Gifts and Beeswax

As of today Syd is officially on vacation, whereas Taylor's been off for two whole weeks already.  To be honest I'm a little scared of what the next two weeks will hold for us.  They say (who is the ever elusive "they" by the way?) that girls are easier than boys when they are younger, and boys are easier than girls when they are older and at this point I'm just praying that "they" are right.  Syd is a bundle of emotions and always has been since the day he was born.  Moody, dramatic, intense and full of passion, no one has ever been able to push my buttons like he does.

 The last few weeks he's really been skating on thin ice and our relationship has been up and down.  Taylor and I spent a lovely morning alone today and within 2 minutes of picking up Syd from his last day of school, drama ensued.  Something about a punching balloon and a Frisbee he brought home for dad, I'm still not really sure.  Ten minutes later he was flailing himself on the ground in the middle of BofA because he wanted the lollipop his sister got.  Bad parenting?  Almost 7 years into this parenting gig I'm wise enough now to know that it's not the case.  Each kid is different, they all have their strengths and different personality traits and I'm just trying my best to figure out how to ride this wild wave with Syd.

Some days I do a really good job at staying calm and keeping him busy and thus, our family stress free.  Other days not so much, and I admittedly do a real shitty job.  Some days are a combination of both, like Wednesday where we spent the afternoon making the rest of our teacher gifts for his preschool teachers and speech therapist.  Overall a very nice day, although a little chaotic when 7 kids and burning candle wax are involved.  He shyly gave each teacher their homemade present today, along with a little glittered poinsettia plant from Trader Joe's, which are quite cute by the way.  He begrudgingly accepted hugs from each of his teachers and then ran to circle time to play with the Lego's in order to escape all the mushy gushy lovey dovey stuff.  I shook my head at him, but of course knew I couldn't expect anything less of him.  After all he doesn't even really let me hug him.

Yup, it's been a rough few weeks, and even though I really don't 100% feel this way right now, still a little miffed from the BofA incident, I know that someday soon all this will pass and he'll be the one sweetly coming home from school to greet me and give me a peck on the cheek while his sister breezes in and barely acknowledges me with an eye roll before slamming her bedroom door.

And I know it's Christmas time and everything is supposed to be perfect and all, but just trying to keep it real ;)

By the way, if you're interested in making your own sweet beeswax candles for some gifts next week, they are really easy to make.  My friend Laura has been making them and selling them at local craft fairs for the last couple of months.  I purchased a few from her to begin with but we loved them so much we asked her to come over and teach us how to make them.  All you really need is some beeswax (we used all natural local beeswax from a supplier in Long Beach), a couple of silicone molds and wicking string.  The tree and pinecone is a mold that you just simply pour the wax into and let dry.  The sweet dinner candles are made by dipping the wicking string in wax over and over until nice and thick and the shape of a taper candle.  You can add decorative waxed punches in fun shapes and colors (this was the kids favorite part).  Laura is the absolute expert though and we loved spending the afternoon with her and her sweet girls.  She's the ultimate earth mama and is always a joy to be around.  Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions; I'll do my best to answer them :)