Busy Hands...

I've learned this before, but have recently re-learned this concept. If I really want my children to leave me alone, I need to keep myself busy. Sitting and doing anything sitting does not count. But if I'm moving and cleaning, or laundering, or anything like that, I can either find myself doing it alone or I'll have Monkey by my side wanting to do it too. (Or sometimes just keeping herself busy near me.) As I'm adjusting to being a morning mom and getting my energy back as Monkey naps, (Yes, she did today!!) I'm more able and willing to keep myself busy while they're awake. Today me and Monkey did around 4 loads of laundry, folded clothes, cleaned a few things, and more. She's just entering that stage where she wants to imitate what I do. We've already covered make-up. (And we're done with that, since she's about broken anything that can be broken in my make-up bag.) So now we're going to move on to chores. (And helping cook dinner.) It ultimately leaves me feeling really accomplished too because I'm able to get chores done without stress, since she's just being my little helper. Moose is very content to occupy himself playing the computer, playing his V*Smile (love that thing) or watching a show, if he's earned one. It definitely takes patience to do chores with a kid tagging along since nothing gets done as quickly as it would otherwise. But normally I probably wouldn't be doing these chores anyway. I'd usually be trying desperately to read or something like that while she bothers me and her brother non-stop. But this keeps her occupied and leaves me feeling like I did something great with my time. Win-win.