Playtime!
We went to a friends birthday party at a local park. My kid played and played and played. For 2 hours straight that kid ran, climbed, jumped, slid, and frolicked in the sun. I think it was a combination of being in the sweltering south for a week, being cooped up in the car for the entire previous day, and seeing her friends. My Favoritest even dropped by for a little while even though he was on call!
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| October 1 (72/365) |
Doodle's birthday fell on a Sunday this year. That meant the opportunity to do something fun together as a family. I was thinking petting farm, museum visit, park. My Favoritest was thinking Fiber Festival! What is a Fiber Festival you ask? Well, it is a festival celebrating all things wool.... sheep, llamas, alpacas, sheep dogs, sheep herding, knitting. Think grown up hippies with money to spend on animals and natural fibers. In defense of My Favoritest, the festival boasted sheep, llamas, and alpacas to pet and visit. It also boasted sheep dog trials. Doodle does love animals, so on a damp cool Sunday we drove an hour to visit the Fiber Festival. I was being a little mopey/snarky about the whole adventure until we rounded the bend and I saw a man walking out with a ginormous bag of what I knew had to be kettle corn! I immediately got happy and started dreaming about the warm sweet salty goodness that was coming my way! We saw sheep. We saw llamas. We saw alpacas. We watched sheep herding trials. And then there was kettle corn! As we stood in line, Doodle asked if she could have some. I looked at my Favoritest and reminded him that he said "no popcorn till she is 3". She was 3 after all! She took a bite.... "oohhh Mommy, I like dat popcorn". And so a rite of passage came and went before our eyes, first popcorn!
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| October 2 (73/365) |
The hardest part of turning 3 is figuring out how to hold up your fingers!
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| October 3 (74/365) |
Division of Time
One of the things I have had to learn to do is divide tasks up throughout the day, and learn to use my time wisely. Some people may organize their day by lists, by room, or even by happenstance. My day is organized by one simple principle.... Things I can do while Doodle is awake vs. Things I must do while Doodle is asleep/at school. For example:
Use clorox products to clean bathroom: asleep
Load/unload dishwasher: awake
concentrate on anything for more than 1 minute: asleep
Cook dinner: awake, but with many interruptions
Laundry: awake
The last example leads into the picture of the day. I can fold laundry while Doodle is awake. She even helps sometimes. So, if I finish a load while she is sleeping and I have more important things to do that can't be done while she is awake, I hang clothes that need to be hung and everything else goes into a basket to be folded once she wakes up. The result is sometimes a mountain of clothing. The other result is that things get done while she is sleeping and while she is awake!
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| October 4 (75/365) |
How lucky we are to live where we live. I truly believe things happen for a reason. When we came house hunting, I cried at our prospects. Then we found our town house. We never could have predicted just how perfect it would be. Sure, the living space is a little cramped and the train is 20 ft. from our windows and runs continuously, but the perks outweigh those little things. We live in a neighborhood where children's chalk drawings line the sidewalk from spring until fall. You can hear the delighted screams of kids as they ride bikes and play tag. Flags pop out in July, pumpkins glow in October, lights are everywhere in December. It is a perfect little neighborhood. The biggest perk is the friendships we have formed. We have made adult friends who have supported me, listened to me complain, and encouraged me over the last 2+ years. Doodle has made friendships too. She has friends within walking distance of our house. We could never have know how lucky we were the day we signed our lease:) I struggled with the picture for today because I loved two equally. It is a perfect summary to my love of our neighborhood/friends.
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| October 5 (76/365) Landlord's Eldest. Captures her personality in a nutshell as tiny as the pieces of bread she was feeding the ducks! |
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| October 5 (76/365) Balance Bike Gang! Taking a break from riding! |
Doodle is just getting to the age that she realizes other daddies come home for dinner every night. She is starting to miss My Favoritest. Every day we have a talk about "daddy will be home for dinner? or bedtime? Or I say goodnight to daddy on the phone?" Heartbreaking sometimes, but just part of this life! It reminds me of a story my mother tells of me waiting at the door for my father the first time I realized he went TDY. She couldn't make me believe that he wasn't coming home for dinner. So here is my little inpatient daddy's girl hoping for a glimpse of the truck before dinner.
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| October 6 (77/365) |
Doodle got some money for her birthday. I in a moment of craziness purchased Rock and Roll Elmo. He is loud, he takes a long time to turn himself off, and frankly he was pricey. But what is birthday money for? So, we got him. Doodle played for about 15 minutes and then he sat. Just as I was starting to wonder if I had wasted a ton of moolah, Elmo became a hit. Doodle decided she was going to dance. And dance she did. Full out, jumping, jazz hands, foot taping donkey kicking dancing. For about 45 minutes she danced. It was fantastic. Although I do not have photographic proof of her moves that day, I have this picture of her first date with her dancing partner Elmo! Who knew their relationship would grow so quickly!
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| October 7 (78/365) Doodle and her new dance buddy Elmo at their first meeting! |
You were right...that is an awesome picture! I'm glad you could multi-task today :-) And, I love the balance bike gang picture, too. It isn't super artsy, but soooo perfect!
ReplyDeleteno multi-tasking needed. I had to quit the goldfish. They are soooo not a substitute for doritos! Glad you love the pic!
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