Tag Archives: Mommy and Me

Grateful to See the New Year of 2019 with My Little Girl

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The last few weeks of 2018 were a roller coaster ride for my family as we dealt with my daughter being ill and hospitalized and then rejoiced in her being home for Christmas and having a great recovery. Even though gratitude is something that I try to practice and teach my daughter regularly, I decided in 2019 I would make a more conscious effort. I also made a resolution to be even more present with my family.

Both my daughter and I received gratitude journals as Christmas gifts, so I thought it would be awesome for us to talk and write together about that for which we are grateful. It’s also a perfect way to promote writing with my little kindergartener. We started our journals on January 1st and actually were grateful for the same thing: a visit from my mom (her nana) and my aunt (her great aunt).

It pleases me that my daughter is grateful for her family because I certainly am grateful for her. I’m looking forward to bonding and sharing wonderful moments together with my five year old as we write about that for which we are grateful throughout 2019.

All the best,

Tanya

Baking Up Memories with My Little Girl

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“I’m so excited, Mommy! I want to do everything from start to finish!” my five year old informed me as we prepared to bake chocolate chip cookies for Thanksgiving. Though it can be time-consuming, and it’s difficult to always carve out time to do it, I love baking. I especially love baking with my daughter. Now that she’s in kindergarten, she’s starting to read, is understanding the concept of measuring more and more and really was able to do just about everything from start to finish, with the exclusion of putting and taking the cookies out of the oven.

As we stood in the kitchen together, we bonded and talked about how excited we were to share our cookies with the family for Thanksgiving. Quinn even said, “I really love baking with you mommy. We ought to do it more often!” I agreed. It is such a wonderful feeling to see her applying what I’ve taught her over the years. I did not have to remind her how to sift the ingredients. Using the Kitchen Aid mixer is a no brainer for her. Without me suggesting, she said, “I’m going to start the mixer on the lowest setting firs so that the flour doesn’t go everywhere. Then I’ll flick the switch so it can mix the cookie dough faster. She was able to use the cookie scoop with ease, and even knew the importance of not putting the cookies too close to one another of the baking sheet.

This experience made me think of an analogy with my little girl. Before she was born, she was “baking” in my stomach until it was time for her to come out. Now, I often observe her “baking up” some ideas and searching for life “ingredients.”  She’s on her way to becoming a master chef, and it comforts me to know that I’m playing a role in sharing my recipes for heartfelt moments that she will be able to use to cook up a wonderful life for herself.

All the best,

Tanya

Autumn “Leaves” Fun Chores for My Little Girl!

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“This is the best chore of the day, Mommy,” my five year old excitedly told me. It’s that time of the year where autumn is in full swing. Trees display beautiful leaves in hues of red, yellow and orange that we all gaze at and admire. Unfortunately, those very leaves eventually fall to the ground leaving behind that dreaded chore for many adults to continuously rake them all up for the next month or longer, depending on how many of these beautiful trees surround their homes.

I actually don’t mind it so much because I often daydream about when I was younger jumping in the leaves or just making that crunchy sound as I walked down the street stepping on leaves. My daughter has the same love for nature that I have. This morning, after getting home from my kickboxing workout, the sun was shining, and the leaves covered most of our grass and portions of our sidewalk, so I figured that I’d get a little more exercise by raking the leaves.

Automatically, Quinn said, “I want to help too, Mommy! I love raking the leaves!” My sweet girl has been helping since she was just one years old, and each year, she gets better and better. We made it a family activity along with her dad and spent about an hour outside clearing the colorful leaves. She even wanted to hold onto some of the leaves so that she could identify what trees they came from.

I love how we can have fun doing chores and truly enjoy each other’s company. These are the colorful moments we share together, and I will always cherish them.

All the best,

Tanya

What Do You Call a Fairy & and Mermaid? Mommy and Daughter Halloween Fun!

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Carousel Fun and the Please Touch Museum’s Monster Mash

Halloween is such a fun time of year not just for my daughter but for me too. What makes it extra fun is the strengthening of our mommy/daughter bond. Since she was two, she began picking out a costume not just for herself but for me too. She’s been Doc McStuffins, and I’ve been Lambie. When she was three, she was an astronaut, and I was her rocket. Last year, she was Snow White, and I was the Evil Queen. This year, she decided to be a fairy and asked me to be a mermaid with a similar color scheme: purple as her favorite color and blue as my favorite color. I thought to myself, what a great idea! She’s already thinking about next year wanting to be a princess so that I can be her unicorn, and I love it!

I feel like dressing up together, going to parties, special events and trick or treating brings out the best in us both and brings us closer together. Sometimes, life just gets so hectic, and work even gets stressful, so I thank my daughter for allowing me to just have fun and enjoy life as different characters. Here’s to a happy fun-filled Halloween. Time with my daughter is the ultimate treat!

My Birthdays Are So Special With My Little Girl!

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On October 11th, I reached my own milestone and turned a year older. While the level of excitement is not the same as it once was when I was younger, my daughter’s enthusiasm and secretive planning for my big day truly made me feel special. Her planning actually started in the summer. I would overhear her whispering to my husband (her dad) about what she’d like to do and what she gift she would like to get me.

So when the day finally arrived, she could not contain herself. I have to leave early in the morning to get to work and did not see her until the afternoon, so as soon as she arrived home from school, she screamed out, “Happy birthday, Mommy!” and gave me a big, long hug. “We have special plans for you,” she informed me. My five year old selected Outback Steakhouse as the restaurant. “I know you love their salmon and baked sweet potato, Mommy,” she said. I thought to myself, wow, she knows me so well. Usually, she sits next to her dad, but she said that she wanted to sit next to me since it was my birthday.

