January Days

Health has seemingly returned to the house (knock on wood).  No longer rushing out the door to the doctor or hospital, or lying in front of the television with sick kids, a sense of calm and normalcy has settled over the house (knock on wood).  January also signaled a return to preschool.  Hooray hooray!  I can finally relax a little and take a breath.

The kids seem to be enjoying the new calm and getting back into the routine.  I do not know if I have ever appreciated routine as much as I do now.  It helps that Robin has decided to settle into a more predictable sleeping/eating routine and is generally easy to put down to sleep (knock on wood one more time).  The past few days have been especially enjoyable.

The return of routine has meant a return to Linus being required to earn his screen time.  He's been working in his workbook, taking care of his responsibilities, practicing learning to read, and reading books with me. He does not even question this, but just goes about checking stuff off the list.  Eileen has started working in her own workbooks.  As long as I keep them at separate tables, it is all so so nice.  One of my favorites is the requirement that he play with Eileen.

Playing Moses' Ark.  Linus has apparently confused him with Noah. Whoops. Better get on that.

The forced playtime really changes their dynamic and he often keeps playing long after the requirement has been fulfilled.  I've caught them being clams sent in the mail, having dog races, and Eileen riding Linus around the house.  Right now they are really into creating things out of blankets and pillows.  None of it involves me.  It's great.

reading Larf, a new favorite

Linus refuses to go into the basement by himself where his Legos and Playmobil reside.  He is generally content to just play with Eileen's Duplos.

Robin is teething like crazy and is starting to enjoy playing with toys.

Eileen loves to get on the floor and play with Robin.  She frequently "wrestles" with him.

Linus won't let me snap a picture of Robin without jumping into the shot.

Robin is still the cutest baby in existence.

Just look at those eyes and lips!

My friend, Heather, sent the kids a "My Giant Busy Box" for Christmas.  It has been a big hit.  Eileen asks to do a project from it every day.  I love the box because it comes with everything you need and the kids can do the bulk of it with very little assistance from me.

making puppets

Right now I'm just waiting for everything to go crazy once again.  In the meantime I am relishing the quality time I am getting with the kids and the peace that comes from the television being off.  I'm sure since I just said all this that tomorrow everything will go to pot.  At least I will have it documented so I can look back on these times when I am ready to throw in the towel or we are hit by the next plague.  I know our doctor must be missing us.  It's been a whole week.