Six Fun Things

On Friday Christopher, John, and I had to run a lot of errands. I've started working four shorter days a week instead of three longer days, so much of my errand running happens on Friday morning. Our errands consisted of the bank, yoga, the cobbler, church, and the park. I have a loose definition of errands, but whatever. At first, Christopher had decided that about half of the errands were boring and half were fun. After discussing the idea with himself for a few minutes, he decided that all the errands could be fun. I'm pretty sure he decided to take the optimistic viewpoint and he knew that if they were fun, he would have a better day. I hope he maintains the ability to see the upside of situations even when he's stuck in the car running errands all day.

I Think I Have a Problem

So remember a few posts ago when I claimed that I never forget appointments and things like that. Well, having three kids may have pushed me into the realm of sometimes gets things done, sometimes does not. You see, Saturday evening was our godson's birthday party, and Matt and I had decided it was best if he took the big boys to the party. Well, at least that was what we discussed in my mind. I found out about five minutes before he was going to leave that his, nonverbalized, response to my idea (instruction) about taking the boys to the party was, "What do you think, I'm crazy?" So needless to say I was in full Saturday work attire when I found out that I was going to the birthday party and leaving in five minutes. Thank goodness it does not take me long to go from errand running to partying outfits. Matt and I were both totally honestly believing in our perspectives so much that all we could do was laugh about the situation all evening long and a bit into the next day. I hope this is just part of the learning curve and not a sign of how things will be from now until forever. Only time will tell. Until then I think Outlook appointments with very clear instructions will have to suffice.

A Fatherly Moment

"It's time you learn about Oreo's and milk..."

Kindergarten

Kindergarten has been an exciting time for all of us. It seems like Daniel is doing well, but I'm not really sure. He doesn't share so much. My first impression is that he is meticulously cataloging everything about his class and school and doesn't have enough energy left to tell us about it at the end of the day. His favorite subjects are gym and music. He comes home singing new songs with hand motions after each music class. After gym class, I find him doing switchbacks on his bed telling me that he is exercising because exercise is healthy and makes you live longer. I also get a report of the number of recesses they have each day. Other than that, I have to ask carefully crafted questions to glean morsels of information about anything else going on. I remember this same feeling for the time between Daniel entering the preschool classroom at their daycare and Christopher. I learned more in the first two weeks Christopher was in the class than I had in the 20 months previously Daniel had been there. I was blissfully unaware that I needed to know anything at that time, but now, I'm keenly interested in what is going on in Daniel's class.

 

One of the things that raises a bit of concern in my mind is the fact that Daniel usually has a nearly full lunchbox when he gets picked up. He's maybe eaten half a sandwich and his yogurt. I guess he's not very hungry? We also signed him up for milk everyday. It's the most economical thing I've come across yet, $20 for the entire school year! However, Daniel's sense of economy with the milk is a little concerning. He likes to bring home the leftovers in his lunchbox. I'm sure you can imagine what an opened milk carton does to a lunchbox by the time it gets home.

 

Daniel was described by his aunt when he was only a couple months old as slow to warm up. I would say that's still holding true. It's difficult to say exactly how long slow takes.

 



Catching Up and Just Beginning

It's been a big week here, but I can't get started with that until I catch you up on the rest of our summer. Shortly after the baptism, the boys and I headed to my family's cottage in Amherst Shore, Nova Scotia. My Dad joined us for the trip up there, and I was so thankful to have him along. I was lucky enough to spend five weeks at the shore! Matt was able to join us for the last two weeks.

During my time there, I was able to really relax. Life there is simpler and a bit more work at the same time. We lived in a 1000 sq ft cottage with no air conditioner or heating, clothes washer or dishwasher. It does have two fridges (one for beer!) and it has a wonderful woman who lives down the street and is superb at laundry (my mother!). I didn't have a car, but was loaned one regularly from my parents and had the privledge of borrowing my grandparents golf cart for the whole summer to boot. Just imagine, me with John in the front carrier, the boys perched on the back ready to go to wherever we needed to. This was a nearly daily trek. I particularly liked the evening I debated whether taking John to book club in the golf cart was better if he was in the carrier or the car seat. Seriously, a car seat on the floor of the golf cart? At least I remembered the saran wrap to cover my wine glass for the evening. Somehow it was quite easy to be at the cottage. Our days were full of playtime, mealtime, and beach time. Our evenings were full of family dinners and visiting. I really miss the non-distracted quality time that you get at the shore. I was so checked out of real life that I actually missed more than one appointment in my last week there. And it wasn't that "I'm going to skip this, but feel extremely guilty," it was "I missed something the day before yesterday and just realized it now" sort of thing. If you know me, you know that I don't miss much.

The boys had a wonderful time at the beach as well. It was kids being kids, running with the pack, and loving life for five weeks. They have never been dirtier or happier. Christopher is still catching up on sleep and food. I've never seen my children eat so much. Afternoon would come and the eating would begin. John was happy to come along for the fun in the carrier or the stroller. Other than being an extremely regular day eater, he is a pretty low maintenance baby.

So now we are back in Wisconsin. We just got back a week ago, and since then I returned to work, the little boys are at daycare, and Daniel started kindergarten. It's been a huge week! I might be caught up, but I'm still not quite sure. Thankfully Matt is still enjoying his time off for paternity leave. I could not have done this otherwise. He's been doing lots of shopping, form filling out, and driving. Not quite sure what's going to happen next week when he goes back to work, but that must just be what life's like with three kids. You don't quite have a plan, but you know it will work out. My body is starting to hurt from spending too many hours sitting at a desk instead of walking and carrying kids to and from the beach. Thankfully I'm still receiving tons of veggies from our CSA. It's a nice reminder of my parents bountiful garden but does not come with the hours of kid entertainment.

So after getting very settled into our shore life, and having to rudely return to normal life, I must say that the things I've noticed being the most different are how much life gets in the way of life, how much I cheat people of real time and interactions, and how little I get to be active.

Here I am two weeks later trying to get this post completed and ready to share. I still think that my lessons of the summer hold true, but I'm finding pockets of time to enjoy people for their present company (and forget about everything else that needs to be/should be done and time to exercise (too bad it has to be scheduled now.) Also, after feeling like I have entirely too much stuff taking up space in my house since returning, I've decided that I'm right and have started purging. It feels great!