Hunt Family Connection

Lunch Date

We were off from work last Thursday for Veteren's Day, and on Friday too for a furlough day (furlough day = days we are forced to be off because of budget cuts). On Thursday Wil and I did some work on the old house (for those that are keeping track, it's still not sold - we are lowering the price again and hosting an open house this weekend). On Friday though, I made a lunch date with my son :) It is rare that I get to spend time with Graham alone, so I wanted to make a point of setting up an activity just for us. 

I picked him up for lunch - he picked Red Robin. I brought a toy catalog for him to look through while we waited for our food and he was more than happy to point out all of the things he needed. I also encouraged him to look for some things that Eleanor would like too.

We had a nice lunch together, though he was a little bit distracted by a HUGE table of high school aged girls sitting right next to us....

Of course after lunch we had to go check out the video game - it's a car one so he just likes to sit there and pretend to play. He also got a treat from one of those coin machine thingys...a tiny little LED flashlight that he was pretty excited about. It was nice to spend some alone time with him and I'll definitely be trying to do it more often :)

Graham Goes Swimming

(Guest writer: Daddy)

"I can't wait to go swimming, Daddy!"

"I'm so excited to go swimming!"

I arrived at Sabrina's house this morning to pick up Graham for his swimming lessons, and that's pretty much what I heard for the next half hour or so before the swim lessons started.  (Well, there was one, "Daddy!  I missed you!" when I first arrived.  That was a great emotional lift in these stressful days.)  But Graham was *so* excited about swimming lessons.  It was incredibly fun to talk to him about it on the way to the Sheldon Pool.

Daddy was surprised when we got there, though.  Apparently parents don't get to participate.  In fact, we're not really even supposed to be in the pool area at all.  The pamphlet they gave out said they wanted the kids to participate without the distraction of their parents... which makes sense.  I can totally see the mental image of 15 over-protective parents squealing at the side of the pool.  They do allow us to be there (down by the pool) for the first and last lessons, though; but when I asked Graham if he wanted me to stay down there with him he said, "No, Daddy.  I'm Ok alone."  He's trying so hard to be a big boy.

There are only three kids in his lesson group.  (In fact, he was the only kid in his original time slot, so they moved into this one... what a huge group, right?!)  I'm pretty sure he is the youngest of the three.  From my vantage up top it looked as though he was sometimes having trouble following directions, but he was definitely just as brave as the two girls.  And he didn't break down crying like one girl did.  I felt  bad for both the crying girl and the instructor.  I'm sure they're trained what to do with that situation, but I know I'd be at a total loss.  Graham did bite his lip toward the end, so they had to take him out of the pool a minute before the lesson was supposed to end, but he was really good about it.

As a slightly amusing note... the instructor, a girl named Chelsea, seemed to be pretty good with the kids, but apparently reading names isn't her strong point.  When it was time to collect the kids she came over and asked, "Are you 'Gray-hamm?' "  Graham didn't even realize she was talking to him.  I tried to tactfully use his name (correctly pronounced!) in front of her a few times, but she wasn't taking the hint, so I had to tell her.  It's Graham... like the cracker.

Bleepin' teachers these days... don't they teach our kids anything?  Oh wait... I'm a teacher... Doh!

So that was day one of swimming lessons.  Graham did great, and Daddy had to (got to?) sit up in the balcony area and read the Eugene Weekly while he did his thing.  I tried to watch, but you can only watch the same activity over and over again so many times.  Oh, the first thing they did was pretty cool.  Chelsea poured water over the kids' heads to get them used to being wet.  Graham was a little unsure at first, but he did fine.  Then after that she let the kids pour water on her.  Turn about is fair play, and Graham loved doing that!

Yay for swimming.  Graham and I are both excited about going back for round two tomorrow morning.

What a difference it makes...

....to be in my house for just one night and morning without my kids. Now I do love them and have no desire to trade them in - I really can't imagine a life without them. But with that said, one night and morning in my house without them can make all the difference in the world for my sanity, sleep, and self care.

Here are a few things that stood out when E and G spent the night with Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery on Monday night:

1. When I got home I put my things down and went to lay down for a few minutes before doing anything else - it was sooo quiet!
2. I went to Target all by myself, without having to check in with anyone about going and leaving kids or taking one and leaving the other to divide and conquer - I just went, got what I needed, and came back home to that same quiet house (and everything got put away right away 'cause I didn't have any other little people needs to attend to!)
3. I got two loads of laundry done - laundry is a pretty easy task, especially when you don't have a little person asking to "help" move the clothes from the washer to dryer or pull out clothes that are already folded and ready to go upstairs. It was nice to feel like I got something household-related done without feeling like I had to put forth too much effort.
4. I was able to set out some death traps to address the ant problem we've been having without worrying about poisoning our children in the process - thank you TERRO :)
5. When Wil got home we decided to go out for a drink and a bite to eat - just on a whim - because we could!
6. I watched How I Met Your Mother last night....from the very beginning because I didn't have to worry about doing anyone else's bedtime but my own and I had more than enough time to do a couple of chores before crawling in to bed to watch.
7. I can't say that I slept straight through the night, but when I woke up it was only long enough to remember that the kids weren't here and I didn't have to get up - yay!
8. I stayed in bed a bit longer than usual this morning - everything was so quiet and peaceful!
9. When I finally did get up I only had to get myself ready - what a luxury...I did miss my breakfast buddy a little bit though - Graham and I like to eat together in the morning :)
10. I finished up folding the laundry and got that all taken care of before heading to work - won't have to worry about it at all tonight.
11. I walked out to the car with only my stuff - it only took one trip! No one to carry out to the car, no one to buckle in, no daycare bag to pack and haul out to the car....I felt like I was forgetting something....

They may seem like small, silly things...but they all add up to a very refreshing evening and morning. I came to work feeling like I could take on the world and have been super-productive this morning. I wouldn't trade my mom-status for anything in the world, but it is awesome to have a little break from it every now and again. I know that I'm very lucky to have those breaks available to me - not everyone does...