So many subjects to cover and so little grammar to deal with it all! Yesterday was a hard day for me, having been full-time, full-on Mama going on two weeks without a sleepover at Grama’s or a Mom’s day out. I salute everyone who’s full-on all the time – God Bless You! I don’t know how you do it. I guess I’ve adapted to (read: come to depend on/thrive on/SURVIVE on) Grama’s breaks so much that I can hardly function without them.
Our day usually goes a bit like this: We wake up, have a bit of blissful snuggle time where the kids come to me straight from bed and kind of finish waking up in my lap (my favorite part of the day!) Then it’s on to the eat-drink-dress circus where I tend to do amazing feats to get them to accomplish these three simple tasks. Try this feat: repeat yourself in a loving voice, every time! Next it’s get Mattie to pre-school, with a secret goal of Wolf being dressed instead of waiting in the car in his PJ’s but don’t tell him that – I try to be very casual about this one-time emergency strategy not turned everyday habit. Finally Wolf and I return home and begin school by 9:30 a.m. (the major benefit of Mattie in preschool!)
At 6 years old, school is really just reading, writing and math, plus we have Bible time and science in observing the world around us. Sounds pretty simple, right? Five subjects at 15-20 minutes each should really be done before we pick up Mattie at 11:30 a.m. NOT! I don’t think it has ever happened. Wolf claims to not like school other than Bible time (we’ve had many discussions of the public school alternative, but he remains less than positive.) So wherever we happen to be in Wolf’s school schedule, we stop and go get Mattie at 11:30 and then the real fun begins!
Try this next feat: Juggle these priorities while modeling a good attitude – the boy’s schooling (be sure to keep learning fun to avoid rebellion!), keep your house semi-presentable (afterall you are home all day), sort and pack items to move, clean and stage your house for a quick sale, nurture your daughter’s creative spirit by helping her act on her ongoing series of varied ideas for games and crafts, and encourage your children to love each other, playing harmoniously together. (Wow! I actually DO all that! – No wonder I’m exhausted!)
When Bob came home early last night to work on Wolf’s car for the Awana Gran Prix, I kind of dragged my defeated little self and Mattie out of the house to visit Grandma Olga and hit the Walmart on the way home. Turns out even just the one-child ‘break’ did wonders for me. Mattie and I had fun; I came home refreshed and Bob was amazed – so was I.
