And I think my prayers were answered. I played with my kiddos, and felt no guilt when I WAS just sitting around (knitting).
Took the kids next door to jump on the trampoline. Made a startling discovery that made me laugh at myself: my neighbor is a single mom who adopted her kids. It's funny to me that I just kept expecting to see her husband, and expected him to be dark African b/c her kids are "black". (I have to put that in quotation marks b/c their skin is not actually black, it is simply the brown skin of African Americans, which I grew up calling black. And Jack tells me "but their skin isn't black, it's brown!") So, I'm just so steeped in traditional family culture that I see a "white" mom with "black" kids and just assume that her husband must be African. I've lived next to them for almost 3 months and it took me this long to realize the true make-up of the family! The oldest kid, going into 2nd grade, said today "My mom's thinking of getting a baby girl!" The middle child chimed in and said "And she says I'm going to have to help change diapers!"
We had tons of fun with them. The sun was fierce today (as fierce as it gets here, anyway) and the black (ha! Truly black, too, not brown!) trampoline was hot enough to make sweet Lily cry when she fell on it. So the oldest boy sprayed water on the trampoline to cool it off, and Jack didn't balk at getting wet. I have to keep reminding myself that he's 4 and all grown up now (but then I have to remind myself that he's still just 4 when he throws tantrums). Then we filled up water balloons and the kids had fun with them, and Lily investigated the rocks in their backyard.
After Lily's nap, we played with my new toy. So far we've mostly been copying the pictures of different tracks that are on the box, but I said today I wanted to invent and do new things. Then I had to walk away to change Lily's diaper. When I came back, Jack was proudly exclaiming that he had built a track. So I got out the camera, and he took a picture of it all by himself!
He held the camera very carefully, pushed the button in slowly so it had time to focus, and was a good distance away from his subject. He only forgot to put the strap around his wrist first. And that's a pretty neat ball track, too!
Then he asked if there could be a picture with him and the ball track in one picture. So I happily obliged :D It took 3 shots to get this b/c he was dancing and singing while smiling and posing; I would have held out and kept on snapping, trying to get a better one, but Lily was throwing a tantrum b/c I wouldn't let her have the camera :(
Went grocery shopping, and kids were great. We're starting to be a little harder on Jack for throwing tantrums, telling him he can't have treat if he screams or throws a fit (and then following through, which is as hard for me as it is for him). What motivation! And it's really working; he must have been ready for it. He was very good in the store, and got the cookies they hand out to kids who ask for them.
Took the car to the shop for its regular oil change and a tune-up prior to long road trips. Left it there for them to work on it first thing in the morning, and walked home. Yay, living in a downtown, EVERYTHING is walking distance away (except the beach). Got more groceries on the way home, too!
Made cookies for our family home evening treat. DIDN'T scream or yell at the wild and crazy four-year-old who just can't stand all the excitement when Daddy comes home. (Is it normal for kids to go berserk when Daddies come home? He literally runs around screaming, jumps on us, throws things, hits us and kicks us, and laughs at us when we tell him to stop!) We had a very successful family home evening; Jack was reverent and obedient all the way through, Lily waited til it was over to completely melt down, and the cookies were delicious :D Jack's idea for our activity was to tell stories! That was completely out of the blue, we haven't told stories in a while and he's never told one at all to my knowledge. He made up his own version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Goldilocks helped clean up after she made the mess in the Bears' house!), then I told a story about making cookies together and sharing them with friends, then Tim told a story about living in a hut in the woods, then I told a story about living in a glass dome under the sea, then Jack told a story about living on the beach and building a bridge across the ocean. !!! It's so neat to see him develop new skills, and I'm so excited every time he does something imaginative and creative :D He's so much like me, and I've never felt like I'm very imaginative or creative, so I need to work on my creativity so I can help him (hence the knitting...)
Speaking of, when I went shopping for camo yarn last week (!! I made a pink and purple scarf for my cousin's daughter a couple of months ago, and her son decided he wanted a scarf too, but he wants his CAMO. !!), I looked at the scrapbook supplies just so I could start dreaming of making Jack's and Lily's scrapbooks. Jack was really excited when I told him what a scrapbook was and what I'd be doing with it (making it for HIM, with pictures of HIM, for him to keep all his life!), and he wanted to pick his out right then and there. He picked one that was pink and purple.... I've never discouraged him from liking pink, b/c I think it is downright silly for our culture to say there is a color that is only for girls and boys can't use it. (What I really hate about it is not so much the exclusivity of the color, but the way boys so often look down on it, as if pink isn't good enough for a boy.) But I would hate for him to carry around a pink scrapbook all his life and come to regret that later! (Although, I suppose we could switch it into a more masculine one if he decides he wants it, later. Yay for scrapbooks and removable pages!) I asked him what he liked about the pink and purple one, and he said he liked the "gears" on it. Well, that's masculine enough, don't ya think? They weren't really gears, they were some kind of variation on a paisley theme, but HE saw gears. So we looked for another book with gears and couldn't find one. We'll look online next :D
I'm changing up our homeschooling schedule a bit, but I haven't decided how. Jack just asked me as I was putting him to bed what we're going to do tomorrow, b/c he wants a schedule. I told him I'm changing it a bit and I don't know yet how it's going to be, and poor kid pleaded with me not to change it, he likes doing what Malina does. So, I guess I'd better make a plan for tomorrow before I go to bed :D
Good night!
When Jessica was little she'd be like there is a bronze person, a copper person, tan, dark brown, etc.
ReplyDeleteI can see Jack having great fun with ball tracks, his dad too! So Lily wants to take photos too?