So, I’m going into my second week of being a puppy mom, and I definitely have my hands full. Prepping meals for Quinn and Zack, tending to both of their needs and carving out a little time for myself has been tricky this week. Thank goodness for my seven year old who’s been helping me along the way. Just like a new born baby, Zack, woke up a couple of times throughout the course of the night to “go potty” leaving this puppy mom with four or five hours sleep.
Luckily, for the past few days he’s been sleeping through the night, possibly because he’s starting to feel more comfortable, we’ve been playing with him even more and running him up and down the block with him for a little while after he’s “gone potty,” which he seems to really enjoy.
Though he’s not a human, I love seeing how happy Quinn is with her puppy brother. I have a feeling that they are going to learn so much from each other, and I’ll continue learning so much from the both of them as well.
Motherhood is full of countless emotional roller coaster rides, trial and error, hope, happiness and even concern along with rewarding moments. As I prepared for the the arrival of our new addition this Friday, the range of emotions I experienced with my daughter, who’s now seven, all came rushing back. But this time, there’s one major difference. Our new addition is a puppy!
Zack is an eleven week old toy poodle who’s just too cute for words. But this is our family’s first time having a puppy or dog, for that matter. I never had one as a child, nor had my husband, so this is completely new. While I’m excited, I am nervous too because I want to be a good “puppy mom.”
I’ve done tons of reading, watched several a videos from the leading experts and probably over-purchased toys, food, treats, grooming items, you name it, to make sure Zack has a smooth transition and loves his “fur ever” family.
Something that definitely helps me as I take baby steps as a “puppy mom” is the help from Quinn, my sweet little girl. She too has read through her puppy training book, watched videos, been loving towards Zack and wants to help take him out to go potty and to get his food ready.
We’re only two and a half days in to having Zack join our family, but having him here and seeing how happy my daughter is and how well she interacts with him lets me know that I’ll have her hand to hold as I take on the journey as a puppy mommy.
I enjoy spending time and doing projects with my daughter. I especially love when those projects are meaningful and double as DIY home projects. Most recently, we worked on repurposing her old table by doing a Mod Podge of colorful pictures. We talked, laughed and reminisced as we prepped pictures, cut them, decided which ones we wanted to go where and adhered them to the table. It took a few hours, but the finished product is perfect and a constant reminder of what matters most.
Family, friends, joy, love, togetherness: a montage of memorable moments over the years will never be tabled. Thankful Quinn and I will always have our project to remind us of what’s most important.
When I was younger, I loved coloring. Who am I kidding…I still love coloring; it’s just a matter of making time for it! But when it comes to making time for my daughter, I know how fleeting it can be, so I’m constantly trying to find activities that will not only be fun but will bring us closer together.
A few weeks ago, my cousin recommended the Me & My Coloring Book for Mom & Daughter by Latoya Nicole. I took a look at it through Amazon.com and loved the pictures, so I purchased it the same day. When the book arrived, and Quinn looked at the cover, she was so excited for us to use the coloring book. “There’s so many cool pictures in here, Mommy!” In some of them the little girl looks like me, and you look like the mom!” She decided on a picture that was all too familiar for us, “A mother and daughter eating popcorn and watching a movie.”
We sat on our deck with music playing in the background as we colored occasionally remarking on how we liked the colors the other person was using. “Next time, you get to pick the pictures we’ll color, Mommy!” Quinn said.
My daughter adds so much color to my life, so I’m grateful that I made time for us to color together.
“I have some ideas of where to put mine, Mommy,” my daughter excitedly told me as she continued painting. “How about the park? Plenty of people, especially kids go to the park!” While on social media, I saw a post from my township encouraging citizens to place “kindness rocks” around town in public places for people to find, and I thought it would be a perfect activity for my daughter and me to not only bond but to spread some kindness and positivity.
To get started, we selected rocks my husband had for a landscape project and then decided on colors for our rocks. Quinn wanted pink, her favorite color, a light blue that’s like the sky because it makes her happy and a mixture of pink and blue to look like a “space” rock. I used royal blue, one of my favorite colors, green, orange and a nice bright yellow.
“I already know what I want one of my rocks to say, Mommy! Be yourself because some people are afraid to be themselves, but they should be proud of who they are!” Quinn informed me. I was very impressed by the wisdom of my seven year old because even adults (including me) sometimes struggle with simply being themselves and being happy with that. I decided on, “You are special” for one of my rocks because oftentimes we must remind ourselves that we “are” special, and it’s a message I want to make sure my daughter always remembers.
People locating our rocks around town really fills both Quinn and me with joy. We’re both hoping they attract those who’ll benefit the most from our positive notes and that they will possibly decide to create their own kindness rocks for Quinn and me to find on our daily travels!
“This is one if the best days of my life! I’ll never forget this day,” my daughter said as she pedaled on her bike with no assistance from me. I’ll never forget this day either. The pure joy in her voice and sense of accomplishment made me feel so happy. The memories of when she first said “mama,” started crawling, took her first steps and began learning to read all came rushing back to me!
Quinn asked, “How did you know I would be able to ride my bike today?” With a smile on my face, I told her, “I could just feel it!” I recall having that same feeling when she took her first steps. Days before we headed out for my daughter to practice riding her bike, she told me that going in bike rides with me using the trailer bike made her feel more confident and that she was ready to master riding her own bike. I really think that the combination of Quinn’s confidence in herself and the confidence I had in her ability to ride her bike is what gave her that extra edge in reaching her goal.
