This week actually went pretty darn well. It seemed to go by faster than most weeks last term. I still have to fight the urge to feel like a full time nanny some days, but then there are those little moments that make it all worth it.
Monday I was still on such a high from Alice’s baby blessing and being with friends; I had a fabulous day. The house was a mess, and I tackled it. Bam! I also taught Rachel how to play a memory card game, and we didn’t watch any TV. (We don’t actually have a TV, but I let Rachel watch movies on my computer occasionally. I’ve been trying to cut back on our technology time, and I’m happy to say we did VERY well this week. High five, self!)
Tuesday was awesome and epic. I decided to take Rachel to a soft-play Gym with Shantal. It’s a 6 minute walk from our house to the bus stop, then a 10 minute ride to the church where we met up with Shantal and walked about 20 minutes to the gym. Rachel loved it, and we actually had a great time! It reminded me of my days in the gym… I was going to be in the Olympics for sure. Ha! I can’t wait to sign up Rachel for classes. She loved all of it-she’s so fearless! It was lightly raining when we left, so I put the rain cover on, but after a few minutes, Rachel was sick of having plastic in her face. So, since we are learning about “making good choices” I let her take it off. I still had a 10 minute walk/run to the bus stop, and it was SNOWING. Poor Rachel was soaked and freezing. She was screaming at me to stop, and I tried to put the cover back on, but she screamed even louder. Thank goodness the bus pulled up right as we got to the stop. We hopped on, and I picked her up to hold her. In the 10 minutes it took to ride to our stop, she fell asleep in my sopping wet, freezing cold arms, and she WOULD NOT wake up when we had to get off. I held her with one arm which was also holding the umbrella, and I pushed the double stroller with a sleeping Alice in it for the 6 (more like 15 now) minute walk back to our house. I kept wishing someone would offer to help, but no one did. I’m kinda glad, though. It made me realize that I’m stronger than I think I am.
(It is IMPOSSIBLE to get a good picture of 2 two-year-olds)
That night, Paul had correlation meeting, so we went with him to the church so that I could play the piano for a bit. I got out some little toy musical instruments for Rachel, and I played for about 30 minutes while she danced around. (Did I mention that Alice slept through all of these adventures? Best baby award.) It did my heart a world of good to just sit and play. I’m really rusty, but it was nice to create music and let my mind wander for a few minutes.
Carol came on Wednesday for our weekly playdate! She brought two cute stockings SHE MADE for Alice and Rachel, and she bought Rachel a packet of Frozen stickers and coloring things at the store. Our house is now COVERED in stickers. Thanks Carol. :) Carol also brought her old vacuum since ours is broken. So we finally got to vacuum the upstairs after 4 months of living here! Yay!
Thursday was playgroup, and the rest of the week was a bit uneventful. I made my first shepherd’s pie from scratch, and Paul devoured it so I guess it was ok. Also, I took Rachel to the park on Saturday, and she was so excited, she ran the whole way there! She held my hand and kept saying “Come on, Mommy!” I love holding her hand. It’s one of the best feelings in the world. She’s gotten a bit clingy these days-doesn’t like to play on her own very much, won’t stay in nursery, and insists that we stay in her room until she falls asleep. Sometimes it’s a little much, but then I remember that in a few short years, she may not want me around as much. So I’ll soak it up while I can. One night, she woke up as I was leaving her room and started crying at the door. I waited just a few seconds, then I heard her say “Back to bed. Go seepy-seepy.” Then her little feet padded over to the bed and I heard her say “Bottle? Where are ya bottle?” She wailed for a second, then stopped and said “Bottle!” All was quiet, and I started crying. I couldn’t help it. She’s such a good girl! I just love her!
I had a great learning experience on Friday. I took the girls to the store, and as we were going through the parking lot, a woman with a cane stopped me and asked me to return her trolley. (shopping cart) In England, the trolleys are connected with little chains, and you have to insert 1 pound token to unlock a trolley. Then, when you return the trolley, you reattach it to the chain and retrieve your coin. Also, I should mention that all four wheels on the trolley are free, so it doesn’t just go in a straight line. It turns very easily. Well, this woman asked me to return her trolley, even though there were 3 or 4 other people standing nearby. I was pushing the double stroller, and my first reaction was to give her a look that said “Really? You’re asking the mom of two little girls right now in the freezing cold?” But my mouth said “Sure” before my eyes gave me away. As I pushed her cart back, she called out “Please return my pound coin.” As I put the cart away, Rachel asked “Whatcha doing mommy?” I said “We’re helping the lady.” I pushed the girls back over to the woman, she thanked me, and off she went. It wasn’t really a big deal at all-most people wouldn’t have thought twice about it. But it meant a lot that she would ask me to do that. I think she knew I needed to serve someone and stop feeling sorry for myself. It absolutely made my day. And on our way home, Rachel and I saw a recycling bin that was tipped over into the street, so we cleaned it up. We can’t really do a lot for most people, but we are having so much fun finding simple little things we can do to serve. It probably means nothing to those we serve, but it’s made our days so much more enjoyable!
Paul had a great week back. There’s no “easing into it”. They hit the ground running! He’ll be playing an old man in The Rivals this term, and he’s working on some music from Les Mis in his voice class. He had a big break through this week. Last term, he really struggled with some of the stereotypical “actor-movement” exercises. As far as I’m aware, a lot of acting exercises are pretty dumb and awkward no matter what country you’re in. BUT Paul told me that if nothing else, he’s learning how to just let go and do the strange exercises without caring if people are watching, and enjoy learning others’ methods and approaches even if he won’t use them himself. It makes his days a lot more enjoyable, because it takes a lot more mental and emotional energy to fake your way through the exercise than it does to just have fun.
In every spare second, I’ve been trying to plan our upcoming trips! We’ve got some great adventures coming up-Scotland, London, Cornwall, and more. Also, I’m going to go cut Paul’s hair tonight. I’ve never cut anyone’s hair before, so this should be interesting. If it turns out poorly, I’m blaming ineffective youtube tutorials, because I’ve been studying all week. Ha! It’ll be payback for Rachel’s mullet…
Rachel’s corner: (By the way, the picture above is Rachel pointing to the hot dog she drew.)
She's on her 4th or 5th cold of the season. Let's be done, please?
We bought her a little potty she can practice on. I didn’t want to full on train her, because I think she’s a little too devious right now. She’d make a mess just to see what I’d do. But since we bought it, she insists on using mommy’s potty every few minutes. Baby steps.
She loves to sit in Alice’s bumbo and the swing or lay on the play mat. It’s hilarious that her legs actually fit in the bumbo better than Alice’s do!
Asked me to sing “coco buddy” and I had no idea what that meant. Eventually I realized she was talking about the Cuckoo Bird song from the British Pageant. Amazing that she picked that out of her memory!
About Alice:
Really loves sitting up and being held upright so she can see the world
Too big for the baby bath now
She now wears the same size nappies as Rachel. Gah!!! It’s only because her legs are SO chunky!
She can reach for and grab some of her toys now! Growing up so fast.
*Extra life hack:*
I forgot to mention that about a month ago, I learned how to knock on a door. They don’t really have door knockers or doorbells in this country, but it always sounded SO loud when someone knocked on our door. I figured people must be throwing rocks or carrying something around with them… and then I saw someone knocking on a door. They use the MAIL FLAP! The mail is delivered every day-sometimes twice a day- through a little flap in the door. You just lift that up and shut it to make a knocking sound. Genius! Haha!
No comments:
Post a Comment