Wednesday, August 22, 2012

A summer day

I had mentioned in one of my earlier posts that this summer has been pretty much lazing around and/or playing almost all day for the kids.  I thought I should write down about what we did on some day so I can at least remember something when I look back.  Time just goes by in a flash every summer day.  I am barely able to talk to people on the phone.  And some of my friends whose kids are home for the summer also feel the same way.  I have not talked to my mother in nearly two weeks.  The windows of time I have, she has not been available at the phone.  And when she calls me back, I am out of the house.  She doesn't usually try my cell phone if I am not home.  I am going to try and recollect my day yesterday.

I woke up at 6.25 a.m.  Got changed and wore my shoes and went for a walk at the park.

7.30 - coffee/news on the net/email check.

Yesterday I made an extra effort to keep the bedroom door closed and lowered the temperature for the AC even more so it would be extra cool all in an effort to try and get KB to sleep a little longer.  He has been sleeping at 10.30 p.m. or so and waking up by 7.15 - 7.30 a.m.  I wish he would sleep till 9.00 a.m. during the summer holidays.  Am sure come school days it is going to be a struggle for me to wake him up at 6.30 a.m.  Every morning he wakes up and comes to me at the dining table and declares "7.19" or "7.23" etc to tell me exactly what time he woke up.  He has the habit of looking at the clock the moment he wakes up just the way I do.  I cannot sleep well in a room that doesn't have a clock.  I just need to know the time if I wake up at night or I feel disoriented.  Anyway, back to our day.

8.04 was the declared time that KB woke up yesterday.  He came to me and said, "Mamma, KG wants  you to come and lie down with her for sometime".  So I went and lay down with KG and she was so happy that I immediately obliged her request.  And we called out for KB also to join us and the three of us lay in bed with them literally piled up on me like sacs and laughing and playing.

8.35 - get out of bed.  Made up the bed.  Gave KB his milk.  He promptly sat down in the corner seat of the couch and started reading his Calvin & Hobbes book (he has been reading them all, all over again for may be the third of fourth time, obsessed).   KG went on to her refuge from the madness, her hot wheel cars.  She makes up her own world with them, introduces prince/princess/animals - everyone if part of her imaginary world there.  I read some more stuff on the net and then put away some dishes etc and tried to get them ready for breakfast.  I had to look up gift items for a friend's daughter in the meanwhile also.

9.30 - Sat with the kids for their breakfast for a while.  Usually I sit with them the whole time but I suddenly had the enthusiasm to make "Milagai Pachadi" since B had bought a ton of green chillies on the rare day that he went to the Indian store when I had asked him to buy some green chillies.  I made that and some rasam.  I had to return some of my friend's containers, so I packed some of the stuff I had cooked for her.  Around 10.15, I started rushing the kids to go get ready to leave for KB's friend's house for a play date.  Got him to finally get into the room and practice his music for half an hour.  Shower and be ready.  I cleaned up in the kitchen, ate a quick breakfast, showered and got ready.  Went and dropped off the containers with my friend and then went to KB's friend's house.

11.40 - reach KB's friend's house.  Both those boys were excited and waiting at the door.  One other boy and his sister joined us a few minutes later.  Plan was for the moms also to stay on and eat lunch there together.  After and hour and half or so of running around, the kids wanted to watch TV.  But the remote control battery was not working well and we could not get netflix to work.  So I drove back home to get batteries since my friend ran out of new ones.  I got a great welcome when I got back obviously because the kids were waiting to watch some useless show called "Avatar" on netflix.  In the middle of all this, there were pillow fights, tears, screaming and the works.  When I walked in with the batteries, the oldest girl in the group told me "Aunty, KB was not listening at all.  He was throwing pillows around even though my mom told him many times not to".  I had to take KB out and lecture him to listen especially when I am not in the house with them.  It put me in a restless mood for a while because of the bad feeling I had from scolding him when he was having the kind of typical fun kids have when they get together.  I finally somehow composed myself to get back to normal.  Finally around 1.45 p.m. the kids finished their lunch, we turned on the TV and sat down to have our own lunch.  Half an hour later there was more fighting amongst the kids because one of them did not want Avatar show and the others did!

1.45 - 2.45 - lunch/clean up etc.

