Summer Can Be Harry, Part I

Right, so it's summer time, meaning my daughter, age 6, is no longer in school.  Also meaning, I am now responsible for coming up with some activities for her to do that she will be excited about and that I can tolerate.  Let's just say hours and hours of Barbie playing and ANT Farm (picture a less cool Saved By the Bell with child prodigies) watching does not make it high on the list.  But I do love to read, and if the child will sit still, she loves to hear the story.  So I decided it was time to venture into the world of Harry Potter.  I've been dying to read this with her since I read them while I was nursing her.  So I came up with a great plan, if I do say so myself and it requires very little to no work on my part!

During 10 month old brother's naps, 6 year old and I are reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  After each chapter, she draws a picture of her favorite part and we talk about that part of the story.  I also usually ask her why it's her favorite part.  Once the whole book is finished we'll watch the first movie during a special movie night.  She is also writing letters to her Aunt, and possibly other friends and relatives, about the book.  That's it!  It's so simple it's ridiculous! 

Of course being the busy mom that I am we've only made it to the sorting hat ceremony so far, but Six loves it and I'm enjoying our time together reading one of my favorite stories.  I actually have a video of her first picture but haven't been able to get it together enough to have both my blog and my phone and the attachment piece to hook my phone to the computer in the same place at the same time.  Oh well, maybe next week. . .

Good Thing He's Cute

My precious 10 month old son has been an incredibly difficulty baby from day one, but that's a story for a different day.  This is the story of last night when he would not go to sleep!  Of course this happens when my husband is out of town.  As a way to get some mommy-daughter time, I put the little guy down a little earlier than normal, but nothing extreme maybe 15 minutes or so.  Six and I spent the next 2 hours watching So You Think You Can Dance and then headed for bed.  Around 11:30, I hear the whimpering from the monitor - possibly my least favorite sound on earth!  And then all hell proceeded to break loose.  For the next two and a half hours, I spent my time, awake, with a screaming, angry 10 month old.  That's right, two and a half hours!  Wouldn't it be awesome if the point of this story was to say that in the midst of the crying I was able to tap into my inner mother and discover a fountain of love that finally soothed my infant into a peaceful sleep.  Sorry, this is not that kind of blog.  I am not a person who does well without sleep, and all I could think about the whole time was that my alarm was set for 6:30am.  I love my children, but at 2 in the morning I don't like anyone!  I didn't get in touch with any inner mother goddess, but I did get in touch with a super tired mommy.  My butt has been dragging all day today.  Sitting with my clients took all of the energy I could muster.  So dinner tonight was pizza delivery and story time was blissfully short.  And tonight I find myself avoiding bed like that might keep last night's nightmare from repeating.  The rationality of the sleep deprived is laughable.  And yet, looking at that picture of my little boy brings a smile to my lips and love to my heart.  That's the real world of parenthood.  It's a good thing he's cute.