Today was a day at home, it was raining and cold, the girls had a busy day yesterday so they didn't really want to go anywhere today (good because neither did I!), and I was definitely not in the mood to do housework. So that meant we did stuff inside, whatever the girls wanted to do, we did. Except for a few peace-keeping suggestions from me, everything was driven by the girls - just as it should be. So I thought it would be a good day for a 'day in life of' post. Yes, most days don't look this intense, and this amount of activities would usually be spread over a couple of day with things like trips to the park; or outside play; or housework to break them up. But this was our day.
So it started at 6am when Miss M (3.5 yrs) woke up and set herself up on the couch with her iPad, not sure what she did on it, she has a number of fun / educational games as well as youtube that she enjoys. She loves to watch youtube videos of people opening toys, or aquariums with calming music, or aurora borealis clips, and who knows what else.
I got up at 7am and made her and myself breakfast. Midway through breaky Miss M declares that she wants to make a pelican. Righto. I will admit right now that I am NOT the creative one in our family. I'm good with sheet music or cross stitch or knitting - you know, things that have patterns and detailed "how to's", but make something random up, sooooo not my forte. That would be my wife's, she's amazing at that sort of thing. So me, I resort to pinterest. I am so so so grateful to people that have the time and energy to think up weird and wonderful things (like how to make a pelican with paper plates!) and then put them up on the internet to share with other creatively stunted people like myself!
So we Pinterested the crap out of it, and made a totally awesome pelican out of paper plates!
Then Miss F (2yrs old) woke up at 9am ( I know right!) and demanded we watch Paw Patrol - the latest obsession in this house. And the girls sat on the rug and played with some puzzles while I cleaned the kitchen. Miss M asked for help with the puzzles. So we did a new Paw Patrol set of puzzles. It was actually really good. There were five different puzzles in the box and all the pieces were numbered (I just want to say here that there are five different puzzles in this box, and only three compartments! seriously! who does that!). So it was really good for number recognition for Miss M. She used a toy digger to find the puzzle pieces with the right number on it and deliver them to me. It took a bit of practice to distinguish the '2's from the '5's. Miss F then 'helped' me put them in the right place (think elephant tap dancing).
We then went back to the craft table (aka the dining table covered in stuff) as Miss F's request - actually the found the scissors and was trying to cut her pjs, so I redirected her to some paper. She also loves to paint with the clag brush, but not actually stick anything down. She painted some paper, and a garden statue from a nearby plant, a couple of the dining chairs... get the picture? She had a great time, luckily clag wipes off easily! Then she moved onto actually painting. So both girls did some painting with the paint textas (that's what we call the crayola paint brushes that are already paint loaded like textas - they're awesome!), so we now have a few new pieces of art work stuck on our wall.
We have an old milk crate full of duplo that Miss F loves to regularly upend and then spread from wall to wall. This came next. All while Miss M yelled at her and told her off for not using the duplo in the right way! Walls and towers were made and toppled and played with for about half an hour. Farms were designed and animal figurines were given new homes - until cyclone Miss F destroyed them.
Balloons are all over our house at the moment. So to distract from the duplo destruction I started a game of balloon tennis with Miss F (always ends up a bit like brandy when playing with Miss F!) that Miss M quickly joined in and lasted until the middle of the day. I'd say lunchtime, but my kids don't really do lunchtime - I put a plate of snacks down (fruit, nuts, ham, chips, biscuits - anything I can find) and they munch for a few hours while they do stuff.
There's a thing called 'study ladder' online, I think I've mentioned it before. It is basically lots of short quizzes (10 questions) organised into categories and levels. Once they complete a quiz correctly the child gets points and can then buy animals in a zoo, or trucks in a city etc. The quizzes are boring as, but the rewards are fun. Miss M loves playing in her zoo and city, and will tolerate the quizzes to get more things. Miss F had a go today too. It was fun watching her point to the right colour or shape or match a picture or face. She did pretty well, actually better than I thought she would, and scored herself a few new trucks for her city scape. Don't be confused, this is not something I push or even actively encourage. Miss M knows it's there and will ask to use it. It has been good for her hand/mouse coordination, as most of the quizzes she does she knows the answers to easily.
While Miss M had her turn on the computer (I am forbidden to help unless asked to do so!) Miss F and I sat and played the piano together. I attempted to bash out an old irish tune that the sheet music was out for, and she alternated the low notes and the high notes. Bashing the low notes and giggling, and then angelically playing a couple of high keys with a look on her face fitting an angel. Crazy baby.
Playdoh was next. We made snails, and snakes, and peas (we had green playdoh today), and a little hut that Miss F squished three seconds after completion (I was a bit heartbroken for a split second..), and an elephant, and a worm house (Miss M's creation), and some fish. I think it's only the second time that both girls have played with playdoh together. Miss F has only recently decided that it's not completely disgusting, and is in fact great fun to make tiny balls and throw them everywhere, all while laughing hysterically!
Then came the bike riding. Miss F recently got a balance bike for her birthday - she's still too little for it, but will happily ride it with assistance. So I ran around the house 'brooooooming' like a crazy lady pushing this balance bike by the handle bars, being chased by Miss M on her balance bike - do not be underestimating the speeds she can get to on that thing! We did some basic road rules and courtesies - 'give way' at crossroads (kitchen / hallway intersection) and some reversing (complete with beeping sound effect), zig zagging to practice the steering. I can't wait until Miss F is big enough to actually ride it independently and we can go outside on rides / walks.
By now I'm exhausted so I lay down on the floor and nap for 15 mins while the two girls sit on me (literally) and watch the ongoing Paw Patrol video. Once I woke up I realised that Miss F had missed her nap (mixture of late wake up and too distracted to care) and was getting cranky as! 5pm crazy hour! Her calming thing is the shower, so in she went. She sang and played and splashed for ages, then fell asleep at the dinner table!
Now both are in beds. Miss F is asleep in her cot, and Miss M is in my bed with iPad winding down, she takes a while somedays. We don't usually encourage iPad after dinnertime, but it seemed to be needed today. And I like to think I can be flexible and respectful enough of our children's needs to allow things to be outside the 'rules' sometimes.
So that's my day. It was a very busy, demanding one. As I said we wouldn't always do all of those things in one day. Most days the girls are happy to sit and play on their iPads quietly for a bit, or will sit and flick through books, or build things with the various building sets we have. Today was mummy labour intensive. Fun, but now I'm ready for bed at 8pm. 😀
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