“The way we talk to our
children becomes their inner voice." Peggy O'Mara
I have seen this quote many times and it has always struck me as powerful. Matt and I constantly marvel at the power that parents have over their childrens' lives and, frankly, we are often overwhelmed and intimidated by it. Well, we recently received 3 separate confirmations that demonstrate the enormous influence parents have - my father-in-law, my best friend, and Olivia’s teacher all made the same comment to me – “when Olivia speaks, she sounds exactly like you.” ( I actually love the way her teacher phrased it - “Olivia looks so much like her daddy that we wondered where you were. And then we got to know both you and Olivia, and we realized that she speaks with your voice.”)
Which brings me back to my original reaction to the quote – powerful. While hearing that Olivia speaks like me is probably one of the nicest compliments I have ever received, it also reaffirms my feelings that parenthood is this awesome responsibility that must be treated with care. EEK!
Along with this realization came another lesson - watch what you tell Olivia. One of Olivia's friends is having a birthday party this weekend and her mom mentioned to me that she wasn't going to invite the entire class. I didn't really think anything about that (in fact, I was already planning on doing the same thing in Sept. for Olivia's birthday!). Well, I told Olivia about the party but forgot to mention the discreet guest list. Earlier this week when I was picking up my talkative little 2 year old, she ran up to a dad was also picking up his daughter and said, clear as day, "Is [your daughter] going to [friend's] birthday party?" Dad answers "Oh, I don't know. I'm sure she is." To which Olivia responds "Don't forget, you have to dress up like Frozen!" I was so shocked by this entire encounter that I could barely even react. I quickly whisked Olivia out of the room and sped home to see if this family was included on the Evite! (Thankfully they were!).
Nevertheless, lesson learned!
And now on to a few pictures!
My mom organized it so that all the sisters + her were matching for a recent dinner. So fun! (Princess Olivia was thrilled to join in the picture)
Speaking of matching, Olivia thought it was the best thing ever when "Baby Pax" bought matching PJs for them
And, of course, the obsession with dress-up and princesses continues...
I know I've said it before, but isn't it just amazing to see how dads interact with their daughters?! It makes my heart happy to see how Matt continues to shine with each new phase of our extremely girly-girl. One of my favorite quotes from Matt was when Olivia was about 1 and he mentioned that he found he now spent a lot of time dressing and undressing baby dolls and putting them to sleep!
Those days have now turned to dress-up and all things princess, but he continues to be interested in the things that she is interested in and jump right in to her play. Although, he did find a bizarre video on You Tube that has real women dressed up as the various Disney princesses singing a song questioning the traditional "Disney" notions of handsome princes and true love. Much to his delight, Olivia is now obsessed with the video and can often be heard singing a phrase from the song -- “I'm who I am. I don't need a man!" I love it!
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