In our home we have to call in help from Nana and Mor Mor if one of us is going to be out of town for a stretch of time. Since they both live far away we do a bit of arranging to get it all set up. My mom (Mor Mor) just left, she was here for a week and she is the cooking and cleaning impressario, we joke that no-one is allowed in the kitchen when she is here. Nana (my husbands mom) is the 'playing with the kids' grandma, she can play and play for hours with the kids, she's amazing that way! But while daddy was gone for 18 days we had all the help we needed and I think it's such special time for everyone!
It's really wonderful to see what Nana comes up with for the kids, she plays all kinds of games, they go on walks in the forest, it's just endless. I wanted to write about her today because I was watching her playing with our youngest, she is 3 1/2 years old. Today, they were in the bedroom taking care of a whole pile of stuffed animals and dolls, each one had something going on and our daughter was in heaven! At lunchtime she made a little restaurant and they ordered for each other, and sat down at the kids table and ate together on the little doll house plates, the stuffed animals were all around eating in from their dishes on the floor and then, since Nana is English, they had Tea! It was all so delightfully cute, it's not like we never do this together because we do, but they carried it on for about four hours! Just simply great!
I have written about Nana before when she had Franny outside with a clothesline tied between our pots on the deck and they were 'washing' and hanging out clothes, again... they took their time and did it for hours! With our son she hides notes all over the house with pictures drawn on them and it's a little like a treasure hunt, and at the end there is usually a cookie or treat, they have such a good time.
What I am trying to get at is the simplicity of it all... it's usually the simplest thing that the kids take to, and I think that the patience and time spent in the process is wonderful. I know that it may be a rare occasion that I spend that much time on something with my kids, it seems that there is always something to do. I remember when I first started my business, I just worked at it all the time, then one day I was outside carving pumpkins with our son, it was just him at the time, and I realized... GEEZE it's so nice when you give your child 100% of your concentration and your time, and ever since that day I really try to separate the two. In these times when parents are usually both working, one maybe working from home, but usually both parents are overworked... it's essential to take very specific time and just be with your kids, playing, coloring, playing house, whatever... just something together! OR maybe we will let you borrow Nana for a day!!
