Yesterday was a fantastic day. 85 degrees before noon and sunny. We spent the better part of the morning gardening and cleaning, went out to Shetek Lutheran Ministries in the afternoon to play and talk about my new job, and walked all over town in the evening with good friends. The night culminated with a drive to Currie for supper with my mom and her boyfriend, and then dessert at his home...Lydia fell asleep two minutes before we got back to our house for the night, and it's an unbelievable feat to be able to put her down for the night without some form of protest. Awesome!
I wonder sometimes about infants and kids these days, about their sleep habits, about their play time...are we running our kids into the ground anymore? Are they coming in for supper and baths completely worn out by playing outside, working hard on their tree forts (okay, maybe not infants doing that) or by having so many new experiences throughout the day that it takes twelve hours of sleep to process them? Ever since the weather's gotten so nice out and we've been able to do more outside and work at gardening and such, Lydia's napped and slept beautifully. I know this is true for other kids we know who are out working and playing alongside their parents and friends all day too.
My mom always regales me with her tales from back in the day about what she and her siblings did for fun, and what was expected of them in terms of work...honestly, sometimes I think we need to get back to that. I'm not sure what we're expecting out of our kids today in terms of the amount of physical exertion dedicated to wholesome work and play, but it can't be enough these days. With child obesity and other health problems at record highs, as a concerned parent I look forward to raising Lydia with a strong work ethic and knowledge of how to ingest and use good energy.
Running her into the ground as a baby may or may not be the most ideal way to go about doing so :) but I tell you what, she looks so peaceful after a good, long day of meeting people, going to the greenhouse, bouncing in her jumpy thing (for the life of me I have no idea what to call that contraption), helping me plant seeds, eating and nursing like a champ, taking good naps, walking all over the place...
Who knows, maybe the seeds I'm planting aren't so much the kinds that grow veggies and flowers. Hopefully I'm planting in Lydia a desire to be aware of her surroundings and a love of working and playing hard. The best smell on this earth is a kid that's had a load of sunshine and smiles in a day...I bury my nose in the crease of Lydia's neck, kiss the top of her head and set her down for the night knowing she's had an awesome day :)
It doesn't get much better than that.
I'll write lots of tales in Lydia's journal from her Grandma. She'll hear the stories from both of us! Lydia has amazing parents (:
ReplyDeleteI think that most kids these days don't get nearly enough physical activity. Those who do are much better prepared to deal with real life, so it's vital for us as parents to encourage them whenever we can.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're doing a good job so far!