At the restaurant, she presented her card and gift to me. The card’s wording was perfect and selected by Quinn. The gift was a beautiful key locket necklace. My husband later told me that she picked it out herself and insisted on getting me a pretty necklace since she knows I like wearing them. She even gave input on the cake and wanted blue to be used since it is my favorite color.

Knowing that my daughter is so caring and was excited to make me happy for my birthday warms my heart and is truly the best gift I could ever ask for.

All the best,

Tanya

Preparing Patriotic Punch: A Knock-out with My Little Girl

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“This is actually tasty,” my five year old exclaimed as she twiddled her straw slurping up some more of the beverage she helped to make.  With July 4th comes barbecues, spending time with family and friends, parades, fireworks, you name it! So I thought a fun project while celebrating America’s independence would be to prepare a patriotic drink (non-alcoholic of course) with my little girl.

After heading to my favorite go-to app, Pinterest, I came across several samples and decided to go with the drink containing, red punch, sprite, and a blue gatorade. Come to find out, it was actually like a science project because after filling the glass with ice, the different color beverages were able to sit on top of each other without blending because of the grams of sugar. Indeed, we would not regularly have a drink with that much sugar, but it was a nice treat and a great way to not only spend time with my daughter but to have her think critically questioning why the colors did not merge.

If you haven’t done anything like this, give it a try with your child(red). It’ll be a big hit, I’m sure!

All the best,

Tanya

Never Too Young for “Old School” Toys: Slinky Fun!

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“Mommy, what’s this called again?” my soon to be five year old asked as she played with one of my favorite old school toys. “A slinky, I told her.” She then followed up asking, “How does it work?” I was so eager to tell her, and once I showed her once, Quinn was hooked. It wasn’t a tablet or electronic device that made a lot of sounds. It wasn’t a video game nor something that would interact with her. It was just a basic slinky, and it consumed her for at least half hour or more as she strategically held on to the slinky trying to get it in the perfect position to reach her goal: get it to “walk” down an entire flight of stairs.

When her dad arrived home from work, she couldn’t wait to show him how she mastered the slinky. I too was excited for her to show him her new skill. Oftentimes, people say that kids these days only want the latest gadget or handheld device, I say that just isn’t totally true. Sometimes an “old school” toy can keep their attention and give them fun for hours. It was a nostalgic moment for me, and it felt so good teaching my daughter how to use and have fun with a slinky.

All the best,

Tanya

 

 

A Happy Easter Weekend with My Little Girl

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This Easter weekend flew by so quickly, but I couldn’t let the day go by without acknowledging and celebrating the fun moments I had with my daughter. We spent time with our family, something we both look forward to doing. We went on an Easter egg hunt yesterday, dyed eggs, and at Quinn’s request, we made rice crispy treats. She woke up excited to see what she received in her basket and immediately wanted to divide up her treats with her father and me so that we’d have some Easter treats too. I’m so grateful for such a sweet and thoughtful daughter. Happy Easter to you and yours.

All the best,

Tanya

Mother and Daughter Twins: Flattery from my Little Girl

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“Mommy, do you think we can dress alike or wear the same colors for the performance tonight?” My daughter asked. “Sure, honey. Why do you like dressing alike?” I inquired. To which Quinn exclaimed, “I love when we’re twins! Then I’m just like you! Do you like being me twin?” I smiled and said, “Of course, I do.”

Since my daughter was a baby, I’d often dress us alike or in color coordinated. Now that she’s almost five, it melts my heart that she wants to dress alike and will request that we do. Though, in my opinion, she resembles her father more than she resembles me, I am so flattered that she wants to be just like me. We do have similar mannerisms and personality traits. Many people often tell me that I am a caring and thoughtful person. These are attributes I clearly see in her.

Of course, I would never intentionally try to make my daughter a carbon copy of me. I simply want her to learn from me and always put forth her best effort. It am, however, flattered that my sweet girl looks up to me and wants to be my twin.

All the best,

Tanya

Celebrating Multiculturalism Preschooler Style

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Tomorrow starts multicultural week at my daughter’s preschool, and the children will bring in special snacks that represent their culture or heritage. Quinn’s very excited about it, and I am too, but I initially drew a blank on what we would make to represent our culture or ethnicity. There will be Greek, Polish and Ecuadorian snacks, which is awesome, and while I know my genetic makeup from 23 and me, (There’s some West African, South African, Asian, Irish, English, Scottish, Indian and a few others in there), when it comes to my culture and ethnicity, I simply identify as African American or simply American.

So instead of focusing on a treat that represents us as solely Americans, I thought it would be nice for Quinn and I to bake a treat that represents the importance of family and togetherness. “So your grandmother, my great grandmother, showed you how to make the chocolate chip cookies we’re baking, Mommy?” my daughter asked as we got all of our ingredients together to prepare baking. “Yes, she did, Quinn!” She then followed up, “And the hermit cookies too?” I confirmed, “Yes, the hermit cookies too.”

Even though she’s only four, she was more of the chef, and I was her assistant. She added all of the ingredients, with the exception of me cracking the eggs, and she even sifted the flour. “This is baking soda, not baking powder, right Mommy?” she asked. “Yes, you’re right, honey!” I told her. The experience of baking with her reminded me of the moments I shared with my mom and grandmother learning to cook and bake.

Then, when Quinn said, “I love baking with you, Mommy!” it melted my heart because, a cliche as it is, one of the main ingredients in baking is “love.” While we could have just went to the store and purchased some chocolate chip cookies, part of our culture is togetherness, teaching each other and being supportive of one another as a family. Today, was a wonderful experience, and I hope Quinn’s classmates are able to not just enjoy the cookies but taste the love and energy that was put into baking them.

All the best,

Tanya