Grace's Gift Shop

I was puttering around this morning when Gracie came to ask me to come look at her gift shop. I followed her to the family room. Two wooden chairs were pushed together to make a shelf/sales counter. A sign taped to the table read "OPIN" and a picture she had drawn of three wrapped gifts told me what kind of shop it was supposed to be. Stacks of greeting cards were on the chairs, made of computer paper folded in half and decorated with crayon drawings. Signs taped to the chairs gave the prices- $2 for the cards in one stack, $3 for those in the other pile.

I chose a card and fished $2 out of the change jar to buy it. Then I went back to cleaning the kitchen. I heard Grace try unsuccessfully to get her brother to come "be a customer." Then she decided to make some signs. She took several more pieces of paper and one each one drew a gift and an arrow, then taped them up all around the house. She still couldn't get any new customers, but at least she's got the right idea!

Balance

When I was younger I used to babysit for a neighbor. She was something of a neat freak and didn't let her children do much besides watch TV or play Nintendo. Arts and crafts and playing outside in the dirt- an essential part of childhood- was too messy. I don't want to be that kind of mother. I want my children to have a chance to make mudpies, catch bugs, fingerpaint, help in the kitchen, etc.

I also want my house to be clean. I want spills to get wiped up. I want to be able to vaccuum the floors without spending half and hour picking up stuff first. I want the baby to be able to play on the floor without having to worry about what he might put in his mouth. I want to be able to walk into my children's bedrooms without stepping all over toys. I want to be able to sit on the couch and fold laundry without it being pushed to the floor when I elave the room.

I want to raise children who understand that life holds responsibilities. I want them to learn to pick up after themselves so they don't drive their future mates insane. I want them to be considerate of others, and to understand that it's everybody's job to pitch in to maintain the family home. I also want to let my children be children- to play and be imaiginative and creative.

I want to let them make a play fort with chairs and blankets and I want them to put the blanket back on the bed before they run off to the next thing. I want to let Gracie draw whenever she feels like it, and I want her to pick the crayons up off the floor so Millie doesn't eat them.

How do I balance these two things?

Changing seasons and exploring the neighborhood

Winter is giving way to mud'n'flood season, and it's been warm enough to spend some time outdoors.

Today I got the children dressed and we spent some time among our neighbors. We walked to the library for storytime. The children heard three books about springtime and bunnies. There was a daycare group (two adults and eight children)and one other family, a woman with a two year-old girl, and us. The daycare group was a little overwhelming, and one of the adults in the group kept loudly correcting the children every time they spoke or wiggled around. Personally, I think daycare providers should provide these sorts of activities themselves, but that's just me. Grace and Jack had fun and the other mom, Lynn, was friendly.

I realized partway through storytime that I hadn't had breakfast, just a cup of coffee, and that I was very hungry and a little lightheaded. So after storytime was over, we walked one more block down the "The Grill" and had lunch. (Actually, we ate a second breakfast- the children all wanted chocolate chip pancakes.)We visited with the owner for a little bit and she held the baby.

Then we walked back the way we came. On the corner near the library sits a building that the neighbors behind us own. They have a photography studio and rent out space to others- there's a flower shop,a reflexologist, a gift shop, and there had been a bakery but it failed. Grace and jack went to see the flower shop and the woman in the shop took them all around and told them the names of all the flowers and let them smell them. When we left, she gave them each a carnation to take home. I hadn't seen my neighbor all winter, because they had been in Florida for a while visiting her in-laws. She gave my children a snack, which they took gladly despite the fact they had just finished a meal and two glasses of chocolate milk each just 20 minutes earlier. We were able to catch up on how they've been. It's spring break here but her little boy was home sick, which disappointed my children.

The park was on the way home so we stopped and played. Jack climbed all the way up the jungle gym and Grace can slide down the fireman's pole now. I put Millie in a swing, but she was tired and cranky and cried when I pushed the swing, so I let her down and she just walked around aimlessly and watched the other children.

Growing Children

She's crawling now. She'd been scooting for a while, and moving from hands and knees to sitting and vice-versa, but yesterday she started the traditional hands-and-knees forward crawl. Gracie, Mistress of the Obvious, saw her too and said "hey, Millie can crawl!"

Speaking of Grace, she's starting to read. She figured out the word "Rabbit" the other day. Then she added "I think I can read now." She and Jack both love pointing out beginning sounds; there's a constant chorus in my home of "teapot starts with T" "milk starts with M" and so forth. Grace loves to draw as well, and I started buying her sketchbooks. The sketchbook keeps all her drawings in one place, and now she isn't tempted to climb on the computer desk to get paper from the printer. She filled one sketchbook already, 50 pages, front and back. I'm glad now I stocked up on crayons when they were 10 cents a pack back in August!

As for Jack, he likes taking things apart, balls, and playing with cars. The cars frequently get "boomed" (ie. crashed)into the walls. I painted the hallway baseboards last month and they're all chipped already.

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I was standing in the kitchen this morning, Millie on my chest in a wrap, fixing oatmeal for Jack. I put aside some of the oatmeal for me and it occurred to me Millie might be ready to try some. Before I added any sweetener I got a long handled spoon and fed her some little bites. She liked it, and feeding her in the wrap is easier than trying to get her to sit up straight in a highchair. Standing there in the kitchen, sharing a new experience with the baby, nothing else mattered.It didn't matter that my kitchen is a shambles right now and that I still have to brave the crowds to get fixings for Christmas dinner. It didn't matter that Jack was feeding his oatmeal to the dog. There are peaceful moments to be found even among the moving-and-remodelling chaos.