Julia has hit an amazing point in life. She’s more out-going, more inquisitive, more talkative, more capable of engaging with me.

She’s also demanding {quite literally} her independence. She’s talking back, she’s telling me “no”, and becoming more possessive of her things. At times it’s overwhelming and more than I care to deal with.

But I caught myself this last week overlooking the not-crazy-2 times. In the middle of the living room, Julia was dancing and laughing. And I found myself not paying attention. I was in Sarahworld, not mamaworld. And it hit me: I need to focus on the amazing parts of Julia not just the parts that need “fixing”.

It seems easy enough, but it really does require that much more. When Julia isn’t acting out, I can get things done. When she’s behaving, I can clean, cook, run errands {and well, check Twitter}. Yet, this last weekend, while Jon was putting in overtime {which means I was putting in overtime} I tried focusing on the amazing parts of my children. And it was good.

I decided to make a goal for myself this week: Stop being just “mom” and focus on playing with my children. Get overly excited with them and for them. Enjoy the parts of being a mom that aren’t all work but are play.