Year Long Project

We hosted playgroup today!

Ayden does *okay* with sharing all of his toys. It's always a little tough being the host kid. It's like he is conflicted. He is excited to have his friends over, and to show them his toys, but he has a hard time when they play with the toys differently than he usually does.  Such is toddler life...

When everyone left it was time for nap and lunch. Both boys have been consistently napping at the same time which has been so wonderful. During nap time I usually try to do the same 3 things before anything else. Tidy up any kid mess, mid-day kitchen cleanup and fold the day's load of laundry so it's ready to put away when Ayden wakes up (all while half watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix). Any time I have left over is used for a project, reading or whatever me time thing I'm feeling that day. Today I worked on some Piterest inspired wall art. 

Almost done!

The funny thing is, I purchased the supplies for this when AYDEN was 2 months old. I got it started Christmas of 2013. Have had it on my to do list while we moved all of the materials to my parents house and then to this cottage where it sat in the closet in our office where, like I mentioned in yesterday's post, things go to die. Now it is almost Christmas of 2014 and LOGAN is two months old and it's almost finished. How's that for an example for the progress of a mother-of-young-kids' DIY projects?  It is also a great indicator of our level of adjustment 2 months in with Logan vs. 2 months (and beyond) in with Ayden. Everything is so different this time for so many reasons...

Speaking of adjustments. The last time I hosted playgroup Logan was 4 or 5 weeks old I think. I was in the middle of the season/size swap for the kids clothes and had not gotten the hang of the shifts in my housekeeping systems.  I had to stash bins and laundry baskets I to our bedroom the morning of hosting so our company would have room to play and sit. This time the whole house was ready the night before, and I was even able to swing making muffins for everyone (something we all do when it's our turn, if we are able).   I'd say we are officially as adjusted as possible. Having David home in the evenings had been a huge change too. I can actually sit down once the boys are asleep before going to bed myself since he is here to enjoy time with the kids while I knock out some of my evening routine BEFORE the kids are in bed. While neither of us are fans of how the progress has slowed down so much on the house due to colder weather and less daylight, I will say it's definitely been a nice change of pace for me.

When Ayden woke up enough from his nap to be ready to play, he rummaged around in a catch all toy drawer that we keep in the kitchen and found a spray bottle.  Naturally, he wanted me to fill it up.  Usually we limit that to outdoor play but since it was WINDY today, I didn't want to send him out to the porch.  I opened our front door, gave him a couple of paint brushes and a rag and told him he could spray our glass storm door from the inside as much as he wanted.  Before I knew it he was calling me over to admire his "works of art" on the door.  The first time I went over I knelt down told him how wonderful it was, asked him questions about it and then hugged him, gave him a kiss and told him how proud of his work I was.  The next time he called me over I just told him how great it was and asked a couple of questions but didn't kneel down or hug him.   He said, "You're supposed to hug me!"  So for the next half hour or so, he'd spray for a while, call me over, I'd admire and then we'd hug.  It was so sweet and DEFINITELY they kind of attention seeking behavior I'd like to reinforce.  I'll give him hugs all day if that's what he wants/needs.  Hugs are so much better than reprimands and micro managing.  The wet mess was totally worth keeping him engaged and worth all of those sweet hugs!  As much as he can wear me out these days, I'm so glad I still get those glimpses of my sweet, non-toddler Ayden often enough to reassure me that he's still in there.  Luckily we've been seeing more and more of Dr. Jeckyl these days and less and less of Mr.  Hyde. I'll take it! 

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "Pavlovian Chickens"

And two years ago today: "Some NOLA Fun"

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