We are sitting in the tent that we just built on the dining room floor, surrounded by atleast a dozen stuffed animals all lined up and ready for a camp out.
The days have been exhausting lately. The weather has not been my friend. We have been home, a lot.
But today we cut snow flakes out of coffee filters and built our tent and accepted the cold temperatures.
I sat there in the tent, while Jack ran back and forth, from the tent to the playroom to his bedroom to get food and blankets for the camp out. He put the blankets down and passed out snack to his friends and said, “what next mommy?”.
“We need a campfire story”, I said.
So I told a story of a snowy day and friends lost in the woods. Of finding a cozy cabin and more friends. A story with a snow monster, that Buzz Lightyear scared away and how Minnie Mouse and Goofy made snacks and how Mike and Sully helped make the fire.
I tossed paper snowflakes in the air and made sound effects, and when I said “the end”. He said, “Mommy tell that story again”. So I told it again, with a bit more detail and a few more twists.
And at bedtime he said “can we hear that story again, tomorrow?”
Three isn’t the easiest of years (but are any of them easy?). We but heads a lot, we don’t always agree, we argue over what is an acceptable meal. But we play so much more and his imagination amazes me. And that I can understand. Cause, I too have an imagination filled with stories, I remember being a little girl and making stories in my bedroom late at night. I know the magic and wonder that a good story can bring.
This is something I’m good at, something that comes naturally to me. Story telling is so much easier for me than pretending to be Zurg or running trains around a track. And while I do those things, I don’t always enjoy them or feel like I’m good at them.
So often in this journey of motherhood I feel like I’m failing. Like someone else is doing it better. That someone else is getting it right. But in that moment, telling that story, I felt like I was right where I belonged, like I was getting it right. Like I just might be good at this mothering thing.
These moments far outweigh the ones that feel like failure. And I fully realize that while my husband is awesome at fake battles and airplane flying and princess reenactment than I am, my strengths lie in shadow puppets, lifesized cardboard vehicles and imaginary restaurants. And I've become okay with that.
Yes these moments do outweigh the failure ones. I guess we all have our parenting strengths.
I really love this! I've never felt very good at playing pretend or any of those other things either. He looks so cute sitting there in his Woody shirt 🙂
Thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
You have such a gift! Storytelling is not easy. Stories in the tent will be what he remembers about these years not fights over food or bedtime.
Thank you Heather I need to keep it in perspective that he will remember the good, fun times more than he will remember battles over eating his veggies.
That's so sweet! I'm not such a great story teller when it comes to making up stories for my kids.
It's not always easy to tell a story, but he's young so I try to keep it short and sweet.
Aw! He is lucky to have you!
Love your story!!
Thank you Rach!
So sweet! I so love how he's dresses as Woody too.
He loves those Woody pj's he's all about dressing up in costumes right now.
You are a good mother to Jack! Story telling is a great way to connect/ bond/ teach kids. It's just wonderful.
Thank you Alison, your comment really made me smile. We try so hard at mothering and it's rare that we receive recognition for doing a good job at it. Thank you : )
Aw! I love that you added the effects 🙂 At bedtime B will ask me to 'tell a story from my head' sometimes and depending on how brain dead I feel, they're kind of meh. I need to do this with the twins too. I'm going to remember that about adding special effects. It will blow their minds!
The special effects definitely make it. It's so hard to just pull a story out of your head especially when you aren't prepared for it.
Aw I love this!! The good times like this most definitely outweigh the ones where we feel like we're "failing"…and we all feel that way. It's not true though. I need to remind myself of that from time to time when things are really rough. <3
The good times definitely out weigh the tough ones and we really aren't failing as long as you are trying you are not failing. At least that's what I tell myself.
Definitely have had that "failing" feeling — a lot lately, actually. Finding what you're good at, so important! He's lucky to have a mommy who can tell a good story. That is something that will last a lifetime!