3.15 - leave the house.  Feeling kind of wiped out dealing with the kids fighting,screaming inside the house.  We usually meet in the park but this was the third time this month the kids were meeting at our houses for 3 or 4 hours at a stretch.  I prefer the park play dates if it involves more than two other kids I think!

3.30 - come home, give KB his milk, KG her yogurt.  Make myself tea and drink it peacefully.

4.15 - leave for KB's piano class. Drop him and get home at 4.45 p.m.  Answer some emails I had received regarding their swim lessons.

4.45 - 5.20 - sit with KG.  She read one of the books "Lucky for me" from the hooked on phonics first grade series.  I then asked her the comprehension questions they have for that book.  I had to make a choice between doing this or going to buy veggies and fruits in that time.  I told myself that can wait and instead spent this quiet time with her when KB was not around.

5.30 - KB pick up.  Bumped into another mom I know at the parking lot.  Talked for 10 minutes with her.  Got back home around 5.50 p.m.  KB wanted to look at some more sun flower seeds to buy for him.  He planted some sun flower seeds around mid June and now they are blooming beautifully.  Will post pictures of those sometime.  Gave KG grapes and KB a cup of yogurt (after much trying finally he has accepted store bought organic stony field farm vanilla yogurt this summer!!!).  Got their razor scooters and helmets in the car trunk.  Packed their water bottles etc.

6.30 - 7.30 - kids were scootering at the park near us.  Normally they meet with some friend or the other for a play date at the park.  But after the morning play date I told them that we could just go ourselves and do something quietly even if no other friend was coming to the park.  I was looking to just sit and quietly enjoy the breeze.  But I bumped into someone I know who had come with her whole family (three boys) because her oldest boy was in the soccer team and had his practice there.  So I sat down talking to her and playing with her 8m old baby for a bit.

7.40 p.m.  - got back home.  Immediately rushed to the kitchen to start cooking their/our dinner.  Usually I keep their dinner ready at least.  But last night I hadn't done so.  Made dal/rice.  Washed and cut the spinach from the organic spinach box they sell at Costco.  Sauteed spinach and green peas together for them.  And made spinach/garbanzo beans with a "more kozhambu" base for ourselves.  Had that with rice and also had my yummy milagai pachadi from the morning!  One of those rare evenings when I got to have a south Indian meal instead of our usual chapathi and subzi.

8.15 p.m. - finished cooking.  In the meanwhile B was sitting with KB and KG playing scrabble and helping them both.  I went and joined them and the kids were so excited when I went to join them screaming "hey, mamma's here! Mommy, mommy, mommy"!  Played till 8.45 p.m.

8.45 - 9.20 - kids ate dinner.  I usually sit with them and read or talk to them while they eat.  But since it was so late, B and I ate along with them.  KB was reading "Micheal Jordan" book by Matt Chirstopher.  He got to the chapter where MJ's father got killed and I was worried that KB might get night mares.  So I told him to put away that book and read his Calvin book instead.  KG was looking at her "D.W. rides again" book while she ate her dinner.  I had loaded the dishwasher with the dishes up to the point before dinner.  B then loaded the after dinner dishes while I sat with the kids for 10 minutes in the couch talking to them.  Finally at 9.30, the brushing etc started.  KB wanted a new brush that he has spotted in the drawer.  KG felt it was not fair he got to open a new brush.  Had to settle that fight first.  at 10.00 p.m. the kids settled in bed.  These days they want me to come lie down with them.  Some days I read to them, some days I just talk to them in the dark. KG usually lies down on my back for a few minutes.  Usually I get out of bed after they fall asleep.  Last night I felt sleepy as well and I just slept along with them.  Much earlier than my usual sleep time (around mid night).  Because of which I woke up at 2.15 a.m. and could not sleep. So here I am writing a blog post and finishing it up at 3.12 a.m.!  Will go back to bed soon and wake up to another day! Strange feeling when I write that line - wake up to another day!  Who knows what another day will be like!
Well as long as it is like this day, I guess it is not a bad deal!  

10 comments:

Aparna said...

All I have to say is noon, you are such a good mom! Seriously - you spend so much time with them, read to them, talk to them. I do that too, but if they were on my hands all day, I would be crawling up the walls. Well I have been a SAHM for 4+ years so I have done it as well! I don't have a tenth of your patience and enthu to be with the kids. When sanjay comes home, I retreat to another room for some solitude leaving him in charge!
Total respect after reading your post. I'm quite aware of my shortcomings in this respect :(

noon said...

