'.  I guess I was just getting fed up with the demanding Grace and was looking forward to when she would be a little less full of 'no',  mean looks and hitting. (I know....all you experienced moms are rolling your eyes and saying, 'yeah, good luck with that') And I know that all moms probably hate some aspects of every age, but I think I was just really missing out on what I have.

It drives me crazy when Grace wants to unload all the sharp objects from the dishwasher "all by herself'...but I know someday, she will roll her eyes at me and make up excuses to get out of this task.

Sometimes I feel absolutely worn out when Grace chooses to hang ALL.OVER.ME all day with no break...but someday I will have to bribe her to even acknowledge me in public.

I get impatient when Grace wants to pull up her chair to the counter top when I'm making dinner, therefore successfully slowing down my process by tenfold...but someday I will want her to listen as I try to teach her to cook, and she may not want to cooperate.

She tests my patience when she pulls down all of my shoes for the 100th time that day just to try them on...but someday she will think that I'm 'soo old' and will scoff at wearing anything that belongs to me.

As much as she wants to be so independent, she has to bring me multiple sets of clothes a day and ask me to help her put them on...but someday she won't put her cute little arms around my neck to balance as she slides her legs into her pants.

I want to scream when Grace throws her dinner all over the floor...but I know someday she will be so busy with school and friends, that she might not be sitting beside me at the dinner table.

When she wants to sit on the toilet for an hour and sing 'happy and you know it' about a million times, my throat gets dry and the last thing I want to do is "clap my hands"....I know someday she will be think my singing is embarrassing, and she won't need my help for much of anything at all.

When she takes out everything out of my bathroom drawers and demands that I paint her nails immediately, I sigh out of exasperation...but someday soon, she won't want to sit beside me and mirror me putting on my makeup and she'll have new best friends to paint nails with.

I'm so worn out when Grace wakes up at 5am with a nightmare,  clings to my neck and will not let me put her down...but someday she will be too big to fit perfectly in my arms as I calm her fears by singing songs about Jesus.

When I'm worn slap out at the end of the day, and she demands that only mama can rock her and put her to bed, I'm at my wits end...but then when I whisper 'I love you' and put her in her crib, she turns to me and says, "I love you, more".

I know that there are going to be many more frustrating moments ahead of me, but I want to remember the now, and remember all the wonderful, quirky, clever things she does everyday.

So, I'll try to be more patient, try to laugh more, try to hold her a little tighter, try to teach her more, and try to be an all around better mama. Because she surely deserves it.