Mini bonding for the girls

There has been a lot of screaming in the household of late.Mini tends to make her frustration known through high pitched screams,probably like other 2 year olds her age.This week the main running battles have been eating (again!) and getting her off to bed.

While I'm loving the early morning visits-I'm awake anyway before you wonder!-that the removal of one side of her cot has brought,the new found independence of Mini is not without its problems.

Now that she can climb out of the bed,she has made it very clear that she wholeheartedly objects to the 8pm bedtime that has been working so well for the past year or so. Commence battle of wills between Mini and Mum-Papa works late most evenings so he's normally out of the equation leaving me to battle against our incredibly strong willed little lady.

Last Saturday night was particularly stressful. 5 times I put Mini to bed, tucked her in, sang her a lullaby, placed her teddies around her and waddled down stairs. 5 times, I had to waddle back up the stairs to confront a wailing Mini in the landing, only the gate preventing her from continuing to live it up Saturday night style. She wanted to party, I just wanted an end to the day of childminding.

I couldn't think of anything else to do, so I scooped her up in my arms and sat in the big armchair in her room, where I had rocked her to sleep as tiny baby, where we sometimes still sit and read stories, although this does not tend to last for long these days. As I sat stroking her hair and singing Freres Jacques for what seemed like the millionth time, Mini gently began stroking my belly. She has done this before but only in passing and to be honest sometimes it's more a gentle smack than a stroke in response to any adults questioning of "Where's the baby, Mini?"

All the time we were seated together on that dark,stormy night, she continued to pat and stroke my stomach and in return her little sister would kick and wriggle in appreciation. We stayed in the chair for over half an hour, until I could no longer feel the light touch of Mini and Mini Mini's kicking had abated. I carried the gently snoring big sister and placed her in her cot for the last time that night.
It was just us 3 girls, alone in an otherwise empty house, but it was magical. Here we are trying to recreate the moment with the first "Minis & Mum selfies." Not quite a success-it's hard to get the bump into shot too!- but we had a lot of fun trying!

This post links up with Magic Moments over at the Olivers Madhouse, hosted by the lovely Jaime. Check out more magical posts here. 

And #pocolo here hosted by @vicwelton- a great linky for discovering lots of great blogs.