BREATHE

Well it's the end of another week and we are blessed to safely see another weekend. ( Breathe...).

So this week was totally normal. Poop here, crying there, lots of laughing and moving around. The ever present signs that independence is coming and the meaningful no. Today though, I want to speak on patience. The kind that everyone of us should have in all of our day to day transactions. As a nanny I have mastered the let's woo sahhhh talk with all my charges, cuz as we all know kids are a cute bundle of unfocused emotions, and it's up to us to teach them how to deal with these  emotions and focus their energy.

All that being said to lead up to this, dealing with your own personal  cute unfocused bundle of emotions is on a whole different level to care taking. First off, like most parents I think to myself that my kids are different we all think "I am never going to let my kid do that!" as we observe  a boneless moment. That is until our kid goes boneless on the floor of a light rail. One day this week, my daughter's treasured afternoon nap was interrupted 20 mins in, so obviously anyone with a toddler knows it's dam near impossible to get them to nap again. So, as she was up I figured it's only one day and she will be ok. Not!. She was one cute hot mess some moments, and an energy ball during others. There were moments she would be playing, then suddenly burst into tears screaming mommy. I felt so badly for my little angle, cuz it really wasn't her fault.  She was tired, unable to sleep and didn't know what to do with herself. I have handled these moments on countless occasions, and did exactly what my instinct said..... breathe, reassure her and be patient. But after a while the whinning became intense, so I craddled her and she began dozing. Then she did it, she started fussing and saying 'no sheep', meaning no sleep and the fire engine cry started.  As I looked at her, in my arms I was clueless how to solve her issue, so I did the next best thing.  I comforted and spoke to her and when she was calm, I put her to play in her crib and I went and sat on my toilet and BREATHED. Yes! I don't know about you, but my bathroom makes me feel calm and helps me to gain perspective. I knew I would be no good to help her calm down and get through this moment if I allowed myself to become overwhelmed. Then it dawned on me. The amount of love, patience and calm needed to handle situations like these are more than words can describe and I could only wonder how a caregiver (myself excluded) would fear in a situation like this. Especially those moments where it gets way worst than what I described. Needless to say my 1 minute breathable moment was followed by my little angel ending her moment in my arms full of kisses and saying "mommy yuv you".

So for all you parents and care givers out there I am not a psychologist  and in no way certified to give you advice but from my experience and being a mom just remember these blessings that we were given need direction and until they learn how to, they will not channel their emotions like we would. They cry when frustrated, scared or upset and they cling to you when they need a little more assurance that you are there. So no matter how bad the episode breathe-comfort-reassure and when that is not enough make sure they are in a safe place to work though the emotion and you take a moment, breathe and know you are doing an awesome job!