Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Somedays You Stumble Into Parenting Genius

Re-entry after a long weekend away is always difficult. There's the grocery shopping that needs to be done, the laundry, the unpacking, the mess you left as you ran out the door, the fridge to clean out of last week's leftovers, the constant "where's Grandma/Nana/et al" questions...Not to mention the time it takes peanut's "system" to get back on track after all the junk we eat on the road and the crankiness that ensues when he realizes it's just me and him today - not a cadre of relatives to entertain him.

This morning, however, has been a good morning. (And as I type this, I fear what the afternoon will bring since I've written it "out loud.") He slept until 8am, something he didn't do all weekend. We hit up the grocery store this morning and I graciously allowed him to ride in the race car cart (I can't even put into words how much I hate trying to maneuver that behemoth cart around the tight aisles of our grocery store, heaven forbid another parent gets suckered into it and you have to pass each other on the same aisle). Ah, sweet shopping relief. He was engaged, he was pleasant, he was more than happy to sit in that cart and help mommy with the shopping.

On the way home, peanut caught sight of the bags of hand-me-down toys a friend had given us several weeks ago. I promised him we'd bring them in so he could play with his new toys. Who knew my laziness a few weeks ago would turn into a parenting genius move today? He was more than content to explore his new finds while I carried in the groceries, cleaned out the fridge, put away the new groceries, cut up and stored the appropriate produce, emptied the full dishwasher, made quessadillas for lunch. I didn't hear a peep out of him.

And he's already made deals for which books we'll read and puzzles we'll put together after rest time. Could I have stumbled upon the greatest re-entry solution ever? New-to-you toys? If I had known that's all it took...

Now if only he'd stop banging books around his room and actually take a nap...wow, then it really would be the perfect day and I would truly be a parenting genius. Good thing I bought the ready to bake cookie dough at the store as a back-up plan.

3 comments:

Liz Jimenez said...

Hooray for a smooth re-entry! Even if it was somewhat accidental. :-)

Heather said...

Good job! Now, go get 4 big containers, divide everything he's got into them, rotate weekly, and you're pretty much guaranteed 1 decent day a week :)

Karen MEG said...

And this is one of the reasons that I resist getting at everything right away ;).

Heather has a great idea; amazing what "new" discoveries can keep them occupied...