A Little Somethin' Somethin'

I am going to indulge you all a little today.  You are going to find out things you may or may not have already known about your favorite monkeys.  This could get fun, then again... maybe not.  Only time will tell.

First things first... I want to explain to you why I consistently call my kids my monkeys.  This is something I have been doing since brother monkey was roughly 9 months old.

You see... before brother monkey learned to walk, he learned to climb... on everything.  It didn't matter where we were, or what we were doing, he could always find some type of structure to climb.

He was always making me nervous, and I said only 2 words for a very long time.  Can you guess what those were?!  If you guessed "get down", you win.  The child to this very day loves to climb.  He still hasn't quite figured out what is exactly safe or unsafe yet, but we are getting there.

Back to the story.  Brother monkey learned to climb.  Sister Monkey who was slightly older than him noticed the attention he was getting when climbing unsafely (negative attention, might I add?!) and decided that she too wanted attention.  After this... everything in my home became playground equipment.  If it was there, they would climb it.  More often than not... together.

THIS... is when calling them my monkeys all started.  I have since been dubbed Mommy Monkey... and so it still is.

Next indulgence.  I have been trying to teach the monkeys that it doesn't matter what other people think of you.  The only thing that matters is that you love yourself and are truly happy with who you are.

This is a lot easier said than done with sister monkey.  She is at an age now where peer pressure is really starting to kick in, and being "in style" and part of the "popular crowd" is supposedly huge.

So, how am I teaching her, you ask?!  Simple... I embarrass her.  When we are in the car, I turn the music up, roll down the windows and dance... I am getting good at driving and shakin' my groove thing all at the same time.  I sing the wrong words... Loud.  I add my own words.  She is starting to love it, even though she absolutely hated it at first.

If we are in public, I will skip, or walk funny, or grab her hand and swing our arms.  She has learned not to fight me on this.

She is starting to learn through all of this, that she is her own person, and doesn't care so much what other people think.  She is also learning just how crazy her mother is... but regardless of that, the message is getting through, and I am seeing improvement.  Success is mine!

Last little tidbit for today.  This one is short, sweet and to the point.  I have taken myself out of the dating game for a bit.  By my own choice.  I want to spend time focused on strictly my monkeys and myself, and therefore, am not allowing focus for another... at this time.

Over the last couple weeks, I have been informed by the monkeys that I need to go on a date.  For some odd reason they say that they believe it would be good for me.

I was happy being focused.  I was fine not dating.  I was okay with being alone (for the most part).  But I am a firm believer that our children see and sense things far before we do.

Maybe I do need it... I don't know.

Your turn now... leave us a little tidbit about you... please.

Happy Tuesday Monkey Manics!