Recently I had the opportunity to hear Jennifer Kolari speak at our school.
I had never heard of her before, and to be honest, this was my first time hearing a motivational speaker or "parenting coach" talk.
I am so glad I did.
She was funny and informative and I left feeling so much better than I did before I got there.
Of late, my patience has been on thin ice.
Literally.
Holy g-d it's been freaking cold out during the month of February! brrr
But I digress...
The past few weeks (okay months) I have not been the most patient parent on the planet.
Same goes for Big Daddy.
Neither one of us are candidates for parent of the month this month, that's for sure.
I'm pretty sure the primary reason being that we haven't had any time away from Lulu in ages.
Our last child-free date night was in December.
And as nice as Miami was, it was Lulu 24/7.
So romantic it was not.
To have an uninterrupted conversation has become almost impossible.
And when we fall into this pattern, Lulu tends to get more needy and clingy.
It's sweet that she loves spending so much time with us and wants to be a part of every single conversation, but it also becomes extremely frustrating.
She has even started hanging out beside me when I'm sending an email or text and reading them asking questions about who, what, where and when??...grrr
Which then equals a lack of patience over the smallest of things and the envitable explosion of temper ensues.
But after hearing what Jennifer had to say, I felt this big sigh of relief and a feeling of "Hey I'm not alone and it's normal to feel frustration as a parent. We all drop the ball from time to time and there are tools I can use to help me cope with life's obstacles and be a better more focused parent."
The timing couldn't have been better.
I needed to hear this advice more than I even thought I did.
It was like a two hour free therapy session.
Did I mention that our school's Home & School association funded this event?
So now even some of the doubts and questions I had last week about private vs. public school have been answered.
She was sold out of her books (that's usually a pretty good sign) but I'm picking up a copy the next time I'm at Chapters.
I can't remember the last time I read a parenting book actually, (maybe the baby whisperer 7 years ago??) but I'm thinking hers would be of great value and help me to become a more loving (if that's even possible) "connected" parent.
Speaking of being patient and learning techniques on how to be more calm and patient parent, Lulu finally lost her first tooth!
Alleluia.
I can't lie and say that I haven't been a wee bit anxious about the fact that she is almost 8 and hadn't even lost a single tooth yet.
Especially when most of her classmates have mouths full of new teeth.
Plus her new teeth have started coming up behind her baby teeth.
Um hello orthodontics....I'll most definitely be needing an extra helping of patience when dealing with her braces down the road. *shudder*
But at last, one finally
I remember all the fuss when that tiny tooth first appeared.
The drooling, fever, sleepless nights, tears, angst and overall misery that poor Lulu went through when she was teething.
Boy did I even need patience back then.
Wish I had heard of Jennifer 6 years ago!
Some kids are so lucky, getting and loosing teeth is no big deal.
My Lulu, not so much.
Poor thing.
Anyhow it's out now..whew... I may have actually been more relieved than she was.
Clearly I need to get a life. sigh.
The good news is that the tooth fairy came and went and hopefully is keeping it nice and safe.
And with a little patience there will be plenty more where that came from..
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