But first the original kaleidoscopey plan was to go to the National Building Museum's Play Work Build exhibit that everyone has been raving about - we even had a play date to meet there yesterday afternoon - BUT THEN IT WAS 70 DEGREES OUT!
We decided to meet our buddies at the US National Arboretum! It was the perfect day for it - sort of. We had lunch after school and got ourselves together. Jonah had already had one time out on the way out of school because he sort of kicked one of his friends?!?! for no good reason. We sat for a while in front of school until everyone left and we had some time to take some deep breaths.
Then we got home had a uneventful lunch (although Jonah did not eat much?!?!) and went to the Arboretum. There was some traffic and en route to our play date, Jonah fell asleep in the car. We got to the parking lot and our friends were almost there. I made an executive decision to get Jonah up... (in hindsight probably the wrong decision...) We walked over to where the koi pond is usually... and guess what - no koi!!! no pond!!! it is under construction -- big fail. Jonah and Vera literally started crying!!! (this should have been warning sign number 3 to quit while I was ahead...). Then our buddies arrived and we decided to head up to the columns and let the boys run around...
That sort of worked except for (1) when Jonah dunked his head into a fetid little puddle of gross water after I told him not to, (2) when Jonah pushed his sister off the edge of the waterless fountain and she fell face first onto the cement and her gum started bleeding and (3) when he started pushing his buddy. He got a time out for all of these. You think I would have packed it in at that point...
But Vera was having a great time (that is except for falling face first into cement - but she recovered quickly). She also liked playing with Jonah's buddy's little baby brother, who is super cute by the way.
Jonah and his buddy did manage to play for a bit and run around quite a lot. They had balls to kick around and they did get to enjoy basking in this December sunshine - when Jonah was not in time out that is...
The final straw came when we were taking a drink break and Jonah started in with the baby's toys... I just knew he was about to throw them in the fetid water puddle... and I was just done. He was tired. They were both hungry - I knew it was time to cut my losses. He picked up the baby toy and started fighting with Vera about it and then we were really done. I packed up and we had extremely unpleasant walk back to the car (understatement)... but we eventually got there.
Another ride home in traffic and a big sigh of relief when we finally got home around 4. Only three hours with the kids until I was able to steal away for my own time out and boy did I need it. I have my Mindfulness Meditation group on Monday nights.
As I walked to my group, I tried to clear my thoughts to get ready for my 90 minutes of mindfulness. I couldn't. I kept thinking about our not-so-successful adventure. But then I realized something. Not a huge something, but a something that made me feel much better. Jonah was tired and hungry today. I wanted to see my friend so I pushed the whole play date. He needs to learn to behave better and I know he will. But truth be told, we spent some time outside in the sun with some good friends and well there is something to be said for that. It was far from perfect - but it wasn't the worst time we ever had. It just was. We'll try again another day. Both Jonah and I (and Vera) need to keep trying to get it right - and it's the act of trying and never giving up that is truly kaleidoscopesque!
During the dharma (sharing) portion of my group we talked about a bunch of stuff. One thing that came up was this - in addition to writing "to do" lists - we can also sometimes try to write down "to be" lists. I really really like this idea. As in what we want "to be" today or tomorrow. I know that I need to try "to be" a little more in tune with Jonah & Vera. For example, knowing when Jonah (or Vera) is too tired or hungry to go on a play date even when it might interfere with my plan to see my friend or knowing if I make a big deal about Vera walking on a ledge, Jonah is going to get jealous and push her off... I am working on all of this but I love the act of writing it down... I think I am going to try that. I want "to be" more patient, more consistent, less anxious and happier tomorrow.
And that is the amazing thing - Jonah, Vera and I (all of us really), we all get to try again tomorrow! What ever is on our "to do" or "to be" lists - tomorrow we get another chance at it all!
Good Luck Everyone!
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