We never took Kendal to get her photo taken with Santa last year when she could have cared less who was holding on to her, but last Friday, when we were at the mall, I decided that I wanted to have her take her picture with Santa.

As with most kids her age, she’s definitely apprehensive when it comes to strangers, but not so much so that she screams like bloody hell when a random tries to look or talk at her. And Santa isn’t entirely a stranger to her either; she’s just never seen him outside of a book or the TV as a 4-D, flesh and bone, rather large but jolly looking man.

When it was our turn (after the bossy, indecisive Russian mother was satisfied with the private photo shoot of her two kids and had narrowed down the gallery of poses to the one she wanted to purchase) Santa started walking over to us and Kendal immediately wanted “UP!” It became quite clear that she was not going to willingly go with Santa to sit on his knee and smile for their picture – even if he was bribing her with a book. So she sat on Mommy’s knee, next to Santa and pseudo smiled for a picture. They were able to crop me out of the picture.

I will attempt to scan the photo in this evening, so check back.

The part of me that’s a mother loves and hates that my sickly daughter looks to me to comfort her. I hate that coughing makes her cry and that her nose is raw from wiping it continuously. I hate that she can’t get comfortable to sleep at night, except in my arms while we rock-a-bye. I love feeling the weight of her and her little heart beat and her hot breath as we lay chest to chest, her head on my shoulder while she catches a moments rest. I love that just being her Mommy can be comfort enough, and I hate that I can’t make it better when she looks at me with tear-filled, questioning, eyes. “Why does it hurt, Mommy?”

The part of me that’s selfish just wants a good night’s sleep, for all of us. I plead with God for her return to health and a restful night, when I know it could be so much worse than just a flu bug, and I feel guilty.

For now, I just need to continue to do what I know how to do; be a Mom and suck it up. This too shall pass.

Just moments after helping this little girl off the potty I walk out of the bathroom and see that she has climbed into my boots.

]]> http://rootswings.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/they-arent-cowboy-boots-but-i-think-ive-seen-pictures-like-this-before/feed/ 0 amylehnert kedal in boots 001 http://rootswings.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/an-unusual-site/ http://rootswings.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/an-unusual-site/#comments Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:24:41 +0000 amylehnert http://rootswings.wordpress.com/?p=1580 ]]>

It was a beautiful but eerie site this morning, to see a rainbow on the snow-blanketed horizon.

It was also quite amazing to see the amazing amount of snow we received

It was not amazing, however, to drive in. I did make it to work by 11 AM, but only after getting temporarily stuck in the drifted street outside of daycare after dropping Kendal off.

have we had over a foot of snow fall from one storm.  We’re predicted to get 12″ to 14″ by the time it’s all said and done, which is supposed to be sometime tomorrow.

Oh how I long to be school-aged again, when there were mandatory snow days and I didn’t care about getting behind in my work.

Matt, Grandma, and Kendal made the trip out to Toys”R”Us and Sam’s last Friday and picked up Kendal’s Christmas gifts: a kitchen, a table and chairs, and a ride along, video game learning thingy (Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Smart Bounce and Spin Pony). Of course she’s still too young to understand that the fun toys that they were filling the cart with were actually for her, for Christmas, some from Santa, and she will have no recollection of Daddy setting them up for her to play with almost three weeks before Christmas or Santa even arrives, but I will, and I let him know it too. But yesterday afternoon, on DECEMBER 5TH she played with her kitchen and sat at her table and chairs.

I refused to take pictures, nor will I until Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, so that, at least in the pictures Christmas and Santa came on December 24 or the 25, depending on where we were at on his route this year.

On the eve of her 17 month birthday, Kendal demonstrated just what a big girl she is by going potty on the big girl potty twice yesterday at daycare. Since my last post about her pottying, her successful attempts have been sporadic  at best, so I haven’t been too persistent. However, after these subsequent victories I did put her on the potty before her bath and whaddya know she went again! I’m certain that I’ve never in my life been so ecstatic about pee let alone cheered and hoorayed about someone – ANYONE – going pee, but I was truly beaming with pride at the site and sound of my little girl tinkling in front of me for the very first time.

But it gets better.

