Week Two-Our Adventures in Staying Home

We’re getting the hang of this school year routine. But I have to admit, I am finding it difficult to be adventurous outside of our house, with the need for Carter to have a morning nap and his ability to not be able to sleep when we are out. Who can complain though, when instead we can do fun things like sit in front of white backdrops, wear cute hats and see how many cute pictures we can get before

a. spit up happens

b. boredom sets in

c. Brayden becomes more interesting than a big gigantic lens in the face and then all attention is lost

Little peanut boy is already seven months old. Next thing you know, I’ll be baking his first birthday cake, he’ll be walking around the house and then before you can say Happy 2nd Birthday, he will be a big brother. That’s how things work, right? Babies grow and more babies come and we try to hold so tight to here and now but find that it’s nothing more than trying to squeeze a handful of sand–finding its way out no matter how we fight to keep holding on. But then the other half of us wishes for time to wrinkle and the future to be upon us before we are truly ready for it. I wish Brayden was old enough for soccer. I wish Carter could crawl. I wish the boys could play together already. Seriously though, do I really? How about trying to enjoy this second with a little more effort than the last one. That seems like a much better step.

As another example to prove this point, here is my oldest child, who I swear was just seven months old himself a little while ago, getting ready for his first trip to preschool.

Preschool? I’m not even sure how that happened. But somewhere between singing the Bathtime for Brayden song for the thousandth time and potty training with bowls of popcorn and a hundred PBS episodes, the boy is now old enough to do circle time, calendar time and weather time.

And while I claim that I am mostly emotionally stable and not nearly as sentimental as I once was, I might shed a couple of tears after walking out of his room on Monday, the first day I am not allowed to stay with him at school. But I also might not–I might walk away with a smile on my face, knowing that Brayden is going to love this place. Thrive in the environment. Soak up life and things and knowledge like a little sponge. I think smiling will be the better choice, don’t you? For what need are there to shed tears?

Bet you can’t guess the first place he went to after putting his bag in his little bin? . . .

Meanwhile, at home, we continue to play. To love each other. And to try and use our imaginations. I continue to try to build Brayden’s independent playing skills. I have found that leaving out only a few toys increases his ability to play for a little longer than he normally would. He finds toys much more exciting when he sees them for only a couple of days at a time, and then they disappear for awhile and like magic new things appear. Having four books as an option to read instead of staring at the spines of two hundred books makes those four much more appealing. One coloring book a day solves the issue of indecisiveness. And magically, the room is so much easier to clean up. Who would’ve known?

Fun field trip of the week: Meet Maisy at the Library.

Brayden has always loved Maisy books. The illustrations are unique, and he always enjoys the stories. Maisy was making an appearance at one of our local libraries, so we signed him up. I didn’t realize Carter was going to be as entranced as his brother.

Also, I found the whole event rather fun because I made it a point to act as if I didn’t even have my camera. I only put the camera up to my face twice. . . both of the pictures where Brayden is standing with Maisy. All the other shots were pretty much with the camera on the floor, angled up and I click, click, clicked my shutter only when the story guy was talking. I’m sure Brayden didn’t know I took most of them. Perfect. . . . and look how fun they are! Like a story in photos 🙂