My wake up calls come at the red, red dawn these days. Both girls have been up at 6 and eager for breakfast, attention, and interaction. Whew! I take my giant handful of vitamins, take a deep breath, make a cup of coffee, and try to cherish these early times with just two of my children.
Devon, on the other hand, has been sleep cycling later. He gets up between 7:30 and 8 am, sometimes even making preschool arrival a little tight. He stays energetic all day and shows no signs of slowing down by 8 pm. He's been active in his room way after bedtime....9pm.....10pm.....even 11 one crazy night.
Special Daddy Time saves the day! Mommy's spatial and reasoning skills go out the window at about the twelfth hour of an active day. She makes a cup of tea and sits in a chair, watching as Daddy and Devon assemble his birthday Lego Car. Daddy teaches Devon about following printed directions.
So it's been a long couple of weeks. Everyone's been waaaay over napping for a while now. We try for Leap Pad rest time, where the kids are isolated in separate rooms and can play learning games or listen to music for a bit in the early afternoon. We try individual play in rooms. We try looking at books in the ball chair. We try to keep things quiet and give everyone a rest.
We try a long drive to a faraway errand in the late afternoon if we know we need to stay up fairly late and want to keep the moods fresh. Melina, especially, has been feeling that her day reaches it's sell-by date around 6:00 every evening if she hasn't had rest time. "Mommy, I'm sleepy! I want to go to bed!" she insists, crawling right under her blankets and closing her eyes, sometimes as early as 5:30.
When all else fails, we try subterfuge. "Well, kids, you guys look beat. I think we'll try a nap this afternoon," I trill. The kids pale, run up the stairs, disappear into the playroom, and play quietly as mice. Ahhhhh. Let's make no pretenses about the afternoon rest time. I'm the one that needs it. A fifteen hour day supervising children is LONG. My body needs to sit down, my mind needs to concentrate on something, and my spirit needs a few minutes of quiet.
Sometimes I get a few moments of hobby time. This was Sunday's project, an attempt to fill the time in which I was tired enough to nap but had to be awake in case someone needed something wiped or a toy sharing intervention. The girls' "pretties" have a nice place to be behind the bathroom door.
We're still trying to keep up with three days a week at the ymca, although it's going to be harder with the weather so nice. Swim lessons are over and it's a lot of work to get everyone there with packed snacks. My life affords me so much exercise these days that I may not even need the 45 minute run on the elliptical trainer.
We're getting our yard in shape for the summer. In the middle of winter we had our back perimeter cleared of grapevines, weeds, and debris. We missed the deer resting in the snow in the shelter of the undergrowth, but the area was a tick hazard and needed to be dealt with. The last few branches need to be towed to the burn pile. Our permit needs to be renewed.
There are lots of ways to spend an evening with children, but you wouldn't think that one of the most enjoyable ways would be running around your back acre picking up sticks and dragging them into a big pile. But it's great fun. Trust me.
All that physical activity wears me out, but the kids are ready to get even more wiggles out before bedtime. Daddy steps in and plays I'm Gonna Get You with the crazy pack of screeching littles fresh out of their bath.
After the girls are in bed, Devon needs something to do. He calls Grammy and Grandpa on Facetime. We've gotten it down that Facetime means to let someone see your face while you are talking to them. We have decided to table the concept that this usually means sitting still and holding the phone upright at arm's length in front of your face.
Yes, spring is in this little boy's blood. He just can not sit still. Four hours of bike riding up and down the driveway isn't enough to quiet his body enough to sit and listen to a story. Goodness knows how preschool is going. He's getting good behavior reports.
I suppose Spring has also motivated Mommy too! The warm weather makes so many little projects possible that I've been aching to do.
Yesterday I turned the ugliest room in our house into one of the prettiest. That's saying something. We've been working with Devon on keeping his room clean, promising him that we would paint his walls when he showed responsibility in this area. Yesterday was the day!
I'm so pleased with how it turned out. Devon picked the color. All three kids sat on the bed and watched intently, singing songs and commenting on the action as I rolled up and down the walls.
We were done by noon and enjoying lunch in the sunshine. Hmm... by "lunch" I mean pumpkin bread, yogurt, leftover cooked chicken, fresh fruit, and a small chocolate Easter bunny apiece. Some days are just too full for cooking....
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