looked at the tv and saw. . . a MetLife commercial with. . .it's a little embarrasing that we haven't taught him better, but we don't get a paper. The only comics he sees are when we are at his grandparents'. Yes, it was Snoopy, and I told him the dog was "Snoopy." For some reason I giggled about Snoop-O all night, but until Will is old enough to read my blog, he won't know. He is getting to be pretty good at sounding words out, so that might not be too long from now.Today was a good day. It started later than normal for the kids since they were up later than normal last night. I had time to get up, shower, get dressed, fix breakfast and check my email before I ever heard anyone make a peep. I was amazed at how relaxing it was. . . but I am not too good about getting up early just to have that moment. The babies were up, dressed, fed and cleaned up before Will got up. He slept until we needed to leave for preschool. Since it is actually a mothers-day-out program, I have given up the stress of being on time. It makes the mornings go smoother, and he didn't miss much. Since he was so tired, waking him early would have made for a grouchy kid, anyway.
This afternoon I realized the best way to get Will to play quietly and contently for hours -- make him think that I think he is napping. There is such a fine line between disciplining him for not minding (taking a nap) and letting him play quietly, so I finally told him he could play quietly. He played with his GeoTrax trainset for hours. The train set has been put up for awhile, so it seemed new to him. The day before he asked if I would get it out, and I said I would after we packed up the kitchen sets (I get so tired of cleaning up millions of pieces.) I also warned him that the babies would probably wreck whatever he built, but he couldn't get mean about it. So we are on day 2 of them taking it apart, and Will saying, "That's okay. Let me show you how to put it back together" or "Uh-oh. I guess you have a better idea" or "Jon, lets make it better this time." Overhearing how sweet and incredibly patient he has been with all of them when it comes to destroying his masterpieces, has been absolutely inspiring. Why am I learning patience from a four-year old? So the train set has been great.
Later in the afternoon, I found a long train on the carpet with a Little People figure in each car. When I asked Will why he didn't let them ride the train on the track, he said, "They keep jumping off on the hills." The simplest comments are so funny. So Will and Jon and I put them on the track, and, sure enough, they all fell out when the train went down a hill. King Kong Jon climbed through the Geo City to sit in the middle of the hilly track (it was only one track that fell as he crested the mountain). He put a person in the train car, and joyfully clapped his hands saying, "Yay Yay!". The train went down a hill, the person fell out, Jon said, "UH-oo!". Then he put a person in the train car, and joyfully clapped his hands saying, "Yay Yay!". The train went down a hill, the person fell out, Jon said, "UH-oo!". Since the train was travelling in circles around him, this went on, and on, and on.
When dinner rolled around about an hour later than normal, everyone was still cheerful -- usually the 30-45 minutes before dinner is loud with crankiness, whining, crying, and tantrums -- from all of us. It was quite pleasant, even though no one had naps in the afternoon. After dinner, Allen and I put the babies in bed while Will {mostly} cheerfully cleaned up the playroom. Then Allen worked on the yard while Will splashed in the pool without anyone complaining about him being to roudy. I stepped outside to watch and each time he was singing loudly or talking to Allen. Is this the end of afternoon naps for him? The pediatrician said it would happen soon, but I still encourage them for my own sanity. If the happy-go-luckiness continues, maybe it will be okay. I do love the fact that he CAN play happily for a long time by himself. Hopefully tomorrow will go just as well.
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