Keep Children Busy

Baby is four months old today. Very fat and jolly. Loves to scream, in a cute baby way. Experiments with his voice and range.


Morgan started soccer this week. He is on a great team with outstanding coaches, and a wonderful group of boys. He is thrilled that it is an all boy team as opposed to the mostly girl team I had him on two years ago...and made him stick with. Practice is two nights a week, and games are every Saturday. It will be an exhausting schedule, but worth it because he loves to play. Just what the boy needed. I never though I would say this, but he needs to be kept busy. Too much idle time is not good for my eleven year old guy. Why is this? We romanticize the notion of an idle childhood versus the hurried child, but kids, at his age especially, need either a lot of work responsibility in the home or to be kept busy with sports, music & lessons. Summers and weekends can be more luxurious and lazy, but we all need to feel productive, useful, filled with a sense of purpose. Once kids are a certain age they just need more.

Opal, at seven, needs more down time to flit about, dream, and write her stories. She is still in the world of play. It is a lovely place to be, but it doesn't last forever.

It will be a busy day. Baby has a visit with bio-dad, brother and sister. Then his 4 Month Well-Check & immunizations. We'll pick up Opal and Morgan from school, then drop Morgan off at guitar and get Opal to her swimming lessons. She is in a new class/new level so we had to move days. We'll see how this works out. While Baby is at his visit I will run errands: grocery store, post office, thrift store,still looking for a cast iron griddle! Then off to the library and free wi-fi to put in an hour or so of paid work.

It is a beautiful day. Sunny, but cold. My fingers were freezing through the gloves on the morning run. It has been a sad week of running for me. McKinley just can't keep up anymore, so I walk him, then Sugar and I head out for a brisk jog. Ki is almost 10 and he is such a big guy. Those hips just get too sore. He is napping on the couch while I type. I think he is still pretty pleased with life. Letting go of the run will be okay.