Communicating Love

This morning I've been wishing I'd included a little more love in the last post about training children. I think for me I have to consciously realize that I can definitely still love and communicate love to my kids even though I make them sleep through the night at some point, or train them to clean up after themselves, or to solve their own problems. Making them struggle doesn't mean I don't love them. We need to be sure to communicate that. Sometimes I have to sit down with Jozie and explain to her that because I love her and I'm her mom, it's very important that I teach her, and that's why I'm not doing such-and-such for her but am making her learn to do it, or whatever. I read an article recently that reminded us that we can never say "I love you" too many times. Verbally expressing that all the time, and including lots of hugs, is very important. I just read a post on the blog I mentioned last time that has reminded me of how quickly this time with young kids really does go by. This time is such an amazing opportunity, not only because they're so incredibly cute and (most of the time) sweet right now, but because they're so able to be taught right now.