The Great Idea

Ben brought two of his buddies home with him from school today - the "playdate" I've been avoiding all year because, well... I prefer my kids to go play at someone else's house and usually succeed in making that happen when the idea of a playdate gets floated by me.

But today I decided, since Ben has been asking all year, I'd kill two birds with one stone and have two boys over at once.

And... it's raining.  Great.  What do I do with my three boys plus two more eight-year-olds for two hours in the house?

I was coming up with nothing in the idea department so I turned to them and asked what they'd like to do together.  Apparently, they had already been discussing and planning because Ben was quick to answer:

"Well, do you have any extra watermelons?  Because we were thinking we could take one up onto the roof and throw it off so we could watch it splat into a million pieces."  All 5 boys then began pleading with me to give them my "extra" watermelon and help them climb out onto the roof to pull off this grand scheme.

In the end, I had to tell them that it just wasn't going to work out because I only have the one watermelon and that was intended for them to eat.  They were a tad disappointed.  But they still ate an entire watermelon and seemed to enjoy just talking about how great it would have been if only mom had remembered to buy two watermelons instead of one.

Just Like It Used To Be

Mitchell is beginning to recover from his sickness, but as he continues to sleep it off, Ben and I have had a lot more time together, just the two of us, and it has been so fun!  After I get the little guys settled down for a nap and Ben and I have both had a small "alone time," we spend the rest of the time together in a way we rarely get anymore.  He has read me simple stories, we have made paper dragons, soaked our feet in buckets of cold water on the patio (not sure where and why he came up with that idea, but it did feel nice!), laid around talking, and made tons of fun little snacks (I get mighty hungry during this part of the day!)

This middle part of my day is usually when I brew my second pot of coffee, and Ben, wanting to be a part of that as well, wanted us to make the drinks a bit more special this time.  Now this was a lot more work than just pouring a nice, hot, black cup of coffee for myself, but his way was a yummy change in the routine.  His choice was a hot chocolate "latte" for himself and a latte with cinnamon for me.  Mmmm...

I don't think I made his quite hot 

enough though because he downed that thing in about 1 minute!

Another treat we discovered in our special time together was a new favorite way for him to eat watermelon!  He loves it any way you prepare it (I think he'd dig right into a whole melon with his fingers if I let him - maybe we'll try that one day!), but this way delighted him for some reason.  We cut the end off and made it into a bowl for him, then he used a fruit spoon to dig it out.   He got 

quite a kick out of that cerated edge on the spoon and also loved to drink the juice out of the bowl when all the 

fruit was gone!  It is so easy to entertain this kid!

Being alone with Ben for a couple hours every day has reminded me of how it was for us before my other two joined the party.  It can be so easy sometimes to just take care of one big kid!  Sometimes, at the park or other public place full of kids and parents, I watch the mom or dad who is there with just one kid.  You can always tell which ones they are because they are busy building a sand castle in the sandbox, or pushing the child on the swing endlessly, or following the child tirelessly from one toy to the next, fully participating in whatever game is going on.  I envy that parent at that point and wish my kids could each have my undivided attention, but I am lucky if I can keep them all in one area of the park for long enough to kick my shoes off!  Just when Mitchell has decided we are playing trucks in the sandbox, Ben needs a push on the swing and Jack has crawled off and gotten himself stuck under the slide again!  "One child mommy" does not have this problem, but she also doesn't have the ability to sit back and let the kids entertain themselves and feel the pride and satisfaction that brings.  I suppose there are some children out there who don't need a playmate and who easily entertain themselves, but not many I'd bet.  Just when I start feeling badly that each of my boys could use a bit more of my time, I see them band together and have so much fun doing it!  So while I do envy "one child mommy" occasionally, most of the time I feel so blessed to have my two older boys so close in age and so happy with each other!  A lot more would be required of me as a playmate had Mitchell not come around when he did!