Part II: Naia & The Spotlight
The Nai Aquatic
Well, I guess this is a miniseries now — because I can’t really leave Naia out of the storyline since she’s a bonafide show stealer.
As many of you know, Naia had an extra special bond with her mom, so she’s needed more attention over the past few months. For being a little nugget, she’s fiercely stubborn and independent — contrary to Kristian who is an easygoing pleaser.
Because of this dynamic, I’ve needed to be quite patient and understanding of her needs — sometimes at the expense of Kristian’s.
Since I know I can’t just tell Naia to like or to try anything just because I like it, I’ve had to figure out what she wants and then become a part of her world.
Naia is creative and comedic, but she’s incredibly shy until she feels comfortable — at which point she becomes a star.
In our new world, Naia and I have connected through creativity and clothing — which we both have a knack and an appreciation for.
She loves to draw and I shoot photos. Then we compare our creations.
On the fashion front, we’ve had loads of fun putting together costumes for the many theme days they have at school. But that took time to develop — I had to try really hard to get her to trust me that costumes were fun and that people would enjoy the effort she had put into making them.
Mornings are tough with Naia — outfits are well thought out. Kristian would just as soon roll out of bed and hop in the truck. But Naia has to have her clothes and hair just so which makes costume days even harder.
So this morning, we got up extra early to put on her “Aquatic” outfit for the Vocabulary Costume Parade at school — it was a nod to the Wes Anderson classic “The Life Aquatic”.
After putting it on, she needed time to “get comfortable in it” before we loaded into the truck for school.
I guess it worked. She’s in bed next to me right now sleeping with it still on from head to toe. She stayed in it all day and then asked if she could just stay in it for bed time. I agreed.
And these days, because we’ve learned to adapt to our new situation, we’re both agreeing with one another a whole lot more than before.