We’re getting into the swing of summer, hiding on the hot days, and trying to take advantage of the nice days. We went strawberry picking last week with THE GIRLS. We’ve been running errands, but actually have this week’s done already. Today we have a play date at the park.
I know going in to summer vacation that it would be insane if I just kept up with my “fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants” way of handling weekends and no school days.
So, over the weekend I drafted a rough daily schedule for every day. Of course, the weather has blown apart my 9.30am “play outside” window. Otherwise, we’re doing pretty well with it. After breakfast is the morning version of clean-up, with laundry and kitchen duty for me, and cleaning his room for Jim. This morning he cleaned his room BEFORE breakfast.
Another part of the day is “Jimmy School”, which occurs during Colin’s nap. On day one, Jim learned to zipper his coat (he can pull up zippers, put he couldn’t put them together). Yesterday we started handwriting, which is rough because he had no guidance, and he’s fighting me (I have the Handwriting Without Tears program recommended by the OT he saw two years ago). And part of Jimmy School is also exercise. Yesterday we did yoga on FitnessTV. (Ten minutes and I’m feeling it today). We took a walk today, but we might do some Wii Sports later. The last part of Jimmy School is games.
Colin’s nap is the biggest variable. Day One was on time, but yesterday he didn’t nap until three. Today we got him to hold off until 1pm, which is my ideal, but I think it’s hard to keep him up for that, especially if we’re in the car around 11am, when he wants to nap.
The schedule is also keeping the TV off until 3 or 3.30, which is awesome. They get two hours, which is still alot, but better than all day. After TV, I start dinner and Jim cleans up the toys from the day.
I’m more active (and more tired) then before, but hopefully the planned cleaning means I don’t have to stay up late doing my chores. It’s been working so far.
The beginning of this week was BUSY, culminating yesterday in Jim’s preschool graduation in the morning and a group outing to the Phillies game in the evening.
I don’t have any good photos of Jim’s graduation itself. I was running the video camera, and I should have brought the telephoto for my digital camera, but I can’t manage both, especially since I lost one of my lens covers.
Colin’s First Phillies Game:
This was taken in the 8th inning — he slept the 2nd to the 4th innings, woke up and was happy until he got in the car to go home. And then WAILED the entire car ride home (while Jim slept).
And then, something else:
The drawstring handbags I made for Jim’s teachers.
I LOVE the color combination of the one on the left — the brown is leftover linen from the skirt I made (and actually wore to graduation), but I should have interfaced it. I lined it with fleece instead. But the stripes were awesome. The bright one is better constructed, because of it’s all home decor weight fabric. I just prefer (for myself) the look of the plain fabric with the one pattern, rather than the mix of patterns.
All of a sudden, Colin’s noises have become words.
There are three somewhat discernable D-words: Dad, Duck, and Dalek. It’s all about the context. Going up or down the stairs = Dalek (as in, the Dalek that watches over the foyer). In the boys’ bathroom = Duck (as in, ducks everywhere). That big guy = Dad.
Oh, and Dog showed up today. He was fussing after dinner, but Jim was still eating. I put a dog picture up on the screen, and he started talking to it.
Is Colin somewhere he shouldn’t be, like the laundry room or Dad’s office? “Out, out”. Is he holding something he shouldn’t have? “‘mote, ‘mote”.
The other day, I think we were at the mall (? I am losing my mind), he saw a cat and meowed at it.
And lastly, there is “I, I, I” (ice) to go in his (and Jim’s and mine and Dad’s) “jus, jus”.
I’ve spent more than $30 on straw-type cups in the past ten days or so. Which sounds like, wow, that’s a lot of cups, but really, it’s just six.
We have nice lidded cups with straws. They are Thermos Foogos — two plain and two Spiderman. Awesome, except that Colin can’t have the Spiderman ones. The straw is designed so that it can pull right off, leaving a three-inch tube of silicon in the baby’s mouth. Second problem: give Colin a plain one, and he wants Jim’s.
Add in the fact that the wonderful BPA-free sippy cups that I spent another small fortune on are NOT leak-free. And the aluminum ones with the twist caps? Aren’t they fun to turn upside down and shake, so we can watch the juicy water squirt out into puddles on the floor that we can later slip and fall on?
So I picked up two baby einstein and two diego cups. Give Colin a BE one, give Jim the Diego, and QUACK!!!!! Colin wants Jim’s. I can’t win!!!!
But, I can outwit them on this battle. Jim doesn’t really mind the BE one, as long as he gets the blue one. Fine. Give them both BE cups, and voila! No cup stealing. After this, I picked up two more plainish (ie, no licensed characters), and we got the same thing going on today.
Meanwhile, my table has no chairs, so that Colin can’t use them to get on top of the table.
