So nothing “happened” yesterday. 🙂 If it had, you’d be reading a different post with some pictures on it. BUT you’ll just have to have one with only words this time. Hope it’s still worth reading. 🙂 I’ve come to the conclusion that I will indeed be pregnant forever! Yep, if that Wal-Mart store and grocery shopping with 2 toddlers in tow doesn’t ‘do it’ then I’m convinced nothing will. 😉 I’m happy to not be mormon! Can you imagine feeling like this for all eternity?? Not that just believing it makes it so, but I think if that were my beliefs I’d be very tempted to find something else around this time in pregnancy! (completely random… sorry about that!)
Do you remember me talking about the “witching hour?” Well, I discovered that I am NOT alone!! Not that I thought I was, but I actually found a blog post from someone else who also calls that afternoon slump for kids the witching hour!! Ha! You’ve got to read this because it’s good! Besides if you find yourself dealing with cranky-pants kids in the late afternoon, or any time of day really, some of these suggestions could be helpful to you. I too need to implement some of these for sure. The ones I’m specifically going to do are:
1) Limit my own screen time in the afternoons.
I need to do this anyway! I know that when I’m “engaged” in my cyber world, or even working on photos my attention for my kids is very limited and patience even more so because I feel like I shouldn’t have to be interrupted. Very selfish, and makes the witching hour worse because then I, along with my children, start acting like a….. well, you get the picture.
2) Sensory play!
This kind of falls into my ideas of the structured days. I need to be WAY more proactive about having activities for them to do besides just the typical “go play” that I fall back on way too often. I have also noticed that my lads WANT to be by me/on me during those rough patches. It’s, of course, the exact time of day where I least like to be touched because I feel like I’ve been mauled by children all day. 🙂 Being 9 mo pregnant doesn’t help with that feeling either. Ha!
So what I need to do is make 4pm STORY time! Then the kids can cuddle with me while I read. After that I will have some specific activity for them. Coloring or play dough at the table will keep them somewhat contained while occupied, and hopefully give me a bit of time to get dinner well on the way. I’m looking forward to this because I know that it’s something I NEED to be doing more of and have just been dragging my feet.
I have a list of “manipulative” type toys that I want to get from Amazon during the time that I have my “baby break” from watching the girls. They are going to be building/thinking/moving types of activities, and they will not be for “normal play” but rather for activity time. That way I can use them to assign each child a specific activity that they will play with for awhile before letting them go back to playing together. I have certainly noticed that having separate play times helps everyone in this house function better. Each day either the boys or the girls have “room time” in the lad’s room. The girls are slowly adjusting to the idea. They don’t mind when the boys are banished, of course, but when it’s their turn Danielle at least is not really thrilled. I explained to her mom what I was doing though, so they didn’t get the impression that I was “locking away” their lil darlin’s all day. 😉 I also suggested that on the girls “room time days” that they be able to bring a special toy from home to play with or something. This week seems to be going well so far! Woo-hoo!!
Basically it boils down to my willingness to be more engaged in parenting these little ones. I honestly admit that this “stage” of kids growth and development isn’t my strong point. I’m not the kind of mom who just revels in getting down on the floor and playing blocks or cars or building things to let them topple them. It’s not my gift. Not saying that I don’t enjoy playing with my kids, but hopefully if you’re a mom too you get what I’m saying. I’m really looking forward to the age/stage when we can do things together like crafts that I don’t have to personally DO for them the whole way, and cooking together without having to wash the kitchen from floor to ceiling and give the kids, plus me, a bath too. Baking cookies, taking them to nursing homes, hiking around outside and knowing they can stay with me, bike rides, family walks that really do go somewhere. Those are things I’m looking forward to. Right now we’re not there, and I have to find my enjoyment in this stage as well. Believe me I am not wishing away these times, they just aren’t the “best” of kid times for me.
So I’m going to “dig in” and put real effort into being more in the moment with the kids as well as finding more creative ways that they can be involved in what I am doing. I know there are ways they can “help” as I go about my household chores and other activities. I’m often reluctant because I know that their help most of the time equals more work for me, but it’s important, and I just need to ‘chill’ as I often tell them! Ha!
There ya have it… my rather rambling post about another post I read that reminded me of another post I wrote. Ha ha ha!! Hey, my brain is functioning rather slowly these days, but sometime I’ll be able to put together 2 coherent sentences again……. I hope!