Small Victories

There are some things I have really been trying to work on lately and today had some positive results for a change.

1. Floor Play with Sirah - I used to love being on the floor playing blocks, games, puzzles, etc with little ones. Over the years I have found my desire and patience to do so has decreased. I still play with Sirah but differently. I have been trying to really get down on the floor with her more. Today we had a tea party on the living room floor and she made me lovely treats and tea, pop, and fruit punch. It really was a positive memory to be treasured and a reminder of why I need to be down on the floor with her before she no longer wants to play like that.

2. Arts and Crafts time - I don't like it - I never have and I am not yet convinced I ever will but I have felt convicted to let them have more arts and crafts time. They have painted twice in a week and got to make free crafts with glue and such this week - that is a HUGE improvement over the time they usually get and it was not that bad. Okay washing all the tempera paint supplies and cups was but the rest was not too bad. I especially enjoy watercolors - they could do those every day now that they have real watercolor paper that absorbs rather than runs.

3. The Mud Battle - I hate mud and kids and dogs love it! Not good for me since I am seriously outnumbered with 3 kids and 2 dogs. The winter thaw is thus not my favorite time of year. I am especially unhappy with my crazy mud loving dogs at this time of year. So I alternate between going on strike and being hyper about it. The amount of dirt I swept up off my entry way floor tonight is truthfully embarrasing - but at least I finally did it. Looking at it I would think it was over a month of dirt but sadly just a few days. I finish cleaning the floor only to let my dogs and their muddy paw prints back into the house. It just feels like a futile battle. The victory was the decision to sweep and clean the floor even knowing it was going to look terrible in a few moments again. The second victory was ordering our new Roomba which does help keep me saner during this time of year. Our old one broke and I was waiting it out but we miss Roomba and a new one is on its way, hooray!

Small victories I know - but hey you have to be proud of something :)