Explanation of a no-post week

Chris was off to Florida for four days this week and that was enough to put a hold on new blog posts.  I don't know what I'd do without good ol' Uncle Phil on weeks like this.  It's a great deal.  I make him dinner and he entertains the boys for a few post-dinner minutes and then walks Kismet for me.  Fair trade right?  (Especially because, if I do say so myself, the food was quite good this week).

Chris is back now and busy as ever.  To anyone who thinks he lives a life of leisure, he has about 72 different things on the go right now and works into the wee hours every night.

My boys seems to have become completely dictated by daylight.  What I mean is, as the sun is rising earlier, so do they.  I remember the old days of getting up at 7:30, but that hasn't happened in months and months.  6:30 seems to be the new reality.  I can't complain too much, since I know many folk who are getting up far earlier than that. 

They were certainly a handful this week.  Charley gets very sick of my face on these solo-parent weeks and likes to get my attention by, say, colouring on the wall with a brown crayon.  Hmmm.  Not a good moment.

I think the arrival of Aunty Naynay and Baby Evy tomorrow will be a lovely distraction for all of us.  I really appreciate that the newly full-time working Sarah is spending her precious weekend driving to visit us.  I will reward her with Greek On Wheels and Art is In Bread and a visit to the Children's Museum.  It's Winterlude too, so maybe (just maybe) we'll venture outside.

Here's a shot of Charley working on the salt dough we made this week.  I have to plan my days very well when I'm alone.  One day:  make salt dough and mold it.  That night: bake it.  Next day: Paint dough creations.  Etc.  Four days alone = a series of 1 hour segments to fill with entertainment for boys, and the occasional Diego for Mom's sanity.

While Charley was working away on his creations, I noticed Sam in the background.  He had abandoned the dough-process a while back and was very busy working on something.  When I investigated I found this:

Jumbolino!

There he was, assembling a puzzle all on his lil' lonesome.  It's this super-cool retro puzzle that I found at St. Vincent (of course!).   Now I don't want to be Braggart Mom, but how clever is my little dude?

So, to summarize:  a long 4 days alone, made better by caring Uncle, salt dough mixing, 178 books read, backyard digging excursions, 1007 requests by Charley for me to "watch him play", more days than not where Sam declared 'I do not take a nap anymore' (mega-yikes), husband returns, Sam likes puzzles and one tired mom (with a cold) just keeps on chugging along. (I think I can, I think I can...)

The End.

Oh, and here's a song for you:

The happy fire truck from E Lee Higginson on Vimeo.