Happy New Year

Yes, I realize January is practically over, but I would be remiss if I didn't get on here to at least record a little something. This month has been slow going as we struggled to crawl out of the holiday haze and back into the routine of work and school. We have spent time de-cluttering, getting rid of a lot of the needless things we piled up over the break. It feels so good to finally have almost everything back on track. The one thing we are putting off is our sugar cleanse. That doesn't start until after the Superbowl. Heaven help us all! But the one thing I really wanted to write about this month is the evolution of KB and EV's relationship these last few weeks. I really think they have turned a corner and it has been beautiful to watch.

These kids usually share space, but not much beyond that. KB does his thing. EV does hers. Their friendship up to this point has been more of a series of collisions and dashing apart. They would go off to "play together" and in a matter of minutes one of them would be yelling or sobbing and running back to me in hopes I would pass some harsh judgement upon the other. But these last weeks I have forced myself to step back, and almost step out of the equation. When one would come to me in despair or anger I would offer comfort, but not much beyond that. "Your sister took your toy? Oh, I'm sorry baby. Did that make you feel angry? Why don't you go and tell her how you are feeling." This has been such a hard practice for me. I am usually one to step in and solve the problem so I can get back to what I was doing. Unfortunately this usually resulted in my getting irritated, them feeling the irritation and reciprocating it, and round and round we go. Each problem would escalate and before long we are all just done with each other, and it was only 9:00 in the morning. Lately, things have changed.

This last month I have noticed a surreal peace on several occasions. I would look up from my nearly finished pile of dishes and I would not see my children in the living room. Somewhere between breakfast and getting dressed for they day they made their way upstairs to play together. There was no yelling, no screaming, and no crying. I would revel in that peace for a while, endlessly tempted to tip-toe upstairs, but the fear of breaking the magic spell kept me rooted behind the kitchen sink. What is this feeling? Oh yeah, friendship.