This morning after getting up, I was surprised to find that her diaper was dry, so I put her on the potty again. Although it took about five minutes longer, which meant that I had to keep her distracted by counting the tampons in the box (I’m telling you she’s obsessed with them) so she’d stay on instead of running off to watch Special Agent Oso, she eventually went – AGAIN!

Pull-ups here we come!

Well, maybe we’ll wait and see what happened today.

and sometimes he’s Matt.

Apparently she’s heard me call him that a time or two, so she does the same.

She also knows Uncle Eric as Skippy (a pet name that Dad started and that stuck amongst my family anyway), or, as she says it, “Dippee!”

Thursday: Drove three hours to spend three hours with Matt’s Dad’s side of the family in Bloomfield then drove the three hours back. It’s a once-a-year trip for us and the only time of year we usually see Great-Grandma Lehnert so it’s worth the sore butts, cramped legs and desperate attempts to try and distract Kendal from her cooped up frustration and boredom. Admittedly, I may have been equally as thankful that day for Matt having a job that allowed us to borrow a vehicle that had a DVD player in it so we could play Elmo’s World: What Makes You Happy and Elmo & Friends: Adventures continuously.

Friday: I DID NOT set my alarm for 3:30 AM to get in line for the door-busters at Kohls, or JC Penney, or Younkers, but I did get out to a few places by around 8 and was quite surprised that it wasn’t nearly as hectic as I imagined it might be, but it could be because I stayed away from all of the aforementioned and went to some of the SouthPointe shops instead. I did buy a few things, nothing for Christmas however.

Matt also got in on some Black Friday shopping and bought us a new 42 in. 720 HDTV at a local electronics and appliance store, Schafers, for $398. He didn’t really get in on the frenzy either, since they didn’t open until their regular time, which was 9 AM, and because they are local and relied mostly on social media -a’ la- Twitter rather than spending gazillions of dollars on traditional marketing to advertise their deals, there really wasn’t a crowd to fight through and/or with.

We then went and had Thanksgiving number 3 with Matt’s Mom, Grandma, and Sister, and were back home in time for kickoff of the Nebraska Colorado game. I did not watch the game myself, but opted to take advantage of my free time (Kendal was napping) and put up the Christmas tree. I wasn’t too happy that Matt insisted it be in the dining room this year instead of the living room where Kendal would constantly be touching it and pulling off ornaments to play with, but it doesn’t look too bad and it does save us valuable real-estate in the living room which, any other time, is dedicated to Kendal’s stuff (chair, toy box, trike). Sooner than later, as she keeps accumulating “stuff,” she will have to share space with Daddy in the downstairs living space, and by sooner I’m thinking Christmas. It leads me to believe that his insistence on not putting the tree in the living room was equally about holding on to every last second of his exclusive man escape known as the “Man Cave” as it was about her safety.

Saturday: I did decide to venture to Westfield Mall to Younkers and Dillards (and a couple of my favorite stores) and picked up a couple of Christmas gifts since many places still had some irresistible deals. On the way home we picked up some lunch and took it to Daddy then stopped at a neighborhood park – the first time I’d taken Kendal to a park believe it or not- to enjoy what’s left of the coat-free weather. After that it was back home to finish decorating for Christmas, sans the exterior lights, which I keep dropping not so subtle hints to Matt about putting up. He keeps coming up with reasons why it probably won’t get done this year, but I’m hoping that if I badger him enough about it this year and continue to remind him about it even after the Season has passed he’ll do it every year from here on out without me having to say a word.

Sunday: Church, scrubbed the floors and cleaned a bathroom, napped with Kendal, finished raking up the last of the few remaining piles of leaves in the back yard, made supper, got ready for Monday, which included last-minute daycare plans since Terri called to say they would be closed due to her grandson, who is also a daycare kid, being diagnosed with meningitis and subsequently admitted to the hospital. Luckily Grandma Lynn was able to come to our rescue and watch Kendal at our house for most of the day.

In all it was an enjoyable, fattening but delicious, and, at times, productive weekend that went by too quickly – pretty typical.

Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

It is with deepest and heart-felt thanks to God for the abundant blessings and graces that enrich my life today and every day. I am humbled by His infinite generosity and pray that He will continue to bless us with His love, charity and forgiveness, all the days of our lives.