Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Independent Play

Owen had a good evening tonight. Not earth shattering news, but important because Scott's been working late it was a much needed relief on my end. Last night I made the mistake of trying to make a quick grocery store stop on the way home from daycare and that pretty much trashed our evening. Owen threw a total fit because I wouldn't let him unwrap and smash his fingers into the sticks of butter. At least the guy checking out next to me said, "rough night for mom" in a sympathetic tone instead of giving me the "can't you control your kid" evil eye.

Tonight was a different story. It probably helped that I didn't hit try to run errands during the witching hour (see, I'm learning) and we took a field trip to the mailbox instead - that kid loves the mail! Owen even played independently for 15 minutes(!) after his dinner without needing any prompting or focus from me. I made my dinner and got a little work-work started in the time before Owen went to bed. Normally, he needs one of us to be sitting within arm distance for him to stay focused on a given task. (And sitting on the couch doesn't cut it - you have to be paying attention.) I suppose I should cherish the fact that he wants us to be close all the time, but I keep hoping for the day when he can play downstairs while I'm working upstairs. I fear that day is A... LONG... WAY... OFF.


On a separate note, I would like to publicly say how much I love the DVR that I resisted getting for so long. Scott finally got home, and we are now sitting on the couch watching last night's Heros episode while recording Biggest Loser. We'll watch the interesting parts of that 2 hour show in just 30 minutes before we go to bed. Beautiful. =)


Okay, I take that back, Owen does have times when he can play independently without one of us in the room, but usually this is what happens:
Think good thoughts for Scott. He's been working late on a bids for new projects and they really need to win this one tomorrow...

4 comments:

Kim said...

I hear ya! Slowly but surely, Elsie is getting more independent and is able to find things to keep her busy for bits of time. She still loves for me to be watching her and playing with her...and, yes, it must be right next to her on the floor.

DVR is the greatest invention ever. We haven't watched a show live in forever. I can't handle it! Don't you love that you can FF through all the fluff and commercials?! It makes me feel not so guilty for having so many shows!

Colleen said...

Exactly! Those are the kinds of things that entertain for nice long periods of time, but is the clean up worth it? Sometimes yes! How funny!
And I agree, a DVR is kind of like a cell phone. You are ok not having one...until you get one...then you can never go back! I get so frustrated now when I have to watch commercials!

Anonymous said...

This picture takes me back 27 years to a little girl named Alissa and a little boy named Collin. One afternoon they were playing with a large box of squiggles in our lower level and having a wonderful time. From upstairs I could hear the squeals of laughter and was happy they were having such a good time. Little did I know they were running back and forth through all the squiggles and now our brown carpet was white with little pieces of squiggles. At the time it seemed a pain and one more thing to clean up but now I wish I had that little girl, little boy and white squiggles back in my lower level. Take time to enjoy all these little moments.
Like Mother, Like Son? Collin's turn is coming.
This Blog is GREAT!
Love to the three of you,
Susan

Katie said...

It is amazing how someone so little can make such a big mess! But it is so much fun for him to make messes - he is so cute! Molly Kate plays really well now by herself but I hear that as they get older, they want more attention and more entertainment. I am sure that is not far off for us.
Be sure to stay warm!! I cannot believe that it is so cold in Bend. Maybe spring will be arriving soon. We get a few nice, cool days and them comes the heat and humidity.