On Being a Stay-at-Home Mom...

There are many perks to my professional career. Silly kids, lots of learning, playing on the floor daily, working with great teachers, free staples (ok, not really), but the best has to be the summers "off". And by "off" I mean, I can work from home, in my jammies, when Miles is sleeping, and I don't get paid for it. In the past I have done major summer curriculum projects, but I knew this summer would be a little different so I have left most of the work at school and just spend a few hours a week during naps, the rest of the time it's all Miles. I think I can officially say I'm a stay-at-home mom.

There are some perks of that job too. Silly kid, lots of learning, playing on the floor daily, and NO staples. Miles and I spend A LOT of time on the floor playing. There are a few things that I absolutely love about being at home with him every day.

• He crawls everywhere(often with a block in his mouth) following the dogs or trying to eat the plant. I like to go into the next room (putting away laundry and what not) only to find him crawling behind me.
• We spend a lot of time on the floor and he wallers all over me (he thinks he's king of the mountain when he makes it over my legs). 
• We go on daily adventures in the stroller and get to look at birds and squirrels and bunnies, I think I'm more excited, but he does love a stroller ride. (They occasionally put him to sleep though)
• He LOVES story books. We always read a couple before nap time and he just soaks them in. We read one called Silly Suze Goose that said "RoaaarrrHonk", and every time I read that line he giggled. We've been reading our first "chapter books", Frog and Toad and he attentively listens as I read. 
• He is a blankey boy. Picture me, with my blankey, doing it the same way I