Bruton Visit

Yesterday, Abigail and Emelia spent the day with us while their mother went to an all day workshop.

I have no idea what other people do when they have four kids under the age of five in the house (although, as I type that, I realize I could have asked Serita), but for me, I had to have a Plan.

A Plan looks something like this:

Three Arts & Crafts activities, all themed (mostly because I'm a Kindergarten teacher and my mind works that way). We made ladybugs, butterflies, and caterpillars. Each craft had a slightly different "medium" if you will. The ladybugs were made of four pieces of construction paper pre-cut to a head, body and two wings. The girls glued them together and then used a black marker to make the dots. The butterfly (also pre-cut) was painted with watercolors. For the caterpillar, I had circles of fabric and the girls glued the circles in a line to make the caterpillar and then chose a gem which I hot-glued for the eye. I picked these crafts because Sydney, at two could manage the processes of gluing and painting (although I think you can see from the pictures that Sydney's "ladybug," although it contains the essence of ladybug-ness, doesn't really look like a ladybug, unless you know what you are looking for) and Emelia, who is the oldest and actually turned five yesterday, could find more depth in the projects through her choice of paint colors, or as she did with the caterpillar, choosing to extend the project by making a "mama" caterpillar and a "baby" caterpillar. (Let's be clear that this was art, not science, folks.)




After Arts & Crafts, we played outside. I did think it was funny that even as Emelia is asking to go outside, in the same breath she added, "We already have sunscreen." No one is fanatic about sunscreen as their mother.

After outside, we had snack and then watched an episode of Sesame Street (which I called "quiet time" and of course I meant that as my "quiet time" as I surfed the 'Net and Facebooked.) Then the girls played with Play Dough while I did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen ('cause why would I have done that during "quiet time"?) We tried some cooking after that, but it turns out, alas, that you cannot use muffin mix in a sandwich maker in lieu of cake mix. Luckily Jeremy and Sydney had made blueberry muffins (the correct way) the night before and we still had yummy baked goods.

After the afternoon snack, we all played in the playroom for about thirty minutes. The girls really enjoyed that Jack was up to playing with them for that time. Abigail and Emelia both love having Jack hold their fingers and I thought it was neat for Sydney to see another way to interact with her baby brother.

By then it was 3 o'clock and time for Sydney's nap, so I sent her to her room. Around the same time, Abigail and Emelia had their very first sibling squabble of the day (yes, that means the two sisters got along absolutely perfectly for seven hours) and I realized it was time for everyone to have by themselves time. I put puzzles out in one space, Mr. Potato Head in another, crayons and coloring books on the table, and reminded the girls that they could play in the kitchen or the playroom as well and encouraged them to enjoy the time on their own.

When their mother picked them up at 4:30, everyone was happy and although I was tired, I didn't have the sense of counting down the time for her arrival.

I feel the need to mention, though all of this, Jack was having his three month growth spurt a little early and cluster feeding. I think he nursed seven times while Abigail and Emelia were at our house.

I still stand by my "two kids are enough" philosophy, but it's nice to know that on occasion, at least, I could handle more.