Playing with Daddy

Most mornings Lowell and Nathan go for a bike ride. They have been gradually increasing the distance they travel and are now going between 6 and 7 miles a day. Nathan got a new bike from Susanna, the lady I worked for, and is now much better at keeping up. This new bike is much lighter and has hand brakes instead of pedal brakes.

Today they were on their way home from old town Buckeye when they came to the railroad tracks and noticed that there was a train waiting. Nathan was really excited and so they detoured to follow the tracks. After a few hundred yards, the train still hadn't moved. They decided to give it just a few more minutes and just then, the engine fired up. The train took off and so they turned around and followed it. The engineer blew the whistle for them and Nathan loved it!! Following the train led them to a place where the tracks cross the road and there are a couple of small hills. (Lowell calls them whoop-de-doos.) Last night we had a monsoon, and so there were puddles everywhere. Nathan, in the lead, decided that he wanted to ride through a puddle that had formed in one of these dips in the road. What he didn't realize was that the standing water was about 2 feet deep and his little legs weren't strong enough to power his bike completely across it. So after teetering in the middle of the puddle, he lost his balance and fell. Completely covered in mud he stood up and ran out of the water. Lowell, struggling to keep his own balance between fits of laughter, said "You better go get your bike - I'm not going in there!" :)

This story also contains a "My Husband Rocks" moment... About 45 minutes after they left, I got a call from my wonderful husband. He said that they had heard a bunch of sirens and he wanted to call and let me know that they weren't involved. He didn't want me to worry. Isn't that just the sweetest thing!??!?! He also always calls when they reach the halfway point and start home so that I know when to expect them and don't get worried. I love that he is home and getting to spend so much time with the kids! I don't know a lot of people who would consider unemployment a blessing, but at least in this respect, I certainly do.

One thing that Daddy has spent quite a bit of time doing lately is teaching the kids how to use the computer. They have been mainly playing free trial games that Lowell finds but they have also been doing a little letter writing and learning where the keys are. It amazes me that my 4 year old is using my computer sucessfully and actually winning some of these games! She was thrilled too as you can see! :) Lowell is very patient with them and it is great that he can share something that he enjoys with his kids. He's such a good daddy. I feel blessed everyday! When I struggle with feeling like a 'bad mom' it is almost always because I'm too serious. I don't take the play opportunities that I should. I don't like to play Barbie and I don't like to sit and build train sets... I'll do puzzles, coloring and reading... But the actual imaginative play thing... I just don't do it. I can't seem to wrap my head around the idea that its a good way to spend my time. In these moments, in steps Lowell. I am soooo grateful that God gave me a husband who plays! He will play Dora, he'll build airplanes and fly them all over the house, he'll build forts and then tear them to pieces, he's paints fingernails and yes, he even, occasionally, plays Barbie. I remind myself, in the moments that I am feeling discouraged about my play-ability, that God made us a team. Lowell and I are the parents of these children. I'm not in this alone and because we work together, the kids get exactly what they need - serious sometimes and playful others. It seems silly and obvious but don't things work out so much better when we do them the way God intended?!!? :)

There are some new leads with the job market... I think we've decided for sure that the best option right now is for me to work and for Lowell to stay home with the kids. That would mean that I will "work and do school" and he'll do "everything else". I use quotes here because those are his exact words. We'll see how that works. :) The major pitfall I see in his thinking is that I may be judgemental about the job that he's doing and might be too critical of him. I hope this is not the case, and I've forewarned him. More importantly however, I've begun praying that my heart will be soft and sensitive to our new circumstances and will find joy in it instead of fault. Besides, it'll be nice to not have to do the dishes for awhile! :)