“ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE”

It started out as one of THOSE nights… the kind where your baby wakes up, EVERY hour, on the hour. And just when I got him back to sleep for what seemed like the millionth time, my four year old awoke, crying and wanting “juicy in a bottle.”

Now I certainly hope my Pediatrician never reads this because yes, I believe we said we gave up the bottle, years ago. And in fact, that was probably true because it seems to me, we’ve given it up SEVERAL times. But….then she was sick and needed a bottle… or she wasn’t drinking milk anymore so we gave her a bottle… or cups spill, so better to have a bottle! Yes, we’re those parents;) Fortunately for our second child (and for us), we’ll be skipping the bottle!

So, in my tired state, I crawled from my bed to the fridge to retrieve a bottle of juice because at 3 in the morning, I just wanted the crying to stop, and at 3 in the morning, my child isn’t exactly rational;)

I carried her back to bed after calming her down, handed her a bottle and the crying resumed. Now came the cries, “the tall bottle, the tall bottle.” REALLY? At 3am you really care about the type of bottle? To me, this was a case of ‘pick and choose your battles’ and this was one I simply decided would be easier to walk back out to the kitchen, pour the juice in the tall bottle, and march it back to her room. HOWEVER, by the time I was back in her room… she was asleep.

It didn’t matter what she asked for, what she wanted. All she wanted was someone to care about her needs and love her. I didn’t need to fulfill her outrageous demands at 3am. I just needed to listen to her, comfort her, and show her love.

It’s the perfect reminder of what we need to do for each other every day. It’s easy to be caught up looking at our phones or distracted by the many things grasping for our attention. But it doesn’t take long to truly listen to someone, and that simple gesture of love provides everyone with a little more peace.

Who can you show love to today?

#love #parenting #parentingwithlove