feeling good

I am feeling like a great stay-at-home mom today. First of all, I took the kids to the playground this morning. Yes, it was 42 degrees, so it was McDonald's indoor playground, but it was large motor play nonetheless. Ethan shunned the actual play structure and preferred to climb repeatedly into and out of the high chairs, but I figured it was the same sort of skills he would have been exercising in the play structure, so it was ok. (He even pushed the high chair up onto the cushioned play surface like he knew what he was doing was risky.) Then to top it off, we went to the library. I saw one of my Tuesday Bible study girls there, and was encouraged to see Jacob interact with her son. That combined with watching him interact with a boy at the McD's playground who he had never met before, combined with reassuring feedback from the nursery workers and his Awana teachers, has now allayed all my fears that he might not be on a good track with his social development.

After this productive morning, I managed to come home and fix a nutritious lunch for my family, feed the kids before picking up Heath, and take Jacob for a haircut over the lunch hour [a scary chore because I have to hold him still while they cut around his ears :-( ] Then, after putting the boys down for naps, I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher and cleaned off the counters BEFORE taking a break at the computer. It dawned on me, this is probably what most (dare I say "normal"?) people do - clean up the kitchen after EACH meal. My first instinct is to put it off, by any means. I always feel like there is something better to do, and that to clean up right away would just be sad. However, it is more sad to have a dirty kitchen all day when "a little later" never comes around.

Digressing a moment back to the playground thing: Heath loves it when I take the kids to the playground. I think he feels really good about me being home with them when I take them somewhere like that. He also worries about them being "cooped up" in the apartment all day. I try to remind him that the space is a lot bigger to them. Also, I told him, I remember being at home with my mom as a little girl and how being home was my favorite thing - it was so secure, so familiar, so comfortable. I don't think kids have the same desires that we do to get out and "do things." It is enough for them to impact and conquer the world that is inside their home (and themselves! i.e. physical/mental/emotional milestones). However, I do understand Heath's point, and he says little boys would feel different about being at home all the time (he theorizes since he was in daycare). Maybe he is right (and I have to trust his opinion, never having been a little boy myself), since in general it seems grown-up boys have more of a drive to get out of the house and "do something" than grown-up girls.