This post veers a little bit away from my regular posts but I thought I might share my confessions and get some ideas from fellow moms (and dads)!
This morning started well with my morning wake up call (my daughter) calling “Mommy” in her little sing-song voice at 8 this morning. Not bad – I had a lie in! Things soon took a turn for the worse after breakfast though.
Once my daughter had jumped on my husband and wrestled him from sleep, he asked what all the little rubbery balls in our bed were. Ummmm… Not sure. Oh look, Gracie’s nappy has split open, leaving a trail of rubbery wee-filled balls in it’s wake.
So, off we go to change the nappy. Just as the nappy came off, Gracie weed all over her change mat. So, onto the floor she went, bare bottomed, while I cleaned the change mat. “Wee” she said with great enthusiasm as she weed all over the carpet. Sigh. So halfway through cleaning the change mat, I decided it was safer all round for Gracie to have a nappy on.
After that saga, off we went downstairs to get the house ready for a friend who asked us late yesterday afternoon if he could come and stay for a couple of nights. He would be arriving in about half an hour and just as I was finishing ironing the linen for his bed, our groceries were delivered.
Okay, friend coming shortly, his bed isn’t even made, house is still a mess, the groceries have arrived and I still need to clean the fridge before I can pack anything away. I needed to prioritise.
I had just managed to make our friend’s bed and started on the fridge when he arrived. “Hi. Please excuse the toys on the floor, the unpacked groceries, the half cleaned fridge and the general state of the house. Coffee?” I really needed some by this point!
While my hubby chatted with our guest, I managed to sort out the fridge, groceries and toys (which Gracie kept unpacking anyway). Things were looking up…
Until I burned my finger really badly on the grill while making Gracie’s lunch. Not really what I needed just then.
With all of this going on, I didn’t play with Gracie as much as I normally do and I hate that other things took priority over that. I know that’s life and the way things go but I did miss our morning bonding. I am also very grateful to have a little girl who enjoys pottering, pushing her toys around, showing me funny pictures in her books and giving me stickers (for all my hard work!)
Here are a list of things that I encourage her to do or that don’t need much of my input if I need to get something done while she’s around:
- Sing – everything and anything. Gracie goes through all the songs we know and we have to sing all of them, a couple of times over.
- Reading – She is very happy to look at her books on her own. I know most of them pretty well so I’ll recite them occasionally.
- Cookie cutters – We have star cookie cutters that fit into each other and she plays with those for about 5 minutes at a time.
- General play – Gracie loves playing with her toys and although she leaves the house in a wreck with toys everywhere, at least she’s happy and safe and entertained. We’ve started tidying them up together before she goes to bed every night.
So, here is my question. What activities do you get your little ones involved in while you do whatever it is you need to get done? I’d love to hear some feedback so should I ever have this kind of disastrous day again (which I’m sure I will), Gracie will be happy and stimulated even though I can’t give her my full attention.
