Three's a charm ... well not always

Three's a charm for sure and by three I am talking about our third born, Ilana Rose.  We are so incredibly thankful that God in His foreknowledge had the upper hand. You see, just when we had decided we were not having any more kids, I was ALREADY pregnant.  So much for this mom thinking she "runs the show."

And are we ever so grateful for our third (and dare I say) last born! We could not imagine our life without her. She brightens our world in so many ways and our life would be FAR less colorful without her. She is incredibly funny and goofy and makes us laugh a lot.

Her dress code is far from ordinary. She really has a hippie edge and funnily enough she makes it work. It just seems to fit her personality.  She is really affectionate with the best hugs, kisses and snuggles any mom could ask for.

And she is outgoing to the max, there is not a shy bone in this girl. She recently walked up to our book keeper, Cynthia, at church, who she had never seen before and had a little conversation with her. Here is the account in Cynthia's words:

"I met your daughter, Ilana, today.  What a sweet, curious little girl.  She told me that if I had any questions about the church, just ask her. She said "I have been here for long, long time!  All my life"  Too, too cute!"



I guess I would be remiss if I did not say she also has a strong personality. She leads and others follow. And happily so. 

At a recent birthday party the parents hosting said it was a breeze. 

"Ilana ran the show, she had all the kids dancing and grooving. She would tell them all what to do and the amazing thing is the whole bunch of 4 year olds' actually did what she told them to do!"

Yep that about sums up our little charmer. 

She really is a charmer, and we honestly adore her, but parenting her is not a piece of cake by any stretch of the imagination. She really would much rather parent us. And she tries. Often.

A few weeks ago we came to the sudden realization (and yes it was shockingly sudden) that our Lani needed to be reigned in a little. She had been given far too much rope lately. And our charmer was starting to look, well .....  a little less charming.

I had this aha mommy moment we as moms sometimes have, when I realized how much free reign Ilana had been getting on what she watched through the "wonder" of netflix. Zach and Daliya just did not have that "luxury." We owned a few kiddy DVD's, the likes of Veggie Tales the always positive, "Can we fix it? YES we can!" Bob the Builder and then the ever so cute Thomas and Friends, a show that personifies trains and teaches what it means to have character and grit. Just today I found out it was written by a pastor and his son. No wonder I liked the show so much :-)  Can you tell I am getting all nostalgic? And aside from these trusted "friends" there were a few library rentals (which were normally too scratched up anyways) and that was pretty much it. And it served us just fine. 

But here we are just 4 years later with the video on demand world of netflix and we have entered a whole new era. We really have! Ilana has hundreds of options literally at her finger tips. And yes we do have her profile set for young children but still the options are limitless. And while some moms will sit on a couch watching with their kids (I salute you moms) that's just not me. Video on demand also has no beginning and end. With my older two when the DVD (which was always conveniently 30-40 minutes) was over it was over. Short and sweet!

And so for Ilana, what started as Dora the Explorer and Strawberry Shortcake moved on, at the touch of her little finger, to a whole bunch of other shows without me being fully aware.  She began watching "My little Pony," and with it's cute title and bright purple and pink ponies it seemed harmless enough. But my ears perked up recently when I heard some lines in the show that made me question how harmless it really was. There was a level of defiance, aggression and sassyness that just did not sit right with me. I asked Ilana to flip to another show. The name of that show, "Bratz". Well need I say more? What's the deal with adding a "z" to the word that makes it sound more charming?

And so that day, with my aha moment of realization, that there may just be a connection between these shows and my girl losing her charm and beginning to become a brat herself (without the z) we said good bye to "My Little Pony" and "Bratz". We also pressed the pause button on Netflix all together. 

I pulled out our trusted "friends" and would you know we have seen a DRAMATIC change in our girl in less than 2 weeks!

I am so thankful to have my sweet little girl back.  And so very thankful for those little aha moments in mommyhood that are invariably quite spot on. So for today I am embracing my charming little Lani Loo. I love you my third born, more than you will ever know. Three really is a charm!