Sick Day/Snow Day
My mom is the fifth of eight children. Many of us grandchildren were in attendance last month as my mom and her siblings shared their priceless memories of childhood and of my grandparents as part of the memorial time for Memaw. And it did not escape my notice that many of the memories were ones in which Memaw gave individual attention to her children - whether it was clothes-shopping, letter-writing, or staying home with them when they were too sick to go to school.
I've read enough links on Pinterest to know that one-on-one time with parents is important for kids, but we have not put that into much practice in our family; until now, our kids have been too young to need or care for time alone with one of us - in fact, the few times we've tried to orchestrate something like that, Luke has complained about not having Sarah come along, or vice versa! (I am thankful for kids who love each other so much!)
But as Andrew has gotten older and started demanding a larger slice of my attention, it's becoming clear that it is time to take deliberate action for the older kids.
It has been relatively easy to find individual time for Sarah (as long as I can tear myself away from my own "projects"). She and Andrew are both home with me on Mondays and Wednesdays while Luke is at school, and I have especially enjoyed our Wednesday afternoons together: Andrew usually takes a long nap after a full morning at BSF, and Sarah and I watch Food Network shows while we fold laundry. I realize that doing chores together won't always satisfy my sweet girl, but it sure is nice right now! I have also been very intentional over the past several months about reading to Sarah - and especially reading her the books that SHE likes, as opposed to only Luke's picks. She is understandably not interested in early readers about Wookies, and so she has often spent our bedtime story times wandering around and playing with toys instead of listening. Now I take opportunities to let Philip endure the Ninjago stories while I steal Sarah away for a beautifully illustrated version of Little Red Riding Hood. It's not a bad deal, really... and I know she's getting some good out of it because now she brings me books to read to her at other times of the day. Sometimes I'm not entirely sure that the Disney princess books are any improvement over Marvel comics adaptations (and Lord save us from the occasional Barbie book that makes it home from the library!!), but a book is a book, and I'm pretty crafty at pushing the good stuff, too.
Sarah and I also seem to have a lot of time together in the car - whether it's while we're out running errands or while we're waiting in line to pick Luke up from school. Sarah has hit that 4-year-old stage in which she talks nonstop, so we have lots and lots and LOTS of talks during these times.... fortunately, I find her to be pretty entertaining, most of the time. She often makes observations about her friends at preschool:
"Do you know what Rhett was doing? He was coloring the picture green and blue and red!"
"My old teachers called Stella, 'Stella Bella.'"
"I sat next to Riley and Luke on the bus. Riley was on this side, and Luke was on this side, and [blah blah blah]*..."
[*I may or may not catch every word that she says.]
And sometimes she retells Bible stories: "Those two girls, I don't remember their names... Oh yeah, Ruth and Noh-mi... They were VERY hungry and so Ruth went out to the farmer and he gave her some food and she took it and made LOTS and LOTS of bread!" [The end.]
Occasionally she tries to get me to play "20 Questions," but I've become very resistant to that game, and Luke and Sarah are both pretty resigned to the fact that I am not very cooperative about it.
While I have spent plenty of time with Sarah this fall, the opposite is true for Luke. Between school four days a week, baseball practices and games, and that attention-grabber of a baby brother, we just haven't had much chance. Our after school hours are hectic and often miserable, as we feverishly fight through homework and after-school routines and getting supper ready and eaten in time to make it to practice or church or bed....
So yesterday, when I had to keep Luke home from school because he had strep throat, I knew that a golden opportunity was before me. By the time we were driving the little kids over to their preschool, Luke was feeling pretty good, thanks to the miracles of Advil. My usual Thursday schedule is to head over to the Kimbell Museum for lunch and writing time, and although I wouldn't be able to write and we probably wouldn't eat lunch there either, I thought that this might be a good time to introduce Luke to the glories of the Art Museum. The straight-shooter part of my personality really tried to talk me out of it, saying that "if you're too sick to go to school, you ought be home in bed, young man!" but I used all my will power to ignore it. After all (I keep trying to convince myself), there really are things more important than school! Besides, we all know this won't be a habit or anything...
