Successful Afternoon Out

We were back and forth from our house 3 times yesterday! I get absolutely worn out on these kinds of days; making sure I have everything I need (diapers, snacks, etc..)gathering the children up, getting them in the car, getting them out of the car and safely into wherever we are going. I have scaled back our participation in activities this winter and spring because I find just getting out to be exhausting.

Our morning consisted of getting Samuel to school and then going to our pediatrician's office (20 miles away) for the baby's 15 month check up and an ear infection follow up for my youngest son. We do have to travel a bit to get to the doctor, but it's worth it. Our pediatrician and his staff run a very efficient office and the waiting time is short. Sometimes there is almost no wait at all! This makes it very helpful for Samuel. There is no way that he could have waited as long as we used to have to at our former doctor's office. I can take Samuel to our present doctor for appointments and can take him along for other children's appointments quite easily. In the past year and a half my husband has worked close to this office as well, so sometimes he meets me there to help out.

My youngest son then had a birthday party to go to early in the afternoon. We didn't have Samuel with us when we dropped him off but I knew he would be with us when we picked him up. That can be a problem. Samuel (naturally) would want to go into the house. Once in there he would probably get into things he shouldn't and it would be very difficult to get him out. I determined ahead of time that NOONE but my youngest son would go in.

We also had about an hour to kill after we picked up Samuel from school before it was time to get his younger brother. What to do? The library was a possibility, but after all the activity I endured earlier in the day I just didn't know if I would be up for that. I decided to go to the grocery store instead. Samuel can endure short trips there because he knows that there are videos and DVDs for sale and he can look at them.

I did not have a visual schedule for our afternoon and I had not made Samuel aware earlier in the day that we wouldn't be going directly home. However, after we left the school I pulled to the side of the road and we took a few minutes to talk about what we would be doing before going home.

We got through the aisles of the grocery store without too much difficulty, except that he kept trying to "Scottish Irish Dance" (from "The Upside Down Show"). He got to look at DVDs for a few minutes and nicely accepted finishing that. Then, on the way out of the store there were 2 more unexpected DVD displays! It was quite difficult getting him to pass those by, but we were able to do so because of the promise of a trip to McDonalds for a snack. We spent the second half of our hour there. I have to admit part of the reason it was easier to get around was because my youngest son wasn't there, he can be rather ornery and feisty!

As we pulled up to the house to pick up my youngest son, Samuel really wanted to go inside, but he was able to accept "not this time." I think it helped that my oldest son voiced that to Samuel as well (impressive because my oldest son has friends at that house too and I'm sure he wanted to go in as much as Samuel did!). Even my youngest son nicely accepted that it was time to go home.

I was so happy to get home! We went through the usual evening madness of dinner and homework, and I ended up falling asleep before the boys did!