July Challenge

So today is July !st and I swear yesterday was May 24th and we were getting out of school.  Time flies when you're having fun, right?!  Somehow June is over and I'm not sure how.  So, I've decided to try something.  Starting today I am going to "attempt" to do something new with Liza everyday.  Not a big something, but just something she hasn't done before.  I have a few ideas... and some are as simple as collecting rocks...others involve glue. (which makes me sweat)

 We started today with finger painting.  Not a big deal at all, right?  Ummm, wrong...huge deal! She loved it, but I was sweating the whole time.  Even though in the back of my mind I knew it was washable.  When she started slapping her hands together and screaming... I began to panic.  It was flying everywhere! Somehow I managed to let her finish and she absolutley LOVED it! Mostly she just did her own thing, but I did attempt to get one 4th of July project out of it.  In the end there was paint everywhere, but it all came off easily.  While she was slinging paint, I was trying to snap a few pictures.  She got up out of her chair and walked over to me and kissed me right on the mouth.  In the process she got paint all over me, but who cares at that point!

After we got it all cleaned up and I was putting her down for a nap I had this thought.  We should do something like this every single day this month.  I don't mean paint, but something she hasn't done yet. My summer will be over before I know it and I dont want to look back and think "what did we do all summer"... I'm not one to pretend we live in fantasy world over here.  Just yesterday we had to leave a restaurant because she was flipping out and attempting to knock over anything in sight! So yeah, its not all roses.  Our days are just like everyone elses.  Some are great, and some days I want to get in my car and run away...far away.  One thing I don't want to do is regret not spending enough "quality time" with her.  It is so easy to get wrapped up in our own lives and 2 days have gone by and you realize the most you've done for your child is changed their diaper or fed them.  It's easy to turn Dora on for long periods at a time.  Believe me...I am guilty!   I have 31 days ahead of me to fix this.  Of course I will still turn  on Dora, and of course I will still hand her the ipad while I'm cooking supper, but I will also try and do something interactive with her every day.  This may come really easy to some, but if I'm being completely honest with myself it's not always easy for me.  So here we go... I may need Xanax by August 1st, but Liza hopefully will remember our summers at home together (even when I act like a crazy person and lose my patience)