It was a great decision. Luke seemed to really enjoy the museum; we looked at paintings and sculptures spanning the ages and the continents. We discussed medieval religious art and ancient idols. We looked for the guitar in Picasso's still life, and we imitated the facial expressions of the characters in Bartolome Esteban Murillo's Four Figures on a Step. The docent provided us with a set of cards that had pictures of about ten different pieces in the collection, and so we had fun keeping an eye out for these items as we walked through the galleries; once we found them, we read some of the questions on the cards and talked about what we noticed in the painting or sculpture. We managed to browse the entire collection on display (including a moment to reflect on the Reflecting Pool), and we were rewarded at the end with a quick visit to the Children's area, where he played with a few toys and some games on the iPad while I relished a moment to sit down (I'm getting so old!). Overall, Luke seemed to enjoy the sculptures the most, and as we were leaving, he declared that his favorite was the "monster" at the entrance to the museum.
Luke's medicine was beginning to wear off by the time we left the museum, so we grabbed lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon quietly at home before we went to get the littles. Andrew was beside himself with joy when he saw that Big Brother was there to pick him up from school, and the two boys played together for about 20 minutes while we waited for Sarah's dance class to be finished.
It was a really good day, and I found myself rejoicing not only in the blessing of having time with my kiddo, but also in the sneak peek of the future, when I'll get to share so many awesome things with each of them: art museums, good books, musicals, foreign places, antique stores, operas, the Cranberries...
A few weekends ago, one of these 24-hour stomach bugs hit our family. It. was. not. fun. But after I'd stayed home from Sunday morning church with Luke (before I came down with it myself), I commented to P that it was kind of like having a "snow day." It's not that I want to miss church or anything, but when you suddenly have to stay home - and you aren't sick yourself - then it's kind of like a gift of time. You don't have a mile-long list of things you've planned to do, and no one is expecting much from you. You are free to play (or organize) to your heart's content! It's only fun for a little while, I can assure you (it all to soon turns from "snow day" to "cabin fever"), but for those first precious hours, it's great. Thursday was kind of like that for Luke and me. A gift of time. A few hours in which we didn't have any responsibilities or premeditated plans. And as a parent, it was one of those all-too-rare moments that I can look upon and think, I did something right here.
I've read enough links on Pinterest to know that one-on-one time with parents is important for kids, but we have not put that into much practice in our family; until now, our kids have been too young to need or care for time alone with one of us - in fact, the few times we've tried to orchestrate something like that, Luke has complained about not having Sarah come along, or vice versa! (I am thankful for kids who love each other so much!)
But as Andrew has gotten older and started demanding a larger slice of my attention, it's becoming clear that it is time to take deliberate action for the older kids.
It has been relatively easy to find individual time for Sarah (as long as I can tear myself away from my own "projects"). She and Andrew are both home with me on Mondays and Wednesdays while Luke is at school, and I have especially enjoyed our Wednesday afternoons together: Andrew usually takes a long nap after a full morning at BSF, and Sarah and I watch Food Network shows while we fold laundry. I realize that doing chores together won't always satisfy my sweet girl, but it sure is nice right now! I have also been very intentional over the past several months about reading to Sarah - and especially reading her the books that SHE likes, as opposed to only Luke's picks. She is understandably not interested in early readers about Wookies, and so she has often spent our bedtime story times wandering around and playing with toys instead of listening. Now I take opportunities to let Philip endure the Ninjago stories while I steal Sarah away for a beautifully illustrated version of Little Red Riding Hood. It's not a bad deal, really... and I know she's getting some good out of it because now she brings me books to read to her at other times of the day. Sometimes I'm not entirely sure that the Disney princess books are any improvement over Marvel comics adaptations (and Lord save us from the occasional Barbie book that makes it home from the library!!), but a book is a book, and I'm pretty crafty at pushing the good stuff, too.
