Life with two...

I've heard two is more than twice as hard.  Yup.  But more than twice as nice?  Yup again :)  Still, I feel like I'm just now getting to life with two.  The first month my mom was saving our ass keeping P's life lucky.  Then there was the lost month of crying (when I began to believe two was more than two hundred times harder and going to be more than I could ever succeed at...) Then there was the month in Kansas when P could run around with whatever awesome family member requested his presence (or, in my mom's case, he just stalked her all day:)

Now we're home and I'm trying to get our groove on.  Giving each one what they need is a tricky dance for me.  I tend to try and saturate a child, feeling really guilty if I can't do something for them.  For me and unschooling, saying yes wasn't the trick.  Learning when to honestly say "no, I can't" has been the trick.  Pregnancy helped me nail that one, since I just couldn't do so much.  A tough pregnancy was a real blessing here, prepping P for less, or at least different, Mama status.  I am infinitely thankful for that, in hindsight ;)

But less Mama floor tussling and toy tossing isn't the only change for him these days.  Our ability to do anything, anytime is gone.  For a while at least ;)  I started realizing over the last couple months that the free-flow of our unschooling days might leave P feeling like he's  drifting in open seas of negligence rather than just free now.  He needs reliability and rhythm to his days.  Solid times with Mama he can depend on.  And since babies tend to be fussiest in the evenings, combined with the business of dinner and dishes, E's post-work availability didn't really solve the situation.

So we're crafting our asses off.  I've set up a craft for each day of the week.  I've tried to make at least one, if not two, depend on something from the outdoors, so we also have a couple of nature walks a week on the nicest days.

One of our walks this week.  Flowers in December.  Love it.

 Despite the deciduous dropping their leaves, its still crazy green.

 No Brooklyn duckies here.  These guys came up towards us as we went down to the pond.... and walked right past us to forage in the woods!   No joke.  Apparently, they aren't every toddler's past time here...

 Must I point out how many photos I have of the child throwing stuff into bodies of water???

And we're learning to read.  (Why we?  I mean P :)  The Little Man has started requesting reading help.  He's ready.  The age is perfect, in my mind (though I'm totally comfortable with an even later reader.  I figure, once you start reading, you can't undo it.  From then on, your life is seen through words.  Covers (books, cereal, whatever) are no longer pictures and design and color, they are w.o.r.d.s.  Everything else takes a backseat to the mind jumping to translate the words.  And I don't want to rush that - there's a LOT to be learned translating the world in all of the other ways kids can.  Even in pre-reading ways, like general word shape, location, basic memorization, etc.)  So, for us, there has been an appreciation of just loving non-reading and all of its visual gifts.  But there is also the research that supports this so splendidly.  And real life examples, like the fabulousness of Finland, where they don't start reading until 7.  Or the Waldorf way, also starting the reading journey at 7.

But most importantly, there is P.  And his preference to start just now :)  So we do about 20 minutes of reading readiness stuff every day (P calls it "playing school") while Zia hangs off of me for her afternoon nap, before our craft.  And P jumps for joy each time I say its time :)  I started with the most basics of basics (the letters) despite his seeming ability to read quite a few words, so there aren't any gaps that later frustrate him.  He loves it.  We'll see if he feels the same way when we venture into unchartered territory.

So it seems that two may be possible.  At least while Zia is still napping a bit and not mobile ;)  Healthy foods are on the table and the Little Man is eating well again (for a few weeks it was a sad state of affairs.  I couldn't' get food together and he was eating crap which led to eating even crappier:)  We're getting out to enjoy the gorgeous Pacific Northwest (even if its just to the amazing park up the block and the sidewalk to the store).  The kid is getting solid Mama time, and projects that spawn (of course) even more projects.  And when I need to change Zia or bounce her to sleep (yes, she still only goes to sleep if I bounce around like a ding-dong, but it takes a much shorter period of time and there's rarely loud shrieks:) the kid's cup is (relatively) filled and he doesn't blink an eye.  Phew.

And this means I'm not wracked with guilt every night.  Cuz I tend that way :)