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one fun thing
Jun. 22nd, 2014 08:50 pmKnowing my natural inclination to follow the 2nd law of thermodynamics (that is the one, right? The one where a body at rest tends to stay at rest?), and that if I don't make an effort to get out and DO things, the weekend can pass by in a blissful haze of lounging, reading, and onomastics, I made a pact with myself when Gwen started getting old enough to care to try to do one fun thing each weekend (or holiday) that we were home/not traveling, something that I would normally consider too much work/effort/hassle to do, because otherwise we would just spend our days at home, indoors.
I've done pretty well keeping to this pact, it spurs me on to say "yes" when she wants to go outside and play in the sandpit, even though I know that it means I'll get nothing done all morning except sitting and reading (Note: This is not a bad thing. It's just, some weekends, I wouldn't mind getting something more done than reading); or to pack up all the sand toys AND let her ride her bike out to the park, even though it, again, means I don't get anything done, AND I may face the possibility of having to haul the sand toys, the bike, AND her home under my arm if she doesn't come nicely (I'm getting better at timing the leaving for home so that this doesn't happen). Thursday, I used One Fun Thing (hereafter: OFT) as an excuse to bake a cake. I was having a rough day (I'd only realized it was a holiday around lunch time the day before -- better than the previous Thursday holiday, but it still messes up my mental schedule when I'm trying to get things done during the week), and decided I really wanted cake. But Gwen is often more "help" than help, and so ordinarily I'd've not gone through the effort. But OFT encouraged me to go ahead, and it was definitely a hit. Gwen kept telling us, and has continued to tell us, "We bake a cake!", and singing "Backe Backe Kuchen!", since then. Yesterday, she went so far as to inform me that I helped her bake a cake. Hah!
Today, I decided to swallow my dislike of things that create messes, and in the spirit of OFT offered to her in the morning the opportunity to paint. I got out the glittery water colors that mom gave her for Christmas, and she painted for about 40 minutes this morning. Then again after supper she wanted to paint again -- this time, a picture for Auntie![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zmiya_san. Since painting is, at this point, still a full-body matter, we simply skip upper body clothes altogether (and since while we were at the park this afternoon she asked if it could be bath night again, we went into the painting with the assumption that there would likely be a bath afterwards). And I got out the camera and took photo after photo of impossible beauty:
I've done pretty well keeping to this pact, it spurs me on to say "yes" when she wants to go outside and play in the sandpit, even though I know that it means I'll get nothing done all morning except sitting and reading (Note: This is not a bad thing. It's just, some weekends, I wouldn't mind getting something more done than reading); or to pack up all the sand toys AND let her ride her bike out to the park, even though it, again, means I don't get anything done, AND I may face the possibility of having to haul the sand toys, the bike, AND her home under my arm if she doesn't come nicely (I'm getting better at timing the leaving for home so that this doesn't happen). Thursday, I used One Fun Thing (hereafter: OFT) as an excuse to bake a cake. I was having a rough day (I'd only realized it was a holiday around lunch time the day before -- better than the previous Thursday holiday, but it still messes up my mental schedule when I'm trying to get things done during the week), and decided I really wanted cake. But Gwen is often more "help" than help, and so ordinarily I'd've not gone through the effort. But OFT encouraged me to go ahead, and it was definitely a hit. Gwen kept telling us, and has continued to tell us, "We bake a cake!", and singing "Backe Backe Kuchen!", since then. Yesterday, she went so far as to inform me that I helped her bake a cake. Hah!
Today, I decided to swallow my dislike of things that create messes, and in the spirit of OFT offered to her in the morning the opportunity to paint. I got out the glittery water colors that mom gave her for Christmas, and she painted for about 40 minutes this morning. Then again after supper she wanted to paint again -- this time, a picture for Auntie
zmiya_san. Since painting is, at this point, still a full-body matter, we simply skip upper body clothes altogether (and since while we were at the park this afternoon she asked if it could be bath night again, we went into the painting with the assumption that there would likely be a bath afterwards). And I got out the camera and took photo after photo of impossible beauty:
