Challenge, Extended

Left to my own devices, I would only leave my house for food, and… I can’t think of another good reason to leave. I’m a homebody. I like it here, in my own space, with my things. It’s easy to be home, and this isn’t making me sound like a particularly fun person, is it?

The reality is that we leave the house all the time. We have school and playgroup, and soccer, and Target. (Aside: my neighbor told me that she goes to the grocery store every single day. EVERY DAY. Is it just me, or does that sound like the least fun thing ever?) Anyway, we go places, but we often find ourselves without plans and internally I think Whee! Pajama day! Except that I’ve met my children, and I know that a day at home isn’t always the relaxing Normal Rockwell moment I imagine.

So I’ve made a point to make plans on days that we don’t have any. Last week we met friends at Disneyland, which I rarely do on my own. We’re so, so lucky to live close to Disneyland, but taking two kids with two different sets of Disney preferences is a lot of work, and sometimes I talk myself out of it before I even check the park hours for the day. Not last week! Last week we went, and watching Bubette dance to the Disney Jr. stage show killed me.  I needed to let go of perfection. In the end, Bub was only momentarily disappointed that he couldn’t ride everything. He was mostly just happy that he got to ride SOMETHING. Here’s a newsflash: My kids don’t much care about perfection. Or, rather, their idea of perfection is vastly different from mine.

On a different day, we headed over to Scooter’s Jungle. Tell me this: If your kids are into different things, or have different abilities based on their ages, do you think about taking them someplace and wonder how you’re going to split yourself in  half? I do not have the gene that allows me to just trust that they’re fine without my direct supervision, so I need to watch them both all the time.  But, when the people at Scooter’s Jungle invited my kids to come play, I couldn’t say no.

I was beyond pleasantly surprised. Not by the location, we’ve been there before and it’s heaven for kids, but by the fact that it just worked out. Bubette was more interested in the playroom full of toys, and Bub was content to climb to the top of the giant inflatable slide and throw himself down over and over again. (Okay, so there are some times when it’s helpful to not watch them all that closely.)

This comfort zone business is something I have to constantly push and it’s uncomfortable some times. It’s a nice reminder that things are not all about me anymore, which I suppose is something I should try to keep in mind. Plus, on both of those days bedtime was an absolute breeze, so sometimes everybody wins.

Disclosure: Scooter’s Jungle provided free admission for my kids. I was not compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.