Summer's End

Here we are at the tail end of my summer break and I am facing all the expectations that I promised myself I would not have this year.  In the beginning of the summer I had written about my usual laundry list of expectations for my summer break and had said that this summer I will not have that list.  I promised myself that I would not stress out about not completely de-cluttering and re-organizing my house.  I am happy to say that I did not let myself get too stressed about it all.  In normal summer mode I would be disappointed with what I did not get accomplished this summer.  This summer I am happy with what I did get done around the house.  A lot of it was just the daily cleaning that occurs with a smallish house and a preschooler.  :)  I also worked on my bedroom; and even though it is not completely finished there is a HUGE improvement. (Okay, Vinnie might not agree with the huge part.  lol)

Looking back on what I had written in early July, I initially wished that I had done more craft stuff with Lilly and arranged a few more playdates.  Some people I had reached out to for playdates were not available and that is okay, even if a bit disappointing.  And sometimes the timing just did not work out.  Maybe I wasted a few too many mornings doing nothing.  And then I realized all that we did do!  But we did go on tons of fun playdates and attended our library's summer preschool reading program.  We visited friends and family down the shore and at lakes.  We explored different playgrounds in our area.  I reconnected with many of my girlfriends, attended a great free music festival and traveled to North Carolina.

Personally, I started on the path to a healthier, running me.  Of course this past week has been difficult with the area still recovering from hurricane Irene.  Not to mention my ankle/Achilles tendon is being a bit funky.  But I am committed to continuing this healthier lifestyle once school resumes next week.

I have to admit that today I was starting to feel that ball of anxiety in my belly about not organizing the basement or finishing my bedroom or insert chore.  But I stepped back and took a deep breath and looked at what I did.  And if I took a lot of naps this summer, maybe it was because I needed them.  I reminded myself that I had surgery the 2nd day after school let out and I was also ill in July. And if Lilly is disappointed that I did not play princesses or babies with her every time she asked, I console myself with the knowledge that she would have me play every possible minute.  And dinner does not cook itself!  So in that I learned about the balance of being a SAHM again.  It is not all fun and games.  Chores have to get done, too.

I hope everyone else had a fun summer!  What was your favorite thing you did this summer?  Come on...leave me some comment love!!!

Sometimes I don't feel like a bad mom

I can learn a lot by watching other moms with their children.  Sometimes I learn good hints and techniques.  Sometimes I learn what not to do.  Sometimes I learn about the children, sometimes about the mom.  Sometimes I learn about my daughter and sometimes about myself.  Today was one of those days that I learned a difference between being a preschool teacher mom and not being one.  And I realized that for all the times that I feel like the bad mom, today I was not.

Today Lilly and I went to the preschool story time at out local library.  There were many children and their caregivers: moms, dads and grandparents.  The librarian, though kind, is also a bit stern which is okay in my book.  She is fun when it counts - when she is reading stories and dramatic story telling with puppets!  The stories today were about elephants in one way or another.  So the craft, naturally, was to make an elephant out of paper plates, construction paper cut outs of ears, trunks, legs, etc and decorations.  The librarian showed all of the children the finished product and then taped it to the wall so that we could all see it.  It was right behind me.  Lilly and I did not so much as glance at it after the initial look see.

What was shocking to me was how every single parent looked at that elephant and then guided their 3 and 4 year old children in making the proper elephant.  They all had the ears, eyes ( 3 part eyes!), trunks, tails, and legs in the proper position.  I did help Lilly glue the paper plates and ears together because, frankly, it was not sticking.  But Lilly added everything else, wherever she wanted.  She knew what it was going to be and had a vision of what it was going to look like.  I saw a couple looks from other moms and then from the librarian.  All responses?  Oh, very nice - said in a very bland sort of way.  Between the lines?  That is not what an elephant looks like!  One remarked that it was colorful.  What 3 year old wants a plain gray elephant when they can create a sequined, colorful elephant?!

I think it is a beautiful elephant!

Lilly's elephant.  She wrote her name on the left ear

p.s.  I did say at one point that I was a preschool teacher and so I believe in letting children create in an open way and express themselves.  But I did not want to come across as snooty.  Maybe just seeing Lilly's will be the push they need to let their children create.

One of those days...

It has been one of those days. I am sleep deprived to the max...stayed up late 3 nights in a row to finish a grad school project/paper. Lilly was nap-resistant today. There are some days when I feel like all I do is attempt to get her to nap. Notice the word attempt!

I never got to the library. I swear they can pay at least one librarian's salary on my fines. Never got to Target to get stuff for Lilly's Easter Basket. Never got to Stop & Shop for garbage bags so we are using the little grocery bags. Never did laundry so Lilly may not have jammies to wear tonight.

Well, at least I got to Whole Foods and bought stuff for dinner and for meatballs. I got dinner on the table at a reasonable hour and it was fairly nutritious. I made mashed potatoes and grilled london broil. Paired it with a steam fresh and we were good to go. Whoever thought of those was brilliant! It makes eating healthy so much more convenient.

I will be making meatballs tomorrow for my friends who just had babies. :) And I am supposed to be gathering Lilly's laundry now from her room so that I can do it after she *hopefully* goes to sleep at a relatively early hour. I won't tell if you won't! wink wink