I had a spontaneous brunch date with just Ari this morning at Paris Baguette at Suseo station. This was the second time we've done it. We walk down the hill (yes, we live on the top of a hill again--not as steep as the last one though), cross the big street and catch a number 2412 bus to Suseo subway station about 10 minutes away. The bakery is right there when we get off the bus. Life seems so much simpler with one child. (Those of you with one child might disagree...I used to too until we had two.) She loves croissants. She always picks one of those for herself. I ordered an actual brunch meal with an egg and made sure she ate that egg for her protein. :) We shared a potbingsoo (a shaved/crushed flavored ice with fruits, red beans, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top) for our special treat.
When the kids were napping this afternoon, I laid down on the couch and resumed listening to an audio book I began listening to recently, called, The Next Story. I woke up to Ti clanging his toys on the floor and my husband picking up in the kitchen. The book was still being read to me and all I remembered was something about speaking, "truthing"?? Well, I will need to go back to where I left off before, AGAIN. :P
So I came across a couple of parenting articles this evening and one of them talked about parents not being playmates to their children--that children are to play on their own and parents should do parent-things. (like the idea of pararelle play) Well, I am the one who feels guilty if I don't play WITH my children and often can't get much done and feel exhausted... I am not sure if this is why but Ari has always been my "shadow." I tried. I tried to begin doing something with her--encourage her to continue what we'd started and leave to get some things done... She stops immediately and follows me around. Of course I let her "help" sometimes but there are times when I really cannot get things done if she's "helping," and it's healthy to have some "breaks"/ alone time/ just doing our own things in the same space... sometimes. This just does not happen much around here... So some days I just give up and spend all the time and energy I have to try to entertain and interact with both my kids and end up with a mess both outside and inside of myself... It doesn't help that I don't have regular/frequent playdates with other moms... Anyway, Ari just wants to do everything I try to do even when I encourage her to play with her things on her own for just a few minutes... This is something I need to learn to do more. I look forward to Ari going to preschool soon and learning this herself too soon.
Kids are asleep and Daniel's picking up our friend from the States at the airport tonight. We plan on some fun times exploring a bit of Korea we have not yet seen!
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