Blog? What Blog?

I tend to write blog posts in my head as I go about my daily business. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for you), I rarely have/take time to sit down and pound them out. I'd like to get back to blogging daily...if for no other reason than keeping the cobwebs blown out. That, and a lot tends to happen around here. :) My list of things I want to do is about as long as the "have to do" list every day, and that one tends to win out. I did want to share one thing, though, to keep myself honest. A little backstory, first...

We're entering the 4th week of school. The first week and a half or so, I thought I was kind of killing time until Noble started daycare a couple of weeks...but that's not going to happen. Seriously, there's a reason people stand in line overnight for this place--there's just. no. room. So, once I found that out, I was relieved (not ready for him to be in daycare again!) but sad, too, because HE is ready for more socialization, etc. That's been weighing on me, trying to find a balance for him that will work.

The first 10 or so days of school went by in a blur...and then one day I was like, OMG, what am I doing? Why don't I have some sort of schedule during the day with him? So I started taking stock of how our days were going, where our days were going. It wasn't pretty--I just wasn't spending time WITH Noble as much as just time in the same place as Noble. And he was getting very whiny and just...eww.

Here's where I want to keep myself honest: on Thursday, I started a new Bible study. While I was sitting there we were asked which part of our parenting we wanted to work on. My list was too long to go into...I need a lot of work!...but the thing that came to mind first was "routine." After going through my/our days, I'd realized that what we were doing wasn't what we NEEDED to be doing, and we'd gotten into some straight-up habits (like, no bedtime story--what was up with us?? and my personal nemesis, eating in front of the TV...which is another whole story...). I woke up Friday morning and resolved to change. The first change, which I thought I'd pretty well mastered, was to leave the laptop on my desk while Noble's awake. Turns out, when I got busy with back-to-school stuff, I'd started bringing the laptop out into the living room/dining room and I'd grab a few minutes while he...you got it!...watched TV. So turns out, I had the TV on too much. Sigh. Parenting is NOT for the weak at heart...this stuff is HARD. I almost missed the boat on Friday--I pulled out the laptop "just for a second" once I got Noble interested in some play-dough. And you know what? As soon as it came out, he got very whiny and wanted "baby-juice", which is Noblese for cuddle/nap. (See this blog post about the baby...woo hoo!) That was the wake up call that I needed, so I put the laptop away and let Ms. Kristi out to play. You know what I didn't realize until that point? Noble is 2 1/2 (as of last Wednesday!). He's almost as old as the kids I love to write curriculum for, and mentally, quite a bit older than some. My point is--he is ready for the next step...my baby is now a young preschooler. Sigh.

So, Friday we took a big step. And at the end of the day, we were both pretty darn satisified. :)

This week, my goal is to keep working toward finding the balance between my work and the work I need to do with Noble. Wish me luck! :)