My Little Card Makers

Today was my day to get the Valentine's cards done - I knew if we didn't get it done today M and E would have to go to their Valentine's Day parties at school tomorrow empty handed - and I couldn't let that happen. Apparently, I need a good mixture of fear and guilt to get anything done. So, after I got everyone dressed (and it took me a while), I got out the cards, the M&Ms, the stickers, and the red pens. I showed M what we were going to do and he got right to work. I was so impressed with how hard he was working - he carefully picked out the right card for each friend, he laboriously wrote his name on each one, he picked out the perfect sticker for each card, and he excitedly stapled packages of M&Ms to each card. (This was his first experience with a stapler, and he enjoyed it much more than anyone should ever enjoy using a stapler. I did make sure to give him the lecture about not sticking his fingers where the paper was supposed to go - I think I did that once and learned my lesson.) I didn't expect him to have so much fun making the cards, so I was pleasantly surprised to watch him work on them for over an hour! It made me feel like I should provide more craft opportunities for him, but I guess he does a lot of that at school, so maybe I'll just let them deal with the mess and headache.

T made me laugh today when he discovered how much fun it is to empty the pantry cupboard. I accidentally left the cupboard open while I was making dinner, and he spent 20 minutes investigating and rearranging the contents. Apparently he was hungry too because he helped himself to the bag of cheerios. Watching him do all that made him seem a lot older all of a sudden. It seems like he grows up in spurts - he went from being a baby to almost a toddler in a period of a week. He's really pulling up well to his knees and to his feet with a lot of effort, and tonight I saw him sit up from being flat on his back, just pushing himself up with his arms like a big kid would do.

My little E man had a pretty boring day, but he spent quite a while snuggling with me while I was reading my book (Of Mice and Men). I could tell he was tired - he must have been to just sit there with me while I read (any nice mom would get out a kid book and read to their poor child, but no, not me, I just keep on reading my book), and he proved me right by falling asleep in the car on the way home from taking M to preschool. He and T both slept the entire three hours M was at school. I don't know why they were so tired, but it was a very nice, quiet afternoon for me.

It turned out that I needed that rest because my swimming coach tried to kill me tonight. After a warm-up that was longer than the entire swim portion of my planned triathlon, he wanted to have us do 15 one hundred meter sprints (all out effort). This doesn't sound like much from a running standpoint, but swimming is very different. I was really tired after the first 50 meters, so I asked if we could alter the workout to 15 fifty meter sprints, and thankfully, he was a nice guy and let me do it that way. I am still exhausted. It took all of my remaining energy to get dressed and drive home. I think it's amazing that I can actually type right now. Therefore, I am now going to bed - before I get so tired I can't get there.