I caved to my slackery impulses, and now it's almost 11 and I find myself tired.
Tonight, Jen was off being involved in business school - she explained the event to me, but it was definitely over my head - so I took care of the kids all by myself, for two whole hours. Since there are two of them, that equates to 4 total man-hours of kid care (right? that math checks out). We had some good times, we had some bad times. Mostly good. And while I do hate to point fingers, 100% of the bad times came from Lily, which is fun to write, because I can only imagine her reading this in the future and the indignancy she will glean from it.
Our marquee event for the evening was playing a bit of footy. Tonight was not the first time I'd shown them the proper way to kick a ball, but it was the first time they sustained any lasting interest in the task. *Kick* "Yaaaaay!" Repeat. They both took a handful of turns whaling on the ball, launching it a good 18 inches with every kick. Not bad for their weenie little legs. Towards the end, Abby just tried to step on the ball, which at first blush might seem like a regression; however, as all good players know, being able to step on the ball to control its motion is a building block skill.
As fun as the kicking was, I am continually flummoxed by the task of trying to set up the girls to do something together. My quality of life would leap into the stratosphere if only I could set them onto a fun activity they could do in tandem: kick a ball, toss a ball, chase each other, wrestle, play Scrabble, whatever. Their steadfast refusal to understand that they have a fantastic playmate in each other continues unabated. After they both showed interest in kicking the ball tonight, I tried to place them apart from each other and show them that I need not be part of the equation (not that I didn't want to be, of course; just trying to increase the interaction). It didn't work, not for one kick. I think Abby just grabbed the ball and ran, which required some on-the-spot mollification when accusations of thievery began to fly.
Day two hundred and seventy three.
It's ok, kids that age don't really play with each other. They're busy doing "side-by-side" play. But, do they know how to say "quay?" And what American does?
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