On the run

Every morning and afternoon, Kate and I go out on trips. Sometimes we have a specific purpose, other times we are just going out to see what fun we can find in the world. I can't see any reason to just sit around our house. There is fun out there, and Kate and I will find it.

But, occasionally, we do need to be at home - a contractor's coming over, I have a commitment that forces us to stay in for a while, etc. It doesn't seem noteworthy enough to mention to Kate, "Hey, this afternoon, we're just going to hang out at the house," but I am starting to see that she may need that type of notice.

The other day after her nap I had a painter coming over at 4:30 so I was just sitting on the couch. She put on her shoes, stood at the door and said, "Come on, Mommy. Let's go. We need to go on a trip. Let's go to the mall." I casually said, "We're just going to hang out here," to which she replied, "No, we need to go on a trip. How about Target? Or even Home Depot?" I've not only trained her that we need to always be on the go, but also that there is a hierarchy of places we can visit. When the mall isn't an option, we settle for Target, or even Home Depot when we are desperate.

This is just more data to support that Kate needs to be in preschool when Ellie gets here. Kate needs to be out in the world, having fun, burning energy, while Ellie and I are getting some sleep. Clearly a priority we are going to need to invest behind for everyone's sanity :)

Alli said - I was just remembering that I used to be on the go a lot more with just Andrew. I even remember thinking "maybe I'm teaching him we always have to be going somewhere. Is that a bad thing?!" Anyway - good news: he's a 4 year old now who is perfectly content to be at home or on-the-go. No harm done. :-)