A Day of Choices...Today we had a midwife appointment and the kids usually do not do so well on those days, so I decided to try something different. From the time they woke up today I let the kids pick what we would do and when, I resisted my urge to say no or not now (the only inflexibility was the doctor's appointment). I must admit I was worried they would pick videos all day, and they did ask to watch one, but not all day long - they truly surprised me. We began the day by snuggling back in bed (how lucky am I) and cuddling together and telling stories. Mostly our daughter took the lead as storyteller, though sometimes my son would give her an idea for a story (he asked for pooh, marshmallows and walk) and she worked with it! She told some fabulous stories about Benkin (the mouse that lives in a tree in our yard - from Daddy stories) and about Polly and Peter (the kids from the Narnia series) and about Winne the Pooh and piglet. Of course her and her brother and the dog were in all the stories as well (I was hardly involved) it was so amazing to hear her tell stories, this went on for well over a half hour, close to an hour actually. Then we were up and they had breakfast - unlimited cheerios with berries and soymilk (amazing how much they can eat when those choose it) then we read some stories and finally got out of pajamas.

Then I was told to sit on the couch and watch their performances and shows. They did wonderful ballet, spinnig, dancing and falling - it was so cute to watch our 2 year old imitating his big sister. After much applause and bravos and encores they were finished. Then they continued into their imaginary land - today a band from my robe and a laundry basket were the primary props. Then it was time for more reading, about a half hour or so. Then they finally caved and asked to watch a movie, since the point was to let them pick I resisted the temptation to say no and downstairs we went. I snoozed on the couch while they watched Stuart Little 2 and part of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (I really only let them watch some of the songs and not any of the second half). Then upstairs for lunch, they chose more Cheerios and again I resisted the urge to say no. It was time to get ready for the midwife appointment and I let them pick out some toys they wanted to bring to keep themselves entertained, again I was surprised. They each picked two file folder games, an abacus, The Wide Mouth Frog book with their puppets, some wooden cars to drive around and a wooden fashion plates (similar to paper dolls) and their new baby dolls they made yesterday, and each got a book for the car and I let them pick the music (A Down on the Farm tape) with lots of animal sounds! The car ride was fun singing down on the farm and so on - until they feel asleep.

They actually did fairly well at the dr's even and enjoyed hearing the baby's heartbeat and being helpers. Then we went grocery shopping at Whole Foods and they enjoyed driving the car that is under the cart. Headed home, put away groceries and started dinner. Then on with routines from there. Thanks for reading.

Tenn