Props to all of my stay-at-home parent friends. Holy buh-jesus. I am NOT a stay-at-home mom.
I had both kids at home yesterday. I started out really strong. We had breakfast. We did art projects, including one that Jack told me was "for Martin Woofer King." Ryker put stickers all over an envelope and seemed thoroughly pleased with himself. Then Jack and I threw a tiny bouncy ball into a tiny cup to see if we could get to "five and five." We had time, because Ryker was busy emptying all of our kitchen drawers. Then we played basketball.
It was somewhere right after that where I lost my groove. Jack wanted to watch a movie and suddenly it was all I could do to keep my eyes open. Snuggled up with my kids, I fought to stay awake. I made it, but only barely. I let Jack watch two of the Pixar shorts that followed the movie. I fed Ryker, but realized that he had eaten kid-versions of snack food all day. Oops.
Then I put Ryker down for a nap, and suggested another movie for Jack. I curled up on the couch and after awhile he mentioned he was hungry again. It was 1:30, and he hadn't eaten lunch when Ryker did. Oops. So I fed him, we cuddled and watched a movie. Then I gave him his vacuum and pointed him in the direction of the dust-bunnies. Once Ryker woke up, I decided we needed to get out of the house, but we didn't have that much time. So our outing? We went to the car wash. Ryker was not in his happy place. To calm down, we drove around Lake Nokomis. I thought it'd be nice and peaceful and we'd see all the pretty snow. Jack spent the drive insisting that I drive our van onto the lake, and me explaining that I didn't want to fall through the ice and into the water, and that NO, you can't just wait down there at the bottom for someone to come pull you out.
So that was my stay-at-home day. Not very educational or nutritious for the kiddos. I DID read part of Dr. King's speech, and Jack came and stood right next to me to listen. But other than that, the only lesson learned was that it takes a special kind of person to be able to stay at home every day with their children. And the stay-at-home parents I know all do a VERY good job of it. I'm impressed.
2 comments:
I think that you are WAY too hard on yourself and you have unrealistic idea of what we stay at home moms do everyday. I think making it through the day without hurting yourself or your kids is a good day. Good lunches, be damned.
I agree, that sounds like a pretty successful SAH day to me! I did it for two years and at some point I realized our lives revolved around Young and the Restless at 11 and daddy coming home at 5. The rest: a blur of snacks and naps and walks and screaming (them and me).
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