Curiosities
As I was on my hands and knees on Friday scrubbing the carpet in Hugh's room, it occurred to me that I might be paying for this sunny child-free week away in advance, karmically speaking.
Let me start at the beginning:
Friday, as you may know and/or have experienced, was Winter Storm Day here in Eastern Ontario, meaning that I received a phone call at 7:15am letting me know that the daycare and school were closed because of the weather. Luckily, I already had the day off, having planned to use the free time for vacation shopping, a haircut, and coffee with a friend. Those plans changed pretty quickly as it became clear I would be at home with the kids for the day.
My stylist was still working, though, so I found a neighbourhood teenager (the daughter of my bellydancing teacher, to be exact) who was willing to come over and watch the kids while I went out for an hour for a pre-vacation haircut. (We had never had her sit for us before, so I was unwilling to stay out longer than necessary in case anything happened; also, she's only thirteen, and though she was great, that still seems very young for a long babysitting stint.) In order to make her life easy, I decided to put Hugh down for his nap while she was here, so she'd only have Neva to deal with.
Of course, that was the day that Hugh decided to really hone his problem-solving skills. He moved the newly-purchased box of diapers over to his dresser, reached up high to retrieve the Penaten diaper cream, and proceeded to fingerpaint his carpet, his clothes, and anything else he could find with said cream. For those of you without children, Penaten cream is basically Zinc Oxide, a wonderful, waterproof barrier between skin and diaper contents. "Waterproof" is the operative word here: I can tell you right now it is not easy to remove from carpet.
Our lovely babysitter was great, and felt awful about the whole carpet incident, but it would have just as easily happened if I or Jeffy had been the ones at home: if all was quiet upstairs, we would have assumed slumber, not diaper-cream-artistry. In any case, she said she "loved kids" and was happy to stay and entertain Neva for another hour while I tackled the carpet (with hot water and wool wash, as per a Google search about how to remove such a stain).
During the good hour I spent scrubbing the carpet (while Hugh, finally tired, napped blissfully on the floor beside me), I realized that this was the second unexpected day at home with the kids I'd had this week, the first being when Neva was home with the flu on Monday. I guess the universe was just letting me know that I had to make up for the 7 child-free days I'm looking forward to later this week.
Hugh is right at that stage where his curiosity is overpowering his impulse control, and where he is testing his limits. Today, for example, he napped for a very short period of time, and once he was up, he made a little tour of the upstairs. He went in to Neva's room and "inventoried" her toys (read: pulled the majority off her shelves and on to the floor); he went in to our room and "helped" us with the crossword puzzle we'd been working on bit by bit (notice the past tense) by adding his own artistic input. During the day, he's just been wanting to participate in everything, age-appropriate or not.
He's not being malicious or destructive; he's just curious, which is a quality Jeffy and I both want for our children and which we foster in them. We try to provide them with a safe environment that they can explore in their own way. The rule at our house is basically, if the kids can access it, they're allowed to access it. There are a few exceptions, of course, but that's generally how we work. We believe it's our job to make their environment safe, and to not put them in a position where the temptation to "get in to things" would end up with them "getting in trouble." This is the reason our computer and sewing machine and treadmill are barricaded off in the basement: we don't want them erasing our files by accident or getting hurt on the machinery.
Up until now, Hugh has been the less-curious of our kids. Neva was an explorer from day one; Hugh hasn't been interested in the cupboards, say, or the garbage, in the same way she was at his age. But it seems like he's starting to make up for lost time. I'm glad this curiosity is showing up now; I believe curiosity and wonder about the world are among the most important things a person can have. Sometimes it's just a little tiring to be the parent of two wonderfully curious kids.
Let me start at the beginning:
Friday, as you may know and/or have experienced, was Winter Storm Day here in Eastern Ontario, meaning that I received a phone call at 7:15am letting me know that the daycare and school were closed because of the weather. Luckily, I already had the day off, having planned to use the free time for vacation shopping, a haircut, and coffee with a friend. Those plans changed pretty quickly as it became clear I would be at home with the kids for the day.
My stylist was still working, though, so I found a neighbourhood teenager (the daughter of my bellydancing teacher, to be exact) who was willing to come over and watch the kids while I went out for an hour for a pre-vacation haircut. (We had never had her sit for us before, so I was unwilling to stay out longer than necessary in case anything happened; also, she's only thirteen, and though she was great, that still seems very young for a long babysitting stint.) In order to make her life easy, I decided to put Hugh down for his nap while she was here, so she'd only have Neva to deal with.
Of course, that was the day that Hugh decided to really hone his problem-solving skills. He moved the newly-purchased box of diapers over to his dresser, reached up high to retrieve the Penaten diaper cream, and proceeded to fingerpaint his carpet, his clothes, and anything else he could find with said cream. For those of you without children, Penaten cream is basically Zinc Oxide, a wonderful, waterproof barrier between skin and diaper contents. "Waterproof" is the operative word here: I can tell you right now it is not easy to remove from carpet.
Our lovely babysitter was great, and felt awful about the whole carpet incident, but it would have just as easily happened if I or Jeffy had been the ones at home: if all was quiet upstairs, we would have assumed slumber, not diaper-cream-artistry. In any case, she said she "loved kids" and was happy to stay and entertain Neva for another hour while I tackled the carpet (with hot water and wool wash, as per a Google search about how to remove such a stain).
During the good hour I spent scrubbing the carpet (while Hugh, finally tired, napped blissfully on the floor beside me), I realized that this was the second unexpected day at home with the kids I'd had this week, the first being when Neva was home with the flu on Monday. I guess the universe was just letting me know that I had to make up for the 7 child-free days I'm looking forward to later this week.
Hugh is right at that stage where his curiosity is overpowering his impulse control, and where he is testing his limits. Today, for example, he napped for a very short period of time, and once he was up, he made a little tour of the upstairs. He went in to Neva's room and "inventoried" her toys (read: pulled the majority off her shelves and on to the floor); he went in to our room and "helped" us with the crossword puzzle we'd been working on bit by bit (notice the past tense) by adding his own artistic input. During the day, he's just been wanting to participate in everything, age-appropriate or not.
He's not being malicious or destructive; he's just curious, which is a quality Jeffy and I both want for our children and which we foster in them. We try to provide them with a safe environment that they can explore in their own way. The rule at our house is basically, if the kids can access it, they're allowed to access it. There are a few exceptions, of course, but that's generally how we work. We believe it's our job to make their environment safe, and to not put them in a position where the temptation to "get in to things" would end up with them "getting in trouble." This is the reason our computer and sewing machine and treadmill are barricaded off in the basement: we don't want them erasing our files by accident or getting hurt on the machinery.
Up until now, Hugh has been the less-curious of our kids. Neva was an explorer from day one; Hugh hasn't been interested in the cupboards, say, or the garbage, in the same way she was at his age. But it seems like he's starting to make up for lost time. I'm glad this curiosity is showing up now; I believe curiosity and wonder about the world are among the most important things a person can have. Sometimes it's just a little tiring to be the parent of two wonderfully curious kids.
| posted at 7:11 PM |
