Celebrating the small victories

For the past year I've felt guilty that I haven't gotten to do nearly as much "big girl" activies with Olivia as I've liked to. Puzzles, coloring, painting, paper dolls, that kind of stuff.

When Olivia was in her 2s and I was pregnant with Noah we used to sit for hours and do playdough or color or just pretend with stuffed animals or toys in the sand box. When Noah was born I had less time to spend doing these things with her, but I still could some.

The real change happened when Noah got mobile. When he started crawling we could still do some things on the kitchen table or on her bed or our bed. But when Noah turned one year, give or take, he could climb anywhere and that all ended. Around that time Olivia started her first year of pre-school and I felt a little less guilty that she was doing "big girl" activities in school and we were focusing on the playing outside (and watching TV) at home.

But now school is out for the summer and the guilt is back. Whenever we try to do anything with any amount of coordination someone ends up crying, either Olivia because Noah has tore it up, or Noah because I keep pulling him away from it, or me just in general.

Today was a good day though. We got out the puzzle with foamy pieces and Olivia and I kept putting it together over and over while we let Noah tear it apart. Then Noah showed up with a plastic hammer and everything clicked. Olivia and I would put the puzzle together and he would help hammer the pieces in place.

I'm sure there are much more complicated things I could be working on with Olivia this summer, but it's better than nothing.