Growing up, yelling and frogging

This is something that I have been meaning to do for a good long time. Layla amazes me. Really, when did she go into a cocoon and come out as a butterfly? I don't remember Natalie going through this drastic of a transformation. This picture was taken by Lisa, a friend, www.windwardskies.com, or at least that is where she was... Anyway, it is amazing that Lisa was able to get some shots of Layla without a scowl on her face. This was just ONE YEAR ago!!

About 6 months later on her birthday...

And just a couple of weeks ago.

I just can't believe my little Layla growing up. It is odd, I am not sure why but I can't think of her as 3, she seems so much older to me than 3. But then when I think of my Natalie going to be 6 in a couple months I want to cry. She can't be 6. I can't have been a mommy for 6 years.
But then, I have to get over it cuz I can't be crying on Natalie's birthday, right?
Anyway, so I have been doing lots of reading and thinking. So yesterday was a fun day. Can you hear the sarcastic note in my voice? I let the girls get in the tub after Gwen and I got out. Layla got into the bar of soap. She put half a bar of soap in her hair. Yeah, those of you who have washed little girls hair and now closing your eyes in terror. So I go up there, Gwen is wrapped on me and I see this mess. I tell Layla that we are going to have to rinse out all the soap. Already squeals of terror are happening. I try to calm her down. It doesn't work. I end up taking her out of the tub and holding her tightly, trying not to yell, but goodness how is she going to hear me? So yes, my voice did raise a bit. I carried her into my bathroom and held her over my sink, you know she is getting big. I told her that if she kept her head on my hand she wouldn't get anymore soap in her eyes. So finally she calmed down, we got all the soap out. But I swear if anyone heard yelling and screaming yesterday, it came from my house. And it got me thinking. The girls and I have had some days lately, bound to happen when I am the only parent, right? And a lot of nights we have ended up having talks about what we did, why we did it, and what we can do different tomorrow. In other words, I am trying to teach my girls to admit when they are wrong. To stop when there is tons of yelling and screaming and think about what is going on. Change the situation. I don't remember this going on when I was little. My parents were always right. And that was something that I really wanted to change for my girls. I AM NOT ALWAYS RIGHT! I do not want them to think that I am anywhere close to being always right. Why would I want them to question everything but me? So we have these talks, I want them to tell me when I do something that they didn't like. I hope that this will help us have a close relationship when they get older. I can already say that my girls probably feel more comfortable talking to me about what I do than most kids.
And that brings me to frogging. Yep, again, same thing. I think people need to grow up, stop yelling and admit when they are wrong. I think after you admit it so many times, I was wrong, I didn't do this right, whatever, it becomes easier. And then ripping out a whole sweater becomes easier. Yeah, don't tell Jack, I am ripping out his sweater. I don't like it. I know I can do better. I was wrong, the sweater sucks. I find that my knitting confidence has increased since doing my sweater, which I only have one more arm left to do. I think my sweater, so far at least, looks pretty darn good. Why should I give my husband a crappy sweater? But see, I still think I can frog it and get it made before he finds out that I frogged it. What do ya'll think?