Activities

I'm looking for new activities for the kids. They are learning at an amazing rate, soaking everything in and thrive on new experiences.

Jenny told me that her girls enjoy playing with a big bin of rice and burying their little people toys. So we gave that a try.

They delighted in finding buried treasure for about three seconds, then Lily started eating the rice by the handful (and kept going and going). That reminds me I need to post soon about the funny way she scarfs her fruit. Must.find.video.camera. Anyway, the boys quickly discovered that it was more fun to throw the rice.


And it was not much longer before they all discovered that it was more fun to play in the bin.

Michelle and her boys Rowan (3) and Devin (1) visited us in the afternoon for a playdate. It wasn't long ago when we didn't have any children and now there are six. They are planning on having a couple more. It will be nice to have a few friends as busy as we are.

Then Wednesday we tried out 'story time' at the local library. The kids had some fun but the entire experience exhausted me.

We hadn't been there five minutes when we had our first incident. I was sitting in front with Will and Lily quietly on my lap. Carmen was holding Holden. Evan was wandering in the back of the room (which by the way the leader said that it was ok to walk in the back of the room if they didn't want to sit).

Well, there was a row of chairs along the back wall and Evan climbed up on one - because he climbs EVERYTHING. I saw him, but he looked safe to me. Safe enough for someone who has four children anyway. Well the leader saw him and leaped up screaming 'get off the chair!, get off the chair!, get off the chair!' and snatched him off. I was mortified and frozen, looking around like I didn't know the child.

When story time started she made a point to say, 'and class, remember no climbing on chairs'. Not that she didn't have a point, but I just wasn't thrilled with how she handled it.

During the class we had a few other unsettling moments. Lily standing up front because she was interested and the women telling her to sit down which of course she didn't. Evan trying to take off the felt pictures the leader was posting on the board. Will 'swimming' in the crayon box while all the other children quietly colored. Oh and someone got my nanny's phone number - but it sounded like they were talking about Carmen knowing someone that could help her. Good god I hope that's all. Certainly that is the case. The mom was chatting with me previously and says she visits our park often and knows the children. I don't tolerate nanny stealing very well.

I'm glad I went to see what it was all about. If you had one or two children I could see how it could be a decent diversion and good habit to be going to the library but it's not worth it to me to be on edge the whole time. I'd rather let them run and climb in a safe environment like Gymboree or perhaps it's time to check out a gymnastics class.