Today I had our new sitter come for the first time while I'm just at home and attempting to get some other things done as well as care for the 6 little people in our home :)
It was WONDERFUL! I got 2 hours worth of laundry folded/hung and put away! I usually do this from 9-11 or 12 at night or while the kids are at school- which is not longer an option since school is out :) Then she helped me feed the kids lunch, do a round of diapers, and send them off for naps. EVERYONE napped :). Kristopher went with grandparents for the day at their request so it was just the 5 little ones after about 11. The kids all napped a good 2 hours, some of them 2 1/2 :).
Now that they had a fun morning of 'free play', lunch, and a good nap, they're ready for the GOOD stuff :) We have the rice and beans bucket out. It's got about 30 lbs of rice in it and 3 bags of different types of beans along with all kinds of containers to pour and scoop with. Emma, Lynae, and Brianna are really enjoying it! Micah took a short time with it then went to do other things... he's my sensory kid that hates to touch, so we'll do short spurts of it and be glad he's not screaming when he decides to leave! James came for a little bit... but was much more interested in eating the rice and beans than playing with them. Now... I suppose I should cook some rice tonight and attempt to get him to eat it! Maybe, with two fistfulls (like he was the dry rice) he will get some solids in??
We have playdough out and some puzzles and we're moving through some of what I think are the fun things of summer. Getting to do all the fun things in one afternoon! I love having the free time without driving back and forth to school and having the down time that the kids can have freeplay AND structured home activities without being just DONE by the end of the day. With school it's so hard to do any structured play in the afternoons because the kids are just ready to go play. And we let them. Weekends are great but they're also the only time Daddy's home and we often do family activities instead. I love summer and having the kids home!
No pictures yet... maybe I'll go find the camera :)
I didn't even think about a rice and beans bin, but now I think I'll have to put one together this weekend. Tanner will no doubt try to eat it, but I think it would be a big hit. We do free play in the a.m. and more structured in the afternoon as well. Glad to hear the day went well.
ReplyDelete