Today, I realized that I haven't had a date with my husband in who knows how long. Since I will still have the kids tonight, I figured out an alternative.
I was going to get the kids so very tired out today that they were begging me for sleep an hour early so that Michael and I can snuggle on the couch tonight and watch a movie without having to pause it a hundred times.
So, that was my goal when I set out this morning.
We woke up early--too early, since Gabriel had us up at 3 am on apparently starving to death =P
I don't mean to brag, but I made a great breakfast--
The kids had sausage and soy cheese biscuits with a side of fresh grapes, cantaloupe, and honeydew melon with warm cinnamon-vanilla milk to drink. (In case you were curious, I had fresh strawberries, pineapples, and mango with cottage cheese and a mug of tea.)
Which means that we started out with some letters to Daddy-we drew pictures and Emerald worked on writing her alphabet. Gabriel really got into it, having a great time.
Then I made them clean up their toy room--it's good to get them when they are in a good mood!! Emerald was much more helpful than Gabriel, obviously, but Gabriel is still pretty helpful--he will pick stuff up and put them in the baskets, but Emerald will actually separate them into the different containers that they are supposed to go in.
Block time was mostly for Gabriel--it was a way to show him how to take turns. Mom puts a block on, Gabriel puts a block on, Emerald puts a block on...you get the idea. It's also really good for him to learn to share his toys with others. He is not willing to NOT play with the mega-blocks, so he has to learn to share.
Emerald's blocks are wooden, and she was able to work on separating them into categories--colors, shapes, sizes, etc. She really had a great time, but by that point she was getting a little frazzled.
To calm us down a bit, I get out snack--hopping around and wrinkling our noses, we pretend to be bunny rabbits and eat baby carrots. Gabriel really enjoyed bouncing all over the living room, though I think the main purpose alluded him. They both start drooping noticeably.
So we cleaned up our toys and laid down for nap. They were both exhausted--normally, Gabriel will sleep about 2 hours, while Emerald sleeps for about an hour. Today, they each got half naps. Intentionally, of course--if I let them oversleep, they are more likely to give me a stink when I try to put them to bed later.
At this point, I am just totally not feeling like making lunch, so as a reward for eating well all morning, Michael brings us home McDonalds for lunch.
I truly regret that decision--bleh!!
But the kids loved it--they are just as much as they could stomach. While they were finishing up, I was able to straighten the house just a little and get us ready to go outside!
Now, the kids LOVE going outside. And it is starting to get into that weather where it really is a lot of fun to be outside every day. So, banking on this, I planned most of our active activities outside.
Gabriel HAS to swing first:
It is his absolutely favorite and he won't be able to do anything else until he gets a chance to swing. He will gleefully sign Please or More if only to get pushes. Setting them up on that, I arrange the rest of our activities.
After swinging and doing some more turn-taking by sharing the slide with Emerald, we have a scavenger hunt! We start out really easy and obvious, since everyone likes a win to feel good about themselves--rock, leaf, pecan. Then things get a little harder, as I use descriptions instead of proper names--something cold, something hard, something blue. Finally, we get more abstract--find something pretty or find something that makes you happy.
Emerald really loved the scavenger hunt--truly. She had a great time running all over the place trying to find the things on the list.
When we had exhausted that, I brought out the cardboard boxes.
Every parent knows that a kid will be happiest if you throw out the toy and just give them the big cardboard box. Well, as everyone knows, Michael recently bought a new popcorn machine. Which came in three boxes--two of which were big enough to be little kid houses.
I set the boxes up and let the kids finger paint them. Tomorrow, when the paint is dry, we are going to draw flower boxes and windows and doors on them. Today though, Gabriel enjoyed swirling all the colors together and Emerald loved making pink polka dots all over her box.
The best way to clean up?
Gabriel's birthday present from Michael and me was a water table. So I filled it up and let them watch the colors change as the paint washed away. The water was frosty because of the chill of the season, but it got the job done.
By this point, I am dragging a big and trying to figure out how to dry off the kids.
Pepper is running like crazy cakes, so I tell the kids to catch her. I sit back and watch them squeal with laughter as they chase the dog from one end of the backyard to the other. It allowed me to catch my breath, and their clothes dried off nicely =)
They are wanting to kick back a bit too, so we sit in the grass and I blow bubbles for them. Emerald is getting really good at blowing the bubbles herself!!
When we come inside, both kids are just worn out, but it's time for speech therapy for Gabriel! Cassie and Gabriel play-wrestle for a while and they have their popcorn snack.
Here we are, with two kids two and a half hours before bed time and they are looking positively exhausted! So, I am hoping my efforts were not in vain--after dinner, bubble bath, and tuck-in, I'll let you know how it worked out!!
--Andie--
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