We had a busy start to the weekend. Friday night was a couple's baby shower/party so that meant a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's for the kids. Saturday morning Kael had a chilly tee ball game then we all headed to my cousin's wedding a few hours from here. The kids danced 'til they dropped (they can officially add "The YMCA" and "The Twist" to the list of dances they have mastered) and ate more pieces of cake than I could keep track of. Needless to say, when we got home at midnight we were all wiped.
The morning started off with Kent and I awake around 6:00 and Kael and Kylee were sleeping soundly. I can't remember the last time we weren't woken up on the weekend by the kids. It was a wonderful start to the morning- he and I just lounging around trying to be as quiet as mice. Shortly after the kids woke up he headed off to help his dad with some work around the house leaving the kids and I home with no plans. I intended to keep it that way: I vowed not to do any laundry, make any trips to the store, plan any menus for the week or anything like that. Ironically, I recieved no texts, no phone calls and only a handful of (mostly junk) e-mails all day. It was like somehow people just knew I wanted to spend an uninterrupted day with my kids.
Here are a few things I learned from my "nothing" day:
A "picnic" breakfast of cinnamon rolls in front of the TV is as delicious as it sounds. Bonus points if you let your kids put as much frosting as they want on their rolls, then allow them to lick the (plastic) knives clean.
Building forts out of blankets is still a cool thing to do. Flashlight book reading optional but totally fun.
The Question Game is a perfectly enjoyable and a little bit of a sneaky way to find info about about the kids without sounding like an interrogation. My mom sort of invented this game and it's really not a game...but if you call something a game, the kids are more likely to think it's fun. Basically I take turns asking the kids any random, usually one-word-answer type question, then they can ask me a question. It can be something like, "What's your favorite color" or "Who do you usually play with at recess?" I have found out some interesting stuff in the course of this game like that Kael and his buddy at school have nicknames for each other ("He calls me K.K." reported Kael) but that same friend frequently tells Kael "I'm not your best friend anymore." This seemingly simple game helps me help Kael devise solutions for the complex world of kindergarten friendships.
On a rainy day like today, my favorite sweatpants and an old college sweatshirt make a great day even better. Kylee also chose to stay in her nightgown all day, while Kael opted for some "comfies" which are slicks and his favorite soft, worn-in t-shirt.
If I let go and lighten up a bit, the kids have really cool ideas. Completely on their own, they came up with a plan of how to make some Pizza Dipping Sticks (clearly more fun than just plain homemade pizza) for lunch and I let them go to it. The kitchen might have been covered with sauce and shredded cheese but man, did we have fun.
I have clearly passed my love of reading onto my children. After lunch we sat on the couch, all three of us snuggled under a giant quilt, reading books for at least an hour. I read with the kids a lot, but I can't remember the last time we spent a full hour doing so. I wish I had the power to freeze time.
No matter how many different ways I try to explain it, the kids do not understand the joke that their uncle taught them, "You smell like updog". I keep trying to get them to say, "What's updog?" and they just won't.
I am much more pleasant when I'm not running around the house trying to tidy up or do one more load of laundry. I found myself doing things just to make the kids laugh. I was trying to fold a big quilt to put away and the kids kept hopping in the middle of it. Usually I would tell them to hop off so I could finish folding it but today I pretended I didn't see them and pretended that I just couldn't figure out why the quilt had giant "lumps" in it. They laughed and laughed.
By intervening less with the kids disagreements, I am effectively teaching them to be more independent and figure out things for themselves. Instead of always repeating and reminding them of house rules, I tried hard to stay out of it. I also learned that Kylee, in true second child mode, is almost always the one to give in first.
The less I talk, the more they do.
I hope you're having as wonderul of a weekend as I am!
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