She couldn’t wait to put together a video on her YouTube channel, Quinnie’s Fun House, helping other children or even adults with tips for beginners learning how to ride a bike. I love how she always want to help others even while she’s still learning.
With each bike ride, Quinn is getting better and better, and I’m looking forward to our rides together headed towards countless destinations and memorable moments.
A few weeks ago, posted about the puzzle my daughter and I started and how I found the experience to correlate with the puzzling times we’re currently experiencing. While I focused on the frame of the puzzle, my seven year old focused on sorting the matching colors, a strategy I eventually employed once the frame was complete.
Another strategy we both use was sorted the pieces into categories base on their similar shapes which actually helped when we could clearly see what type of shape belonged in what space. Though Quinn was a willing participant and helped out with the 500 piece puzzle more than I anticipated, at times, she became frustrated and a little overwhelmed as she struggled to figure out what puzzles pieces went where. That’s when I stepped in to keep progress going, which is something we all occasionally need.
Something else I realized as I stressed and drove myself nuts trying to find the last puzzle piece is that we could be overlooking most the obvious place to “literally” piece it all together. After about a half hour or searching, Quinn causally walked over and noticed that the puzzle piece made its way under the table cloth.
Within these last couple of weeks, not only did we have some mother daughter bonding time, but it was an eye-opening experience on all that can be learned from simply working on a puzzle.
Making Ice Cream CupcakesIce Cream Cupcake Results
Ever since a few weeks ago when my daughter saw an article on our Echo Show on how to make your own ice cream cake, she’s been dying for us to give it a try. It was for a strawberry crunch reminiscent of the Good Humor ice cream treats and caught my attention too considering that it’s been quite some time since I’ve had one. With her school year coming to a close and having hot and humid days all last week, I thought it would be a nice way to celebrate.
A few days ago, Quinn then saw another advertisement of a Reese’s ice cream cake and wanted to try that one too, so I figured why not do both of them on a smaller scale as cupcakes? After doing a little searching on Pinterest and checking out alternative recipes that were not too involved, I found the perfect recipes.
For the strawberry crunch recipe, we used golden Oreos, butter, vanilla ice cream, strawberry ice cream, cool whip and freeze dried strawberries. For the Reese’s cup treat, I just followed the strawberry shortcake recipe using Quinn’s ideas for the modifications. We used regular Oreos, butter, vanilla ice cream, Reese’s chocolate and peanut butter hard shell, chocolate ice cream, cool whip and mini Reese’s cups and pieces. Making the ice cream cup cakes was actually not as difficult as I thought it would be, but waiting overnight for them to set before getting to try them was for my seven year old.
As soon as we finished dinner yesterday, she said, “I’m so excited to try our ice cream cup cakes!” Since this was my first time trying to make them, and I modified the recipe slightly since I was doing cupcakes and not a cake, I wasn’t sure on how they would turn out. To my surprise, they were delightfully delicious! My husband and I both had the strawberry crunch ice cream cakes, and the golden Oreo and freeze dried strawberry crumble on top really did taste just like the Good Humor bar if not better! Quinn thoroughly enjoyed her Reese’s ice cream cup cake, and I’m tempted to try one for next time.
Summer isn’t officially here yet, but I’m eager to make many more treats with Quinn as these are sweet moments I will always hold dear.
As we biked down the road, Quinn said, “It’s so nice today. I love doing outdoor activities with you, Mommy!” It’s been nearly three months since the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted our way of life, and even though the transition to online learning for her and finding different ways to have fun while practicing social distancing has been going smoothly, hearing the happiness in her voice and giggle as we sped down the hill let me know how much she misses regular outdoor activities and outings.
Though it was hot yesterday, neither one of us cared because we were both just happy to be outside doing something more than a walk around the neighborhood. The light breeze, the beads of sweat forming as we pedaled in over time to get up those hills with the trailer bike, and whizzing down a hill or two were all greatly appreciated and sought after.
When we got home, Quinn eagerly asked if we can go for a bike ride again tomorrow and then said, “Even if we can’t do a lot of outdoor activities like last year, we can still have a fun summer.” This statement made me think about how resilient my seven year old has been throughout this entire ordeal. She’s went with the flow, is full of energy, which helps to keep me going when I’m feeling depleted, and she demonstrates hope for when “things get back to normal,” as she often says.
We all may find ourselves “spinning our wheels” longing for normalcy, but for now, I’m trying my best to mirror the hope, persistence and gratitude my daughter often displays.
With some Kidz Bop music playing in the background, my seven year old and I sat at the table quietly sorting through all of the puzzle pieces, 500 pieces to be exact! Since I can remember, I’ve always liked doing puzzles, and Quinn is the same way.
Though we both enjoy doing puzzles, we have different techniques for getting started. I tend to focus on the edges and piecing together the frame of the puzzle, and she prefers to sort through the colors looking for similarities. Though my strategy yielded quicker results, leaving Quinn a little frustrated with her progress, I reassured her that once the frame was done, I too would be following her technique.
While we’re just getting started, this activity is perfect to constructively pass time as we continue to practice social distancing. It also made me think about how there’s so many things to piece together during these puzzling times. Just like working on this 500 piece puzzle, it can initially be overwhelming, but we must be patient and work together diligently. Over time, everything will start to come together and be clearly presented. Then, we’ll be able to admire our hard work and Pat each other on the back for working together as a team.
Mommy's Baby Steps 