Sarah and I also seem to have a lot of time together in the car - whether it's while we're out running errands or while we're waiting in line to pick Luke up from school. Sarah has hit that 4-year-old stage in which she talks nonstop, so we have lots and lots and LOTS of talks during these times.... fortunately, I find her to be pretty entertaining, most of the time. She often makes observations about her friends at preschool:
"Do you know what Rhett was doing? He was coloring the picture green and blue and red!"
"My old teachers called Stella, 'Stella Bella.'"
"I sat next to Riley and Luke on the bus. Riley was on this side, and Luke was on this side, and [blah blah blah]*..."
[*I may or may not catch every word that she says.]
And sometimes she retells Bible stories: "Those two girls, I don't remember their names... Oh yeah, Ruth and Noh-mi... They were VERY hungry and so Ruth went out to the farmer and he gave her some food and she took it and made LOTS and LOTS of bread!" [The end.]
Occasionally she tries to get me to play "20 Questions," but I've become very resistant to that game, and Luke and Sarah are both pretty resigned to the fact that I am not very cooperative about it.
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| Elsa and the Jolly Pirate for Storybook Character Day at Preschool |
So yesterday, when I had to keep Luke home from school because he had strep throat, I knew that a golden opportunity was before me. By the time we were driving the little kids over to their preschool, Luke was feeling pretty good, thanks to the miracles of Advil. My usual Thursday schedule is to head over to the Kimbell Museum for lunch and writing time, and although I wouldn't be able to write and we probably wouldn't eat lunch there either, I thought that this might be a good time to introduce Luke to the glories of the Art Museum. The straight-shooter part of my personality really tried to talk me out of it, saying that "if you're too sick to go to school, you ought be home in bed, young man!" but I used all my will power to ignore it. After all (I keep trying to convince myself), there really are things more important than school! Besides, we all know this won't be a habit or anything...
It was a great decision. Luke seemed to really enjoy the museum; we looked at paintings and sculptures spanning the ages and the continents. We discussed medieval religious art and ancient idols. We looked for the guitar in Picasso's still life, and we imitated the facial expressions of the characters in Bartolome Esteban Murillo's Four Figures on a Step. The docent provided us with a set of cards that had pictures of about ten different pieces in the collection, and so we had fun keeping an eye out for these items as we walked through the galleries; once we found them, we read some of the questions on the cards and talked about what we noticed in the painting or sculpture. We managed to browse the entire collection on display (including a moment to reflect on the Reflecting Pool), and we were rewarded at the end with a quick visit to the Children's area, where he played with a few toys and some games on the iPad while I relished a moment to sit down (I'm getting so old!). Overall, Luke seemed to enjoy the sculptures the most, and as we were leaving, he declared that his favorite was the "monster" at the entrance to the museum.Luke's medicine was beginning to wear off by the time we left the museum, so we grabbed lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon quietly at home before we went to get the littles. Andrew was beside himself with joy when he saw that Big Brother was there to pick him up from school, and the two boys played together for about 20 minutes while we waited for Sarah's dance class to be finished.
It was a really good day, and I found myself rejoicing not only in the blessing of having time with my kiddo, but also in the sneak peek of the future, when I'll get to share so many awesome things with each of them: art museums, good books, musicals, foreign places, antique stores, operas, the Cranberries...
A few weekends ago, one of these 24-hour stomach bugs hit our family. It. was. not. fun. But after I'd stayed home from Sunday morning church with Luke (before I came down with it myself), I commented to P that it was kind of like having a "snow day." It's not that I want to miss church or anything, but when you suddenly have to stay home - and you aren't sick yourself - then it's kind of like a gift of time. You don't have a mile-long list of things you've planned to do, and no one is expecting much from you. You are free to play (or organize) to your heart's content! It's only fun for a little while, I can assure you (it all to soon turns from "snow day" to "cabin fever"), but for those first precious hours, it's great. Thursday was kind of like that for Luke and me. A gift of time. A few hours in which we didn't have any responsibilities or premeditated plans. And as a parent, it was one of those all-too-rare moments that I can look upon and think, I did something right here.
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