We made the decision to keep him at home this year and not put him in preschool. Because of our unusual 1/2 school & 1/2 home school schedule, that leaves 3 full days a week that Rhett is home alone with just blog-Stedman and me.
We have found ourselves fighting over him.
If you are just going to run errands, leave Rhett here with me…he isn’t interested in going to Target.
I am taking Rhett to Target because he IS interested in stopping by the toy aisle.
I will play with him in the backyard while you are gone.
I will stop by the park on the way back.
I will play Thomas the Numbers Game for 2 hours with him.
I will get him a drink at Starbucks on the way home.
Crap. You win. He won’t pass up that.
This is a huge shift from the previous stage of life where taking care of the kids in a quiet moment was drawing the short straw. And ANY amount of children at Target was too many.
But now all the kids are older and threatening in public works, but for the most part they are much more delightful to be around.
Thank God.
It was touch and go there for awhile. Now we have MOMENTS vs. EVENTS.
I remember being in public with two toddlers and a baby and looking over to the mom directing older children with a twinge of jealousy…
She had her hair combed.
She didn’t wear the look of this situation could head South at any moment in her eyes.
She looked…dare I say it…in control.
This leisurely morning I lost the Rhett bid so he stayed home with Blog-Stedman. I stopped by Shauna‘s house for a quiet meeting because all her kids are in school and then returned home to go on a lunch date with my guys.
I even had my hair combed.
And in the middle of our lunch, we looked over at a frantic family seated across the room who was trying to quiet their car-seat-encased baby.
We felt a little empathy.
We felt a lot relief.Rhett is my youngest and he is now four and 1/2.
Precious. Precious. Precious.
We made the decision to keep him at home this year and not put him in preschool. Because of our unusual 1/2 school & 1/2 home school schedule, that leaves 3 full days a week that Rhett is home alone with just blog-Stedman and me.
We have found ourselves fighting over him.
If you are just going to run errands, leave Rhett here with me…he isn’t interested in going to Target.
I am taking Rhett to Target because he IS interested in stopping by the toy aisle.
I will play with him in the backyard while you are gone.
I will stop by the park on the way back.
I will play Thomas the Numbers Game for 2 hours with him.
I will get him a drink at Starbucks on the way home.
Crap. You win. He won’t pass up that.
This is a huge shift from the previous stage of life where taking care of the kids in a quiet moment was drawing the short straw. And ANY amount of children at Target was too many.
But now all the kids are older and threatening in public works, but for the most part they are much more delightful to be around.
Thank God.
It was touch and go there for awhile. Now we have MOMENTS vs. EVENTS.
I remember being in public with two toddlers and a baby and looking over to the mom directing older children with a twinge of jealousy…
She had her hair combed.
She didn’t wear the look of this situation could head South at any moment in her eyes.
She looked…dare I say it…in control.
This leisurely morning I lost the Rhett bid so he stayed home with Blog-Stedman. I stopped by Shauna‘s house for a quiet meeting because all her kids are in school and then returned home to go on a lunch date with my guys.
I even had my hair combed.
And in the middle of our lunch, we looked over at a frantic family seated across the room who was trying to quiet their car-seat-encased baby.
We felt a little empathy.
We felt a lot relief.
We made the decision to keep him at home this year and not put him in preschool. Because of our unusual 1/2 school & 1/2 home school schedule, that leaves 3 full days a week that Rhett is home alone with just blog-Stedman and me.
We have found ourselves fighting over him.
If you are just going to run errands, leave Rhett here with me…he isn’t interested in going to Target.
I am taking Rhett to Target because he IS interested in stopping by the toy aisle.
I will play with him in the backyard while you are gone.
I will stop by the park on the way back.
I will play Thomas the Numbers Game for 2 hours with him.
I will get him a drink at Starbucks on the way home.
Crap. You win. He won’t pass up that.
This is a huge shift from the previous stage of life where taking care of the kids in a quiet moment was drawing the short straw. And ANY amount of children at Target was too many.
But now all the kids are older and threatening in public works, but for the most part they are much more delightful to be around.
Thank God.
It was touch and go there for awhile. Now we have MOMENTS vs. EVENTS.
I remember being in public with two toddlers and a baby and looking over to the mom directing older children with a twinge of jealousy…
She had her hair combed.
She didn’t wear the look of this situation could head South at any moment in her eyes.
She looked…dare I say it…in control.
This leisurely morning I lost the Rhett bid so he stayed home with Blog-Stedman. I stopped by Shauna‘s house for a quiet meeting because all her kids are in school and then returned home to go on a lunch date with my guys.
I even had my hair combed.
And in the middle of our lunch, we looked over at a frantic family seated across the room who was trying to quiet their car-seat-encased baby.
We felt a little empathy.
We felt a lot relief.
I was 32 when I had my first and I thought that I was “grown up” enough to have things all under control; after all the advice to “young parents” to don’t worry about the furniture, enjoy the ride, you have the rest of your life to have a tidy house and showcase yard, didn’t apply to me, right? About a year after I had my second, at age 35, I realized that “young parents” doesn’t just mean “parents who themselves are young” but really “parents in the stage of life with babies, toddlers, pre-schoolers.” Now that my boys are six and three, daily life is getting so much easier–more complicated with school and sports schedule plus my new work schedule, but easier nonetheless. Several friends had their third babies this past year and I had those longing for a baby feelings at times, but now that the school year has started I am enjoying my new freedom and nothing is missing from my life!
What a great resource!
LOVE this.