I don't mind admitting that things got pretty fraught around here towards the end of last year. It was a bit about the build up of months of baby-interrupted sleep, a bit about a toddler pushing at boundaries, a bit about weather that kept us stuck indoors, a bit about sickness bugs, a bit about those irritating household things that aren't about progress, just staying afloat. Anyway, I got so I really wasn't having a lot of fun in my stay-at-home mum job- and as that job is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week it meant not a lot of fun in general!
The New Year so far has brought better weather, better health, slightly more sleep and a calmer toddler, to say nothing of a better attitude on my part. The title of this post is a bit of a mantra for me at the moment, since I have one of those brains that tends to constantly race ahead and fret over and overcomplicate things.
The picture, meanwhile, is an activity I tried to help me practise what I (inwardly) chant. Some uncooked rice, sprinkled on a baking tray. Simple. The idea was that my boy and I could spend some time practising drawing lines, maybe even letters, together. A shake of the tray and we'd have a new 'page' to draw on. As it turned out, when we were 'in the moment' he didn't feel like drawing, preferring to sprinkle and heap the rice instead. Which was fine really- maybe he'll draw in it another day, maybe not. It turned out it was very peaceful and calming pushing the rice around and sprinkling it onto his palms as 'rain'. And yes, a little bit ended up on the floor, but that's nothing a vacuum cleaner can't fix.
Believe it or not we played with a tray of rice for a serene and happy half an hour and while it's not like he's going to reject all the wonderful, thoughtful toys he was given for Christmas, I'm going to make sure I keep up the effort to keep things simple sometimes.
When my son was little, I was keeping it simple, too. Absolutely the best thing he loved, was a pair of "binoculars" made from 2 toilet paper rolls taped together. He carried those everywhere. I think other people were embarrassed for him, as if we were too poor to buy him the real thing. But that wasn't the point, was it? He was 2 years old and we made them together. That was the point.
ReplyDeleteKeep on doing what you're doing. It'll be just fine. :)
Renee