One on one time

The kids don't often get one-on-one time with me these days. Usually it's the three of us awake together, playing together, or I'm cleaning or cooking while they play, or we're all doing our own thing separately. But lately Matthew has been transitioning from two to one naps a day and generally his one nap occurs around late morning to lunch time. So Sam and I have one on one time for awhile, then when Matthew wakes it's usually time for Sam's nap, so then Matthew and I have one on one time. While it's exhausting for me to not have a break (and I'm particularly tired these days for some mysterious reason...) when both kids are napping, it's also been enjoyable to get to spend some time with each child individually.

Sam's time with me has consisted of much putting together of the fire truck floor puzzle. Yesterday we spent a good deal of time outside in the sandbox. And there is always lots of book reading. I'm not much of a player with the kids, I just don't really get into cars much, and I'd rather just read with the kids or color or paint with them, and let them do their own thing when it comes to cars and trains and stuff like that. We went to the library earlier in the week when it was around 100 and too hot to play outside so we have a fresh supply of books to read. Sam's current favorites include a book about a little dog who goes to visit a fire station, some Thomas the Tank Engine books (these really drive me crazy, I don't ever want to own one of these...at least if it's a library book I know my commitment to read it is limited), and a Richard Scarry airport book. The Richard Scarry books really are a lot of fun and educational too. I would love to own a library full of Richard Scarry books. Today we spent some time browsing Amazon for floor puzzles and new bed sheets. Since Sam really likes the fire truck floor puzzle I wanted to see what else was out there maybe for his birthday and he enjoyed telling me which puzzles to click on and look at. He also needs another set of sheets now that's he's moved to a double bed (we have one set of car/truck sheets) so we browsed for those and he, of course, gravitated toward the Disney Cars sheets (which are not going to happen, they're poorly made and overpriced). Anyway, we have fun and I appreciate the moments of uninterrupted time with my older boy.

Matthew's time with me is quite similar in some ways, but also very different. We too read a lot of books. However, Matthew's attention span is much shorter than Sam's and usually we only make it through the entire book for his favorites. For other books, we just read through 2-3 pages and then he's off to find another. Matthew's current favorites include a barn animal book with little flaps, a truck book, a Dick and Jane book called "Go and See" (this was also a favorite of Sam's a while ago and while annoying to me, it's short enough not to drive me crazy). He seriously goes through an entire stack of books (maybe 10 or 15) in less than 10 minutes as he just flips and pushes books aside, grabs another, flips briefly, pushes it aside, and on and on. Toward the end of this afternoon, around 2:30 or 3, it was clear that Matthew was slowing down (as was myself), but I didn't want to put him down for another nap as we were leaving for a friend's house as soon as Sam awoke from his nap. So he laid on the floor looking at books and I laid beside him reading my own. After awhile, I sat up, cross-legged and he came and laid his head in my lap and read books on his own. It was so nice to get to relax with the little guy as he is becoming more and more active and quiet, relaxed time with him is becoming more rare. He is quickly transitioning to a busy toddler and our times of cuddling are becoming less and less.

Despite my own tiredness and fatigue, I really have been enjoying my one on one time with my kids. While for the sake of my sanity and physical well-being, having time to myself when they are both napping is needed sometimes, I and the kids also need one on one time. And soon that will be very hard to come by with three little ones around. What will life be like then? Only time will tell.