Sometimes I feel like I am a basket-headed mother, from that talk a couple of conferences ago. I spend my day trying to get Jaxson to entertain himself with coloring books, or a new movie, or whatever else I can get him to do while I finish whatever I need to get done. Wyatt sometimes exhausts my patience too quickly when he is hanging on my legs while I try to unload the dishwasher, make dinner, or check my email. And I feel like "Come on, you guys, just let me get this ONE thing done"...but then there is always something else I need to do after that, and the list goes on. I feel like a lot of the time, I am taking breaks in between all the other stuff I am doing to give my kids my undivided attention for a few minutes, instead of the other way around.
I am wondering how much of what I do with my day I really NEED to be doing, and what I am missing out on by choosing to start another painting project or finishing a book. Today I decided that I am going to make a concious effort to change that and I am going to limit the extra things I try to cram into my days. That talk makes me think of how short these years of little kids clamoring for my attention all day long will seem once they get older and Mommy is not the most awesome person ever. Let's face it - I am as cool right now as I am ever going to be in the eyes of my children. I can't waste that!
Today was one of those days where we didn't need to go anywhere and I didn't need to do anything that couldn't be put off until tomorrow. So I blew off all major housework and other projects (I usually have a few going), and just played and hung out with my little buddies all day long. We played 3 rounds of "memory" on the top bunk, during which we had to stop in the middle to lift the dog up there with us, because he's crazy and can't handle it if I'm up there without him.
We played hide and seek, which basically consists of Jaxson hiding in the same spot over and over again and then jumping out to scare Wyatt and I as we walk by. Then he throws his head back and laughs hysterically - as hard on the tenth time as he does on the first.
We ate lunch -peanut butter & honey sandwiches & chocolate milk- and then the boys took naps.
**Except Jaxson will only take what he calls "show naps" now, where he watches a movie on his bed on the portable dvd player, with the lights out and the door shut. Even though it isn't a real nap, if he is in there with the door shut and the house is quiet for one blessed hour, I WILL TAKE IT!
We read stories, and then we made up our own stories. We colored and made colorful plates of playdoh spaghetti. We tried to do sidewalk chalk when the sun looked like it might come out for a few seconds, but we froze in about five minutes and had to come in.
Jaxson wore his Donatello costume for most of the day, complete with mask and bow staff, and that was fine with me. Gotta let him get that out of his system on the day when we aren't going anywhere. We sang primary songs and we made Greek Lemon Soup for dinner (thanks Laurie!) and ate it at the counter. We helped Wyatt practice walking and then it was finally time for bed. Kind of a long day, but a fun one.
Obviously, I can't drop everything and play with them all day long everyday, but I can do more than I have been doing. Because I know that this is a precious time in my life, and one day I will really miss little, nudey bums crawling down my hallway.
