My kiddies are very well attached, indeed, and love to be cuddled. Emma pretty much demands to be held every morning upon waking, and she loves the closeness. Since having Daniel, poor girl has had to do with reduced cuddle time, since baby has to be fed, changed, etc. She is actually pretty lucky that Daniel is a very low-demands boy, and is content enough to sit in his swing watching Emma jumping on me.
In the mornings, our routine is something like this: I wake up and exercise until about 7:30, then I come home, and usually find Emma just awake. I cuddle her, take off her diaper, give her a bath, brush her teeth, brush her hair, breakfast, etc, and we sit in our rocking chair and read a book (lately Clifford or Llama Llama). Then Daniel wakes up, and he gets changed, a bath, fed, and then I hold them one on each knee and we read some more, or we do crafts. At 11 we leave the house, as lately she has had a daily "camp" activity like soccer, gymnastics, pool, etc (gymnastics around here comes for only one week, but it is daily for one hour and they call it gymnastics camp). If the camp is done, then we go to the park and are just as wise.
Emma is growing into a confident, beautiful girl. I love spending time with her. I have decided that I am not putting her in preschool, because she is already going to daycare for five hours daily when I work, and I simply don't want her away from me for a further two hours. I don't care what the learning opportunities that she is missing out on might be, it is way too much for this momma and child dyad. And, honestly, if I were not working, I would for sure homeschool for a few years as well.
I have had the opportunity to observe mother-child interactions at all these summer camps that we went to. Some of the mothers were more involved than others (and I don't mean helicopter style at all times, but watching the kid, encouraging, talking them through difficult times, etc), and those were the kids that I found were thriving. They stood out as more confident, just for knowing that their mothers were there and had their backs. Something good happens when the mother or father are close by, and get involved. I want that so much for my kids.
I have read a wonderful book, Hold on to your kids, and the book has actually reinforced for me this concept that the kid needs me more than she needs friends or peers at this stage. Emma plays a lot with other children, especially now that it is summertime, and she does very well with them, but I try not to let her hang out all day long without supervision, and both her and the neighbour's kids do better when one of the mothers is there to remind them to be gentle, be kind, share, etc. It takes a long time to teach a kid how to be civilized, and the more time I spend with her, the better our chances :).
I would love to hear from any mothers out there who plan on homeschooling, and in particular if working part time and home schooling. Is it working? What are the drawbacks (and the high points too)?
Here are some pictures from her third b-day party, and from our recent day trip to Summit Lake in the mountains.
They are beautiful. A good decision to keep her home with you!
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