What I Did For Love (Mother’s Day Edition)

So...y’see this giant, loverly rainbow on Chicklet’s wall???

It’s a new addition, as of today, and I’ll tell you the story of its birth. :)

But first, I have to pause for a moment in the middle of this here post to speak about another birth, and to announce that THE KIDDOS HAVE A NEW BABY COUSIN!!! Born this morning, on this beautiful Mother’s Day, and forevermore in possession of the coolest, mathematical birthday ever: 5.10.20.

She’s so dang adorable that I want to gobble up her little cheeks, but she’s not mine to share on this here blog, so just imagine a picture of the most adorable, petite, 5 pound, 15 ounce cutie-pie nugget, all snug as a bug in a rug in her newborn hospital swaddle—and then multiply that times 100, and that’s my new niece. :)

So grateful she’s here safely and we can’t wait to meet her in person, sometime this summer.

Okay.

Back to the rainbow.

So...more than a year ago, when we knew we were moving, I spoke to each kiddo a bit about what they wanted their new room to look like.

Chica wanted to pretty much replicate her McKinney room. Easy peasy, and no surprise from my girl who does not like change.

Little Man was still a bit young to have super-strong opinions, but when I suggested adding super hero images everywhere he was sold and never looked back.

So that really left Chicklet as the minor wild card. Her room in McKinney was painted mint green before she was ever born and decided blue was her favorite. So when I suggested a light blue for her new room, she was all in—and then hilariously demanded a rainbow theme.

Huh.

So. “Rainbow” gave me a moment’s pause because:

1. I have a strong to quite strong aversion to primary colors in my decorating. I’m a muted or a jewel tone kind of gal.
2. Rainbow just screams kitschy and bold and “kid’s room,” and I try to at least attempt to keep it classy, ha.

So...ponder, ponder, ponder. What to do??

PB Teen came to the rescue with a pastel, rainbow-type of rug that anchored the whole concept. And then I decided to try to cheat the “rainbow” by installing these really cool geometric wall tiles, and then making a bunch of flower cutouts in a rainbow of pastel colors to adhere in ombré order to round out Chicklet’s requested theme.

A marriage of both our desires, yes??

I thought it turned out pretty cool but classy and made for a lovely room. And even though Chicklet mentioned the lack of official rainbow when we moved in and the alternate wall tile/flower setup was installed, I kind of just glossed over it by being over enthusiastic about how it all looked, and I hoped that she would love it madly anyway.

Well.

Fast forward an entire year, and about three nights ago, I was putting Chicklet to bed for the night, and she was pretending she was hosting a YouTube video and talking someone through the features of her room (adorable, I know).

And she sort of completely broke my heart when she fake-panned to her wall tile feature and said something like, “it was supposed to be a rainbow room, but...Mama sort of did something different, and this is kind of nice, too.”

UGH.

I mean...talk about a stab to my Mama heart.

I try so, so, so hard to make things special for my babies—including their rooms, which I want to be a sanctuary for each of them, and a source of pride. And it just hurt to listen to her a full year later giving a fake interview and commenting about what she’d hoped for within her room, but that Mama hadn’t exactly delivered because she just didn’t wanna.

Now.

I must stop and admit here that these are privileged problems. Oh, boo hoo, my poor baby has a gorgeous, safe, beautiful room all to herself but it’s not exactly as she wanted. I’m so aware that this isn’t an official problem.

But it is a “problem” that’s within my power to address.

So. 

Yesterday, I sat my Chicklet down for a talk in her room and I asked her about that rainbow she originally wanted (and that I kind of sort of messed up), and whether or not she wanted to change it.

And she got really excited, and then a bit sad and teary-eyed over the thought of changing anything. But then circled back around to excitement and wild enthusiasm, and I decided the best thing was to rip off the bandage and start dismantling the wall tile feature without looking back, ha.

Needless to say...it was all very exciting. Until I realized how much work I’d set myself up for. And on Mother’s Day Weekend, no less.

Because the wall tiles peeled off little sections of the paint, so I was forced to patch up those areas and paint that entire wall first, before we could do anything.

So I accomplished that yesterday, and was pretty wiped by the end—but everyone had a rockin’ good time playing in the crazy room.









Then today, the fun really ramped up with the real, official, can’t-miss-it-rainbow.

I mean...look at this face.



I called her in at various intervals when I had an outline made and could trust her to paint certain sections.

And please pretend I didn’t accidentally begin with the wrong color order for a legitimate rainbow (I was working from the inside out, instead of the outside in; apparently I’ve been drawing rainbows incorrectly my entire life, ha), which meant we had to re-paint two sections in the end, ha. I mean...no good deed, right?





Thankfully, the work was a bit tedious, but not too time-consuming, so by midday, we’d made a giant chunk of progress.

Then we paused for a lovely lunch out on the back patio in the gorgeous weather...

And came back in for the final color—and then the two rows that we had to color-correct, ha.



There we go...now it’s accurate. :)



This is her trying to ward off Little Man, who she did not trust near her brand-new rainbow, ha.



But all three kiddos were wildly enthusiastic about the new flair, hehe.



I mean...I gotta say: it is not at all what I originally planned, but it felt good to cave and give my girl exactly what she wanted.

And more than anything, it felt really really good to make it a point that this was something special for Chicklet.

She so infrequently demands special attention or outings or one-on-one time with a parent. She’s happy to have the whole gang together with just equal time and privileges, but nothing set apart. So I wanted something completely focused on her for once, and this totally fit the bill.



Also—hilarious, unexpected bonus: when she got mad at her siblings later today, before our bike ride, she stomped to her room and pouted on her bed. And it struck me a super comical that it’s just impossible to commit to an aggressive pout when you’re sitting beneath a giant rainbow, hahaha.





So there you have it.

The giant a** rainbow that my Chicklet really wanted.

I hope it brings her oodles of joy and that she remembers her Mama made it happen because she loves her.

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone!

Over and out.

P.S. I feel pretty justified in flat out ignoring the fact that Chicklet said, “all we need to do now is paint a unicorn on that other wall.” Oye. The expression of my love definitely knows some bounds, ha.