A day of babysitting...

Josiah, Emily, Ana, and Tracie watching the Strawberry Shortcake movie


Alaina and Melina playing blocks together

My friend, Beth, had surgery on her shoulder today, so we had 2 extra friends to play with today. My littles were so excited. We spent the day playing in the playroom, doing arts and crafts, playing outside on the trampoline (Ana's favorite) and on the swingset, watching Strawberry Shortcake during quiet/nap time which was also Ana's choice, and then we played with play-doh and with the legos. The day went really well and I was thinking to myself how having 7 kids here really wasn't that hard. Then the fussy hour happened around 4:30 and everyone got fussy, bored, and whiny. Dinner helped a little bit and then they played in the playroom and started getting really hyper and they all (well except for Alaina and Melina) earned a time out for not listening and running and jumping on the furniture and so they were mad at me. But that was really the only hard part of the day. Everything else went smoothly. Josiah had a hard time listening all day and kept hitting his sisters and so he earned a lot of time outs and Tracie kept thinking that Alaina was a baby like Melina and kept trying to pick her up and move her which had her in the time out spot a few times, but overall I really enjoyed having them and the kids all had fun. I did realize too that my kids have missed out on a ton of playdates and we need to start doing those. My kids have gotten a lot better around other kids, but the more they play with others the more they will learn. Josiah gets so excited that he gets loud and doesn't always remember about others personal spaces and Emma gets bossy and Tracie just wants to nurture everyone, but she needs to learn that her hands need to stay to herself and that others don't need her picking them up and so forth either. I told Andy that I think this summer is going to mark the end of therapy. They have come so far and are almost caught up anyway. Tracie will probably continue therapy a little while longer as she needs it, but I think Josiah is safe to end at the end of summer. His OT said he's pretty much caught up anyway...just a little behind...but it's his behaviors that are keeping him having to stay in it. I told Andy that I'm ready to just let them be kids and be able to go forward with other things. I want to see them be able to play with their friends, not be prohibited by therapy schedules running when and if we're able to do things. So, not only was today good for the kids, it was good for me too as it allowed me to see some things as well.