For Michael, and the Mirror

As a stay-at-home mom, I am fortunate to be able to be with my girlies pretty much 24/7. Michael does take Maya to the store occasionally or play with the girls so I can shower, but for all intents and purposes, I am there for everything. Even when he takes one of them to change a diaper, I often follow. I just don't want to miss anything that happens with one of them. But really, a day in the life of a toddler (or infant) is pretty boring, so when we talk about our days when Michael gets home from work, we tend to focus more on him (you know, since he interacts with adults on a daily basis! :)) or on what we have planned for the weekend. "I changed 8 diapers today!" is only interesting the first time. Or never, really. But, that means that Michael misses things that happen with the girls. I do try to fill him in if anything interesting happens, but some things just fall through the cracks.

Last night, when I showed this site to Michael and he showed genuine excitement at the fact that I will be blogging about our daily lives, I realized that this site isn't just for me to look back on, or for the girls to read and learn about their babyhood. It's also for Michael, so that he can have a glimpse into what we do all day, every day. The funny faces Maya makes, the songs she sings (over and over and over), the new discoveries I make about Charlotte. All of the things that might otherwise have been forgotten in the busyness of dinner and baths and bedtime.

For example, the mirror. When Maya was a baby, we learned that looking at herself in the mirror was one of the few things that was pretty sure to calm her down when she was inconsolable. I think that at first it confused her ("who IS this other baby?") and then it delighted her ("mommy, the baby is smiling at me! And you're there too!"). Maybe it just distracted her. Whatever it was, it worked. Charlotte rarely needs calmed down like that; she is just a different baby. But, the mirror still delights her. She gets really excited, will smile at herself, look at me like, "hey! I don't know if you noticed, but there is an adorable baby right there!". And there is!



Often there is also an adorable toddler looking back at me in the mirror, too.