His birthday and introduction to games

Brian's birthday started with a quick visit from his mom, the weekend before his big day. Ivan enjoyed the horsey rides, we all got spoiled with gifts and eating out. It's always so good to see family. Family love is just so cool. It's extravagant and like a giant hug.

Sweetness last night occurred at the table during snacks. Ivan perceived that his sister needed her drink, so without being asked he pushed it close to her. In her sweet little voice, she said "thank-you" and he responded "you're welcome". It was so precious and natural. It made me proud of them and obliterated the memories of the numerous fights and screaming fests from the day.

Not only do 3 year olds (and less) have a short attention span, but they have difficulties following instructions. Major difficulties. I imagine up all sorts of activities for us to do during the day and often quickly discover that these are difficult task when you're learning them for the first time. Today we were trying to do a relay race and it was so comical. I made the mistake of using a ball instead of a baton, so the first instruction was "no don't throw the ball at him, hand it to him". Then I was trying to get them to sit (or at least stay put) when not running- instead, they would run to the other, throw the ball in the general direction, then proceed to run throughout the house. It was pretty much mayhem. But to me it is exciting that they will learn it eventually (hopefully in a couple of more tries), then they will have learned a new game/skill.

Musical chairs was funny. They thought it was horribly unfair that anyone would be left out- if they missed a chair. As soon as I took a chair out, they would say- but where is ...'s chair. So we had to play where everyone had a chair and just sat on it when the music stopped.

Hide and seek is inane. They hide and before I've finished counting, they are yelling "I'm here" or jumping out of their spot. If I hide- it takes them forever to find me (all 6 foot of me holding a baby and trying to keep him quiet). The 3 year olds don't have a concept of space yet and will look for me in a drawer. Then once I am found (usually with hints like me yelling- youhoo!!, they pick that same spot for their turn). That is if I'm lucky enough to be found soon. I think Caleb gets distracted with trying to look for me (since it doesn't happen in 30 secs) and I can often hear Ivan instructing him: "no Caleb, we have to look for mommy".

Next week should be more fun. It was cold and rainy this week, so we stayed indoors for the littlest one. We're going a little stir-crazy.