Small Changes Challenge - 8/50

One night earlier this week, I lay in bed with Mario for nearly an hour, as we pondered the realities and possibilities of the universe. We covered everything from whether it is possible to put out the sun with water - and if so, how much is required? -  to whether the number of lives one can have is finite or infinite. Later in the week, he taught me some Tae Kwon Doe moves....

Another day, I learned that Toad finds the notion of something swimming a race to an egg (!) inside of Mommy (!!) is hil-ar-i-ous (put on your 6 yr old hat and you'll see his point!). After his giggles on this were finished, he told me that he thinks that I draw a better Wile E. Coyote, but that he draws a better Road Runner, maybe because he runs faster (which he then demonstrated). Go figure.

These moments were brought to me courtesy of my latest Small Challenge. This week, my goal was to ensure that I spent a minimum of ten minutes of one-on-one time with a son daily (alternating days for each boy).

Now, normally, at any given time, I could be curled up with one, reading with the other; colouring with one, crafting with the other; reading to them; or doing some other activity with both of them. I will work in a "Mommy & Me" outing from time to time, and, of course, one-on-one time does happen haphazardly throughout the day or week. No need for any of that to stop, either.... But, this was a challenge to myself to seek out their company daily, at a time when the other boy was occupied, allowing me to focus entirely on the "boy of the day" for a period of time. It meant I had to keep my eyes open for such an opportunity and drop my activity when I saw the moment (I didn't announce my plans or say "OK, this is your Mommy & Me time" - who wants to be "a project"?).

I told myself it would be ten minutes - because that's easy, right? I can find another ten minutes a day for my babies. You know what, though? Not one day did I spend just 10 minutes with them - it was always at least 20-30 minutes, and usually way more! Sometimes we were just hanging and having fun; other times things were more serious. And, while I don't think you can plan conversations like the ones above, I do think that making devoted time for each child increases the likelihood of them. Kids can be 100% comfortable around their siblings, but there are some things that only come out when they feel they have all your attention :-)

As you may gather, this challenge was a success - because who doesn't want to spend more time with their awesome kids? Since I started it on Monday, I am currently running 4-for-4 (mornings are too busy to work this in, afternoons and evenings work best for obvious reasons). So, I am pretty confident that, come the end of the day, I'll be 5/5 - woot - a challenge I'm actually good at first try :-)

Better yet, I can't wait to find out what activity or conversation I'll be "dragged into" next! Or the insights I'll discover! Or the cuddles I'll get! My boys ROCK!


Have a good one!