Saturday, August 3, 2013

Re-starting

I'm writing this blog to share our growth & experiences as a family. This blog address has only been sent to a handful of people as my writing will contain some personal pieces of our family life. If you are reading our family blog & wish to comment that's fine. I just ask that you remember this is writing about children that they will someday read. Any negative or hurtful comments will be immediately deleted. I would never wish for my family to be hurt (or affected) directly or indirectly from this blog in any way. Thank you.

I'm sad to say that our original family blog, "Molly's World" disappeared as our credit card expired that we were using to pay for the domain name. So basically it was our own irresponsibility & forgetfulness that caused this to happen. I'm still hopeful that we can get back everything that was written there somehow. After all, once you put something on the internet it never comes off, right?? It makes me so sad to think that all of those documented moments may be lost forever. But at the same time it motivates me to not let anymore future documentation of our family time slip away!

It's so late & baby Willow is sleeping on my chest. Pixie (the dog) is on the floor whimpering, waiting for Daddy to get home from gaming with his friends.

Today we went to a play date at my friend Julie's coffee shop. There was a mountain of girl babies there! I'd never seen such a big baby play date! I added one more girl baby to the mix & two older boys. I made a new friend & talked to many others that I've known for a while. Julie & I had a long chat after the group left. She always has wisdom & interesting thoughts to share. We drank coffee & chatted while my children climbed all over the furniture. Today she was very much a gigantic help with our decision about where to send my oldest for Kindergarten. I only wish my husband would have been there to hear her thoughts & to interject some of his own questions.

Judah was confident in saying some phrases & words he knows today. He said, "bye bye" and "all done" when I was using my phone. He wanted to play on it. Typically he only says "bye bye". Once I get ready to hand him my phone he says, "want" and then after prompted he says "bone" (phone). He repeatedly said "bye!" as Daddy carried him down the hallway to his room for bedtime. He never does that. I love his surprises. They are the best.

We are constantly outside now. Why? Because we have a DOG. We have a dog that will not go outside on her own. We have a dog that will not go down the stairs from the balcony to go potty unless myself or Scott (not even a kid!) goes down with her. Being outside a lot (before the rain season starts) is great though. The kids love it. We did a lot of running in the yard today. Judah loves being chased. He always starts the game. Willow joins in. Sebastian loves to run too. He's the only one I can't catch! I noticed yesterday when I took the kids to play at the Kids Club that Judah has gotten so much better at running. He was keeping up with the older kids! His confidence was just SOARING when we were there. He was trying to say what the other kids were saying. He played with practically everyone. All of the kids had a great time. Unfortunately I hate the Kids Club, I think most people in Salem do. They charge way too much, have a LOT of rules & don't have staff that work well with children. This is a huge place and there were only 2 other customers there the entire time we were there. It's a school as well though. During break time students play on the equipment with the customers. While we were there Willow needed a bottle. It was a little before 4pm. The only drinking/eating area there is open to students only from 4-5pm. There was no place for us to go. They allowed me to stay in the eating area, but we were soon bombarded by children & we were very much in the way. Another incident- I hear Judah screaming bloody murder in the bounce house. I find him pinned down on the bounce house floor by about 5 children (all students I think). I yell at them (mother's instinct), "Get off of him!!" At this point the staff decides to come over & ask me what is going on. I tell her. She gently tells two of them as they are exiting the bounce house that they are not supposed to get on top of people. This is all she tells them. She does not make them apologize or give them any kind of consequence or give them any opportunity to learn that what they did was very wrong & dangerous. Basically they have no reason not to do it again. I was so upset I was holding back tears. Five minutes later Judah was running & having the time of his life, so we stayed. Otherwise I would have left immediately. Had I left immediately Judah would have screamed & fought the whole way home about having to leave, which of course was not at all his fault. It would not have been fair to him. I think my mommy friends & I should get together, bring in all of our toys, bikes, slides, etc. and rent out a building. We could charge a very cheap amount for parents to bring their kids to play in a secure environment, out of the Oregon rain & out of the summer heat. It would be a place where parents could relax & kids could play. The Kids Club used to be something similar to this idea. Unfortunately now they have gone in a terrible direction. Most of my friends will not set foot in there. It's so discouraging that someplace my kids enjoy so much is not a place we can go anymore. Judah in particular is usually happier than I ever see him when we are there. It's upsetting that we can't go anymore, but at the same time it motivates me to find more places they will love & Judah will thrive at just as much.

Today was exhausting, emotionally & physically. I'm hoping hard for a beautiful, happy weekend & wishing you all one as well!

 

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