Polar V

It's true. It seems mine and Zane's schedule revolve around Vanessa's. It's been a nice transition that way -- I imagine when it's time to send Zane off to do more independent things, hopefully I will be able to balance all schedules.

It's been nice to have her home for break. As she pointed out yesterday, "I liked kindergarten more than first grade cause I only had to go half a day." I get what she means. The two extra days off because of the polar vortex were bonuses  -- confined to the house is not all bad!

Vanessa told us a couple of times at the end of break that she missed school specials.
On Sunday I asked what she was going to like most about returning to school. She said, "I think you know that Mom." I wasn't sure I did, "Do I?" With confidence Vanessa replied "You know. It's my favorite part of the day." I thought of a good guess, "Specials?"
"Yeah, you guessed right. Except if we don't have school tomorrow I'm okay with that, since it's music. I don't want to miss on Tuesday because . . . well, you know." Pretty convinced I asked, "Gym?". She replied, "Yep. You got it."
But when school was canceled for Tuesday too, she seemed polar opposite of the day before. She was happy to know she will get to gym on Friday.

But can you blame her for being content to be home? The kids played and played, finding it hard to stop to eat lunch or take baths. There was a polar attraction, and I'm sure it made our extra time together easy and enjoyable. Over break they played made-up games like Naked Sledding and Stack the Sandwich. They attempted some games by bouncing on the beds, but Vanessa was told she's getting too big. I caught a picture before though. :-) And with no pictures to show, Winter Wipeout and Dribbler Coach were two more top and repeated games.

Christmas festivities were so huge it was easy to be partied out by New Years. Zane crashed before returning home so Vanessa and I could snooze in the New Year in the tent in the basement. The rest of us fell short of midnight too. 

The kids were excited to dress for the Buckeyes.

We had several days over break and beyond that were proclaimed as game days, where we played various card games, board games and puzzles, and didn't really stop except to potty and eat. Daddy squeezed in some games too.

But even with those, they couldn't keep from making up their own games with very specific rules and directions. Below is a family brawling game using chess pieces. They were content with this game for what seemed like forever.

Zane has almost completely transitioned to saying Vanessa clearly all the time. He slips and still calls her Da-Dess, but we're finding he catches himself now and corrects himself. I end up sticking out my bottom lip when he does it. He notices and tells me to stop. But I can't help it, like a vortex, their early childhood is whirling so fast that I feel it sucking the years away.

I only had to ask them to rest a spell a few times. Many times they took the initiative. They played and snuggled in sleeping bags, stacked pillows and layered blankets on the floor to get cozy in a variety of places.

There have been moments with toys, too, such as taking special friends to the Barbies' house, loading Transformers in the Weeble Wobble bus for an adventure. These combinations provide new and interesting spins to the entertainment.

And of course there have been a ton of dress-up games and make believe. (Zane never did put on that dress, now that I think about it. Perhaps he noticed the camera.) From the Dark Knight sword fighting the Blue and Grey Batman to fashion shows in Vanessa's room (where of course she won every possible award) the kids covered almost every genre.

They changed their regular outfits several times a day, almost as fast as a spinning Superman. At times they dressed as if it was extremely warm outside. Other times they threw on PJs to have numerous pajama parties. Zane has been going through an average of three pairs of socks a day. He just likes changing them out. Oh yay . . .

V didn't let the stardom get to her head though. We only saw this intensity a couple of times, which is hard to imagine for many. And it can still be kind of cute when we do see it, making it quite tolerable for a moment or two.

Before bed Tuesday night, Vanessa kept asking me to check my computer to see if she'll have school on Wednesday. I reminded her that it seemed certain, with the exception of a possible delay. I got extra kisses and hugs, like she couldn't get enough. I'm thrilled she basically gets how special our time has been.