Like Putting Skinny Jeans on a Two Year Old

I wouldn't have thought that they are as cute as they are. A couple of months ago I saw the coloured skinny jeans for toddlers at Costco. They looked pretty cute on the shelf, so I thought "why not?"
I almost regretted my decision when I tried to get Danica into them, let me tell you. First of all, it was after a bath, so her legs were in that slightly damp, hard to get pants on stage. Second, she's two, which means that she can't stay still for a second. "Put your hands on my shoulders so I can put your pants on Danica." Yeah right. She twists, hops on one leg, looks at the fly on the ceiling behind her, and hums a tune; anything but standing still with her hands on my shoulders. When I finally do get a leg into the proper pant leg, I have to shimmy the pants up a millimetre at a time, which distracts her even more. Finally I resort to laying her on the floor to shimmy her jeans up, and succeed.
All that work was worth it...they are super adorable! And interestingly enough, they don't look nearly as tight once they're on as they seemed like they were going to be in the 20 minutes it took to get them there.
While being kind of a silly example, the skinny jean story is a great example of what life is like on a daily basis with four girls (or kids in general!) So many of the things we do are a struggle; or at least they seem like a struggle at first, but turn out to be worth it. Sometimes the result is seen right away, and sometimes it takes SO long. Nighttime potty training my four year old is one of the hurdles we are working on that is taking a long time. I know that it's considered normal for a four year old to still be having accidents at night, but that doesn't change the fact that it makes me want to bang my head on a wall at least once a week.  One day though, hopefully very, very soon, I am hoping that all of our consistency and patience pays off. I've seen it happen before, and I'm clinging to that!
Keeping our 8 year old from playing video games all day is another struggle. Anytime she is the least bit bored, that's what she wants to do. It's a lot of work to find things for her to do, but between reading, filling the woodbox, and playing outside, we manage an activity schedule that works most days. It pays off in a few ways, but my favourite one is when her teacher says that she can tell that Addison doesn't watch much tv. I always laugh a little inside and think about how easy it would be to let her. All of that being said, some days I do. Some days, any illusion of  "on the ball" mom skills I have decide to take a holiday and we spend an entire day being tech junkies.
Being a parent is hard! It's hard to stay patient, discipline effectively, be kind, and help them learn things that will mould them into the people we hope they will be. I know a majority of people reading this are going through the exact same things I am right now. I also know that you probably see "small success" moments that make all of that work worth it; like when I see my four year old apologize to her sister and voluntarily give her a hug after hurting her. In times like that I smile and think, "this is what it's all for!"