jammie drive

a couple of things that have learned over the last five years of being a parent.
rule one- you can’t make them eat.
rule two - you can’t make them sleep.
rule three- never ever wake a sleeping child.

i have already confessed my love of men in carharts and a quiet morning to myself with a cup of joe. here’s another confession: a sleeping child is a beautiful child.

when ruby was a baby , she went through some tough times going to sleep. i rocked her,sang to her, read to her and walked her down the alleys of my neighborhood. she slept when she wanted , not when i wanted. ( note: i thought i had it bad until hazel came along and then i REALLY found out how bad it can get.)

one day i discovered the nap inducing quality of the car. i had heard that the car was a great place encourage sleep but was late to discover that yes it actually worked to lull the little angel to a deep restful nap. i was coming home from doing errands, it was quiet all of the sudden. i peeked at ruby in the kiddie mirror and there she was, fast asleep.

well it didn’t take me long to see that if all else failed, a little car trip would almost always send her into the land of slumber. and so began the jammie drive. it goes like this, place child in car with blanket or bunnie or current object of affection. give child warm milk to drink. drive car along predetermined route. when child is asleep , drive for 5 more minutes- just to be sure. on arrival to home, prop open front door. carry child in to bed. cover. softly close door. nap time commences and usually lasts about an hour.

i use it rarely these days since ruby no longer naps and hazel does not seem to need it for naps. but when she does,a jammie drive is a beautiful thing.

Two Kids

Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it’s easy. Yesterday was easy.

I worked the night before and although it was busy, it was not busy enough for me to need a nap. I arrived home to an empty house as both girls were at school. Ahhh, coffee in peace. Time to work on some projects.

Hazel was sporting the leopard dress ( big surprise) when I picked her up at preschool. She had had a lovely morning cutting and pasting and playing with the zoo animals, who were lined up in order of size and species . She sang me a few songs in the car on the way home. (Her current favorite is “ Falling Slowly” from the movie “Once”.) Fell asleep and woke up cheerful and happy.

Off we went to get Ruby from school . As I have mentioned in the past , Ruby LOVES school. Yesterday was another great day learning new Chinese characters .

After homework was done ( yep they do have homework in the big K) There was a break in the clouds so on went the rain suits and off we went on a puddle stompin’ walk. It has been a brutal winter thus far, with buckets of rain most days. Since we have been here a few years now, I know where all the big puddles collect. We spent an hour walking and splashing in the winter late afternoon light.

They entertained themselves with a tea party for Blue Bunny while rustled up some dinner. (Thank you Trader Joe). After dinner it was books and bed. Ruby has a ritual at night of asking me to come and kiss her and check on her after Hazel is asleep. It has evolved into quite an elaborate dialog.
“Mama will you come check on me after Hazel is asleep?”
“Yes Ruby.”
“And you’ll never ever ever forget?”
“I’ll never ever ever forget.”

I’ll never ever ever forget that I am Mama to two sweet girls from China. Some days are hard, some days are easy, but most days are good.