Wednesday, June 1, 2011

After dinner activities

After dinner is one of my favorite times of the day. For one, Jason is home. Secondly, the kids and Jason play together, freeing me to enjoy their interactions and catch up on some knitting or just rest while watching the Kirchhoff Men show. And they put on quite a show. I can't believe the energy the kids have at the end of the day, and Jason sure brings it out of them.

Tonight, for example, we all went to the basement after dinner. Sam opted for the basement for our evening playtime rather than outside as we had already spent hours outside playing in the beautiful weather. So we went downstairs. Jason crawled around on all fours for awhile with one child or the other on his back. Sam ran circles (really, he did) and tried throwing a beach ball up to the ceiling. Over and over and over. And then Sam could come over to the couch and jump off of it. And then he'd tackle Jason. And then there'd be tickling. And laughing. And squealing. And more running around in circles. And jumping. And just crazy displays of energy. And then Jason did push ups with Sam on his back.

Matthew is quite energetic too. Jason at times tries to chase after him and he squeals with delight and tries to walk/run away from Jason as fast as his little legs will take him and his sense of balance will allow him. Sometimes he gets caught, then there is much tickling and laughing. And then Matthew walks over to the beach ball. Then he walks over to the John Deere. Then he walks over to the stairs, goes up a few and comes back down. Then he walks over to the fireplace. He is constantly on the move. Never still for more than a second or two, and that second or two is only spent regaining his balance after a fall. While I was making dinner Matthew was on the far side of the table so I couldn't really see him very well, but I did know that he was still for a few minutes which is totally out of character for Matthew. Some thoughts flew through my mind: What did he get into? Is he choking? Is he otherwise hurt? Why is he so still? Turns out he was reading.

Anyway, back to our evening activities. A few times Jason ran in the basement bathroom to try to squeeze in a few minutes of work while the kids were playing and Matthew ran over to the bathroom door, yelled "Da Da!" and ran away, teasing Jason to follow. He obliged once or twice much to Matthew's delight. Oh such happiness. I know it sounds corny, but everyone is so happy during their playtime. The kids are laughing and squealing, Jason gets to act like a kid again, and I'm getting a nice respite before the frenzy of baths and bedtime routines.

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