Mommy Time
Riley and Adam have been tracked out of school since January 2nd, and before that, they were on holiday break. So, it’s no wonder that Riley reminds me nearly every day (not that I needed the reminder:)) that, “I’m going back to school on January 24th,” or that Adam asks me inquisitively, “School?” every time we get in the van to take Zoe to preschool. On his face the sentiment clearly expressed is, “While you’re at it, Mom, how ’bout drop me by school too.”
It’s been a fun track out for us. Every day is jam-packed, and with kids, no day is ever dull. Riley spent one whole week at my mom and dad’s having fun at their house all by herself. While she was gone, Zoe, Adam, and I happily eased into a lot of mornings together, just taking our time. Riley is by far the biggest task master in our family. Sometimes before she goes to bed, she sits down in front of me and says, “Mommy. Tomorrow, after I wake up and after I eat breakfast, I will need to get dressed.”
“Yes,” I say, “but you don’t need to worry about tomorrow just yet.”
If Kevin happens to overhear the conversation, he’ll add, “But before you wake up, you need to sleep a long, long time.”
So, you can imagine that once Riley got back from her Grandma and Papa’s house, things were hopping around here again from the first moment Riley appeared downstairs until she set foot on the stairs to go to bed. Trust me, her pace is not something that is easily resisted. It’s not that she gets testy with you, it’s just that after she says, “Mommy. You need to get up and go upstairs and get ready” for literally the 25th time while putting her hand significantly on your arm or craning her face down into yours you start to go a little nuts. It’s just easier to get up and go upstairs and get ready.
We made a sign for Riley’s closet door that says, “You need to sleep until your Hello Kitty clock says 6:30. If you wake up before your Hello Kitty clock says 6:30, go to the bathroom and then go back to bed. If you wake up and your Hello Kitty clock says 7 or 8, you can get up.” This sign preserves sanity in our household by giving Kevin and me time to wake up before the Tasmanian devil whirls us all into a productive frenzy.
So, thanks to the Hello Kitty clock (Thank you, Thank you, Papa) and our signs, our day goes something like this during track out:
At 6:30am, as Kevin and I are sitting peacefully at our dining room table drinking our coffee, reading our Bibles, and trying desperately to clear the fog out of our brains while spending time with God and each other, Riley’s door opens. We can hear her talking to herself as she walks down the stairs. “It’s 6:30 on my Hello Kitty clock. I woke up at 6:30.” Not true, she’s been in there watching the clock for probably at least the last half hour (if not longer), but it’s not really a sticking point with us. We just smile at each other, happy that we had the time before that to be quiet together.
The first thing Riley does (usually) is go over the day’s schedule with me. Tomorrow morning, she will be telling me that first we have to drop Zoe off at Ms. Twila’s (a dear neighborhood friend who will take Zoe to preschool for me tomorrow because we have an early appointment) and then we have to go take Adam to get his hearing tested. Then she’ll say, “Are we gonna come right back home after that, Mommy?” Right back home is not Riley’s preference, but it’s usually mine.:)
Adam, Riley, and I will come home and make some bread together (the kids LOVE to help cook absolutely anything) and possibly do some sort of art project at the table. Then we’ll have lunch, and then I will have “Mommy time” with at least one of the kids before we have to pick Zoe up from preschool. I have to tell you, as a testimony to my own partial insanity, that every time I tell the kids, “It’s Mommy time!” I think of “Hammer Time” in my head.:) Sometimes I even sing it for them—just “Wo-oh, wo-oh, wo-oh, Mommy Time” and “Can’t touch this” in various combinations, which has everyone giggling and dancing (Adam’s our best dancer by far) and singing, “Woh-oh, wo-oh.” Anyway, I have one on one time with each of them every day that I can manage it. After we get Zoe from school, we observe an hour of rest time, during which time no one is required to sleep, but everyone is required to be in their room doing something quietly. This is a very important time of day for all of us, especially ME. I read and drink coffee and get my head on straight again. Then, we get back to Mommy time with whoever hasn’t had it yet.
It is fantastic to finally be at the point with everyone where I can tell the girls to scram while I’m having “Mommy Time” with their poor brother, who usually is far too laid back to press for time of his own when the girls are clamoring for it. For a time, Zoe was just too little to understand, but now we’re in business. I’m working on different things with each of them. Riley has some worksheets that her teachers sent home, and we’ve been doing those together. We always finish up by reading a book and working on comprehension. She LOVES “Mommy time” and seems anxious for us to get to it.
Adam and I spent last week talking about these really neat sequencing cards that Grandma and Papa gave him for Christmas, and this week, we’ll be playing a neat game where we’ll match animal sounds with pictures (another cool Christmas gift–this one from Aunt Monica and Uncle Scott). I always read with Adam too, who loves to read first and then have me re-read what he just read. I’ve been picking out words that are difficult for him and making him repeat them to me. He grumbles at me a lot, which reminds me of the way Riley was a few years ago. She used to cry every time we sat down to work because it was hard for her, and she felt overwhelmed. Adam just complains, but I just tell him to hush and then ask him another question. The more we work, the less he complains and the more he talks. He has a love-hate relationship with the whole thing. He loves the time with me, but the work is hard for him, and who wouldn’t rather do easy stuff?!
Zoe and I have been working on recognizing numbers, and that’s what we’ll continue until she’s got 1 to 10 down confidently. Zoe thought she was going to love “Mommy time.” All that attention. All hers. What she didn’t count on was that I would expect her to be serious and actually do something productive before her favorite part, which is the book we read together at the end (Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse is a new favorite for both of us). Last Thursday, Zoe got in a little trouble because she just wouldn’t be serious. After she’d told me a four was a four about five other times, she started hesitating and telling me it was a one. I think she was last on the Mommy time docket that day. Not a smart move. So, I let her know that she needed to get serious and that we were going to go through the numbers (we were only doing 1 thru 5, and she was pretty confident about 1 to 3 already) until she said them all correctly one time. After she figured out that I wasn’t playing around, she knocked it out pretty quickly.
On Friday, when rest time rolled around, Zoe said, “I am VERY, very tired today.” She even threw in a little yawn. Then, she actually did take a nap during rest time. She napped so long that she missed “Mommy time.” When she finally came down, she casually asked, “Did you guys already have Mommy
time?”
“We did. I’m sorry, we’ll take a break on Saturday and Sunday, but we’ll make sure you get Mommy time on Monday.”
“Otay.”
I started getting a little suspicious on Saturday when Zoe asked me about three times that morning if we were truly taking a break from “Mommy time.”
“Mommy, we’re taking a break today, right?”
“Yes, Zoe, today we’re taking a break. We’ll get back to it on Monday.”
“But, we’re taking a break tomorrow too, right?”
Monday morning rolled around and Zoe greeted me with, “Mommy, are we taking a break from Mommy time today too?”
“No. Today we’re having some Mommy time. You and I need to work on your numbers.”
“Mommy, I’m going to be VERY tired at rest time today.”
“Okay, you can take a nap (I’m thinking…PERFECT!!!). If there’s time, we’ll have Mommy time after you wake up.”
“I’m going to wake up when Daddy gets home.”
“Okay, then we’ll just have Mommy time again on Tuesday.”
Zoe looked at me with this important, resolved expression. “Mommy, I’m going to be VERY tired every day.”
So, every day Zoe has napped deliberately during rest time. She thinks that she has completely tricked me on this one too, because the last several days have been so incredibly busy that there just hasn’t been time for her Mommy time. I can’t wait until tomorrow, when I wake her up from her nap after Mommy time with Adam and tell her it’s time to work on those numbers. Wish you could be around to see the look on her face.:)
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