Surviving

I survived a week of no school for Talia. While it's really difficult to satisfy the needs of a 1 year old and a 4 year old at the same time, I think we did really well. Factors that helped:

1. Alex has been taking really great (2 hours+) naps.
2. I've just hired my cleaning people to come every week instead of every other week.
3. I also hired a babysitter to come once a week.
4. Ron was off of work on Memorial Day.
5. Since Talia wasn't in school she did not nap and went to sleep relatively easily at 8:30 (ok, 9) pm instead of kicking and screaming at 10:30pm. That gave Ron and me some time together each night.
6. Nice weather hasn't hurt either.

Now that I'm less stressed about the house-- and able to keep it more manageable on a daily basis I feel like I have more energy to give to the kids. During Alex's nap I am really sitting down with Talia and playing board games, doing puzzles, having tea parties etc. It's hard because she wants to have a tea party for about 10 hours but she seems mostly satisfied with what I can give her.

I still have grand plans for things I want to do together, like the garden for example. It's disappointing that I have to drag her out there (she still wants to stay inside and chill in pj's all day) but of course she has fun when we do go. I also realize that I'm a bit of a control freak and it's hard for me to let her dig the holes and drop the seeds in. What I really want is for her to do some parallel play while I'm doing the gardening. We did make a fairy garden in a big flower pot and she picked out all the flowers and design. She likes to bring some little dolls or fairies to play there but there isn't more digging to be done for it. What I need to do is give her a pot and dirt and let her do her own thing and not freak out if she gets dirty and not worry that she's wasting seeds or dirt or whatever. It just sucks that I get frustrated when whatever silly fantasy I had about tilling the earth with my children comes up short. Ok, I paid someone to till my soil and build my garden bed but hey, it probably wouldn't have gotten done otherwise.

We now have 12 days with no school coming up. Yes, TWELVE. Ron has two days off so he will be around for 6 of the 12 days. We have some scheduled activities (swimming, gymnastics, a playdate or two) and at least one day with the babysitter. I'm ok with not being able to get any sewing done (I've been on a roll!). Hopefully everyone will stay healthy and we can have a really nice time slipping into our summer lives. Well, there was a frost warning last night...