today i had grand plans to take the kids to a new play group & the toy library, write thank you cards & birthday cards AND run errands - post all those overdue thank you cards, send the birthday parcel & buy MUCH-needed milk. however after a broken night my energy was low and the kids got in to a stay-at-home groove. you know the one - where getting everyone dressed & out would be like pulling teeth. Various poo and wee incidents (the kids... not me!) combined with totally dirty dreadlocked hair (again the kids - though mine is not far off) meant a bath seemed like a very good idea. the kids stayed in the bath for over an hour. it was brilliant. i pottered around, went in and out, did laundry, tidied, dressed myself (no shower again.. armpit hair almost down to hips). by 11am i was dressed and kids were in cosy dressing gowns admiring their wrinkly fingers.
we moved on to a toy-sort which involved 4 year old finding and taking OUT every interesting toy he had forgotten we had. and 2 year old taking great glee in chucking toys in boxes, while mummy picks up the toys covering the floor of the entire house and tries to put them away in their correct box.
it is interesting having a boy and a girl and the mix of toys. i'm all for not directing my kids towards certain interests and i'm glad my daughter is surrounded by trains, cars and trucks and that my boy gets to play with dolls and try on bracelets. i did like finding my daughter putting the train track in to her baby crib, rocking it and singing "rock, rock, rock the train".
Little mr Z really didn't want to get dressed and Miss M was getting grumpy and hungry so of course errands were abandoned and lunch time it was. yummy home-made pizza and chocolate chip cookies (carbo-loading seeing as we'd all got so much exercise & fresh air in the morning - ha).
i do love a good morning in with no agenda and no time pressures. i could feel my stress levels rising as we neared pre-school start time. i started clock-watching, getting impatient and quickly losing that lovely sense of meandering freedom & playfulness that no agenda holds. however i'd go stir-crazy and get very fat and lonely if i did it too often. and i am now relishing son at preschool and daughter asleep time!
No agenda, the very best! So good for everyone to have the time to freely explore and be creative. Loved this whole post!
ReplyDeleteI loved the narrative of this day. It's amazing how an agenda can be completely and infuriatingly derailed and it can end up making for a wonderful, slow, more present day.
ReplyDeleteWonderful, Becca. I'm with Zach on the issue of not wanting to get dressed - I love the occasional pyjama day. I think i got one or two while raising kids.
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