Yesterday we went on a road trip about an hour south to visit some friends. It's always fun to spend time with someone else who "gets" my kids, and doesn't judge. We are lucky to have a lot of people in our lives that adore our kids. While planning B's birthday party earlier this year, four of the people he asked to come were *our* friends - who are almost old enough to be their grandparents!
There are no subtle insults, no disparaging comments disguised as jokes. I find that I can relax and just go with it, and not have to constantly be on guard. Yesterday, the boys (all four of them) and the two dog, had a blast, but I think us mums were just wiped out by the end of the day. I was in bed by 9:30! That's almost unheard of for me!
I mentioned before that there are things that "normal" families do, that we don't, and that's what we're dealing with now. We don't do outings very much, because as much as we enjoy them, the boys get so worked up and it takes a few days to wind down.
Z slept in with us again last night - "slept" being a loose term, since none of us got much sleep. It was compounded today by the fact that The Mister got up with them and let me sleep until 10am, and then I had appointments today, so I was gone from 11 to about 1pm, and then again from 2:30 to 3:30, and THEN we had to chuck them into the car on a very hot day to head to the bank to sign papers, because we had nobody to come sit with them for 10 minutes.
So they've had two unstructured days, that, while fun, have landed us in a bit of mayhem, and unfortunately we have yet another busy weekend (and week!) ahead of us, so I need to make as much time *structured* (not rigid, mind) so they have those times to fall back on when I need them to just go with the flow. We also have the added stress of virtual strangers (to our kids) coming to stay the night on Thursday. We haven't seen this couple since we moved here over 4 years ago, so we've already been "coaching" B on the coming events.
Some of the "escapes" I have in mind this weekend include: making our own play-dough (since B ate most of the stuff we had. Ugh.), a trial run of making some Christmas gifts - we're making fudge and caramel! I will also be pulling out the tunnel and tent for some low-stimulation time, trips to the park with one of us to allow the other parent to get things done - encouraging climbing and hanging for that stretching feeling. Foot massage and "squeezing out the toothpaste" from their arms. I want to also grab a work-out ball. I forget if they have another name - but you know what I mean. One of those big ones - maybe even two so they don't fight? :P So they can roll around and bounce on them to get that input their bodies need to function.
For more ideas - click here.
Hope you all have a "Sensational" weekend.
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