The 'B' Chores List

I ventured out today during morning naptime to run some errands. Something I haven't done in about 3 weeks, and I remember why. As I was writing out my list of places we needed to visit (thankfully all of them were accessible from the car window), I noticed a trend. Most of them started with the letter "B" and those that didn't couldn't easily be changed to fit the theme. Soooooo, the 'yes-I-tried-early-childhood-education-for-2-semesters' mom decided to make a lesson out of it for my pre-schooler. She loves "writing" out lists of places to go and things to buy, so I made her her own list. "The 'B' Chores" List:























And because I am aware that she really can't read yet, my artwork was to make up for that milestone not being met. We had to get gas at the BP Station, pick up Kayla and Micah from the Baptist church, the mermaid picture next to Blockbuster is because we were returning The Little Mermaid II and our house was the final stop (that's a tree with 2 swings in it). We also talked about her bringing her baby, bear and bottle, things being blue, saying bye-bye, etc. It was probably more fun for me than her, but I enjoyed it. She was probably thinking, "Mom, I already know what the letter b looks like and what words start with b, can you give me some credit here?" The scratches through the boxes were her marking off each stop as we completed it. (I'm sure subconsciously it's a ploy to teach her to create and rely on lists and become as OCD-dependent as me. Oh well.)

The naps, oh yeah. Nathan managed to fight long and hard against a 20 minute nap while driving around, which meant he took an early and short afternoon nap and needed a nap before supper time; causing me to drive around another 10 minutes before introducing sleepy-head to a restaurant full of unsuspecting victims.

I've chosen to find some positives with him not sleeping when I want him to: when he wakes early in the afternoon and sister is still sleeping, him and I get great one on one time. We wrestle, tickle, crawl together, get the mail, inspect grass blades, swing and laugh lots. He enjoys exploring with few string attached (I've learned to close the bathroom door). He's certainly not afraid to leave the room I'm in in search of something more exciting. He gets a good hour or two of my undivided attention which is much harder for #2. So, all in all, I'm thankful that the good Lord has provided sleep in spurts when it's needed the most. Blogging usually happens late at night or during the half hour or so both kids are napping so my sleep is sporadic at best.

One of the highlights of my week was getting to spend time with my neice and nephew, Kayla and Micah. They came to visit a couple times this week for lunch, VBS at my mom's church is just down the road, and their visits were very pleasant and reminded me of how thankful I am for them. They're 9.5 and almost 7 and they're both VERY good with Katherine and Nathan. They've had practice with their sister who's almost 2 and it shows. I don't get to spend that much time with them so they were appreciated visits.