As I sit here writing this, my little guy is walking around the house eating his lunch on his LAST DAY HOME before school starts. Ahhh… school. He’s looking forward to it and truthfully, so am I. Don’t get me wrong. We had an amazing summer! One of our very best since we moved to Arizona and Miles came into our lives. We actually escaped the blistering desert heat for nearly a month by visiting family and friends, relaxing on the beach and taking our first trip to Disney World. It was a very special summer where we racked up a ton of quality family time that we really needed.
But now that we’ve been back, all of us have been trying to get back in the swing of things before school starts including wake-up and go-to-bed times, (on-time) meal times, workout times and regular old playtime without spectacular attractions at every turn and a life-size Buzz and Woody who want to be your friend. (Humming… “You’ve got a friend in me…”) We’ve packed a summer-full of fun in the last couple of weeks, but now in this very last week, I’m running out of things to do and we both need school!
Take for instance this morning, my husband was getting ready to go out of town for work. I was helping him pack, so we let our son watch TV. THREE HOURS LATER (It was Word World on PBS, so don’t judge me too much) I finally told my son, “We need to turn off the TV now.” He was completely OK with that, but he asked if we could do a craft. “Of course!” I said…because I felt guilty about the 3 hours in front of the tube. But in the back of my mind, I was dreading it and rightly so. In exactly 10 minutes, here’s what we had…
Doesn’t look too bad, right? Notice the clear glue. I’m pretty sure all of the googly eyes are attached to that table and a few pipe cleaners as well. Yes, in just 10 minutes he was done with his “craft” and on to the next thing. That’s what summer is for us Arizona moms sometimes. Stack up just a few of these 10 minute indoor activities a day and you get an endless supply of extra messes to clean-up. Sure, it’s fun when you’re in the midst of the glue and the paper and crayons and the markers and the scissors, but there’s always a price to pay for that fun. Kinda like college.
All this to say, I’m looking forward to the start of school.
Still, I am reminded that no matter the season, I need to take it all in, the good and the bad every day… especially the messes… because soon only photos will be scattered around my house to remind me of the child who once made them.
I hope all of you know that this post was in jest with a little bit of truth to it. Now I need to go and clean-up a pile of Legos, plus pieces from half a dozen games, crafts, books… and last but not least, a toilet paper racetrack.
I hope he had a great first day!! It’s so true.. my girl has probably watched way more TV this summer than she should have 🙁 But it’s hard to keep them busy when you are stuck inside all day!