Hi Aparna - I have to esp thank you for reading that long post! And for commenting! I know that feeling too - I too feel like I need my time alone but in the summer it is very hard to get it. And in some ways I remind myself that they need me the most only now. Tables will turn in my old age when I want their company when they have so little time. I saw that happening with my parents and with my FIL too. Although my FIL thankfully is able to manage without talking to any one even for the whole day. My father used was such a talker that he used to really enjoy the few minutes my brother could sit with him when my brother came back from work and had to spend time with his son/wife also...I guess I am more conscious of the "circle of life" thing because of having seen all that...No, please don't say shortcomings...you are doing an exceptional job as a woman managing both career and kids...you do everything I do with kids and also get to work part time. I only wish I could get some help here so I could also do a part time job now itself instead of waiting till they are bit more independent...also always have this tension as to how we will manage when my FIL or my mom is with us if I am working...I would not have any time to even breathe then.

Meera Ganesh said...

Sounds like a jam packed day. Good to know KB and KG are having a good summer. Alas, it all ends soon Are you done with back to school shopping?

Anonymous said...

Loved the description of your day and even though it sounds hectic, it felt like the perfect mix of good ole' plain summer fun with friends and quality family time together. It's awesome that you manage to do so much for them in a day! No wonder both of them are pretty advanced for their age.

Let's see what we did today....V is anal about reading series books in order so we went and exchanged one f the Hari Puttar books for the one prior in the series. He'd been refusing to read this since it came later never mind that he's read all of them several times previously:-) Infuriating. Then I called all my medico people and organized various appointments in the upcoming month(all scary ones, so no elaboration here:-)). Made spinach dal and rice for both of us(V's dad is on East Coast). V watched the yankees while eating and then post lunch played Chess online....I won't bore you with the rest of our day. And now I'm in bed reading your blog and will try and finish a book on complementary medicine for preventing recurrence that I've been lazy about finishing.

Shubh Ratri to you or good morning....

Deepa

noon said...

Meera - don't remind me. I have not even looked at the list - mainly "school supply" donations for the classroom. But bought a few other stuff - new lunch boxes for them both and new back pack for KG - graduating from Dora backpack for preschool to Hello Kitty backpack for KG.

Deepa - you know what you should do - you should start blogging. And we can compare how anal these two kids are in some things - reading things in a certain order etc. KB was perturbed as to how his friend was reading these books out of order! But V seems to be super nerd compared to KB! Big difference - KB is not very interested in chess. I don't know if it is because he didn't like losing in the second round of chess class he went to in KG when parents were all standing around watching the kids play - I used to drop and leave. I stopped the class when he didn't show interest. Good luck with everything. You are sounding upbeat - am happy to see that.

noon said...

Deepa - and I have bored you all plenty with my long description of my day. You can feel free to do the same. It is kind of fun!

ranjani.sathish said...

Very interesting to read about your day...at the end of the day I don't know where you get the energy to sit and play.....playing indoor games or for that matter any game...somehow I never feel like doing it with the kids. I can just sit and watch them play :-)

noon said...

Hi Ranj - if it was candy land I would not have played. But Scrabble or mastermind I love playing, so I don't mind. So it depends on the game! :)

Neera said...

Such a relaxed yet efficiently spent day, I would say Noonoo! Very nice reading about it. For us, usu if the kids had a playdate, it would last so long and then the kids, esp V would want to follow it with another playdate with a subset of his friends at our house and still not be satisfied with the "meager" amount of time he gets to spend with his friends :) I have to learn from you how you manage to cook meals -dal, rice, and two varieties of spinach in 35 minutes after coming from the park. In my case, those are just spent in asking and re-asking the kids to put away shoes, wash hands, solving their fights because they are hungry and tired by then!
The Milagai Pachadi sounds most appetizing. Do share the recipe please :)
Needless to say, you are one cool mom to have! Kudos!

noon said...

Hi N - will send you the recipe soon.
I totally get what you mean about "Meager" amount of time...KB does that too. But we don't have that kind of group here like you do...every one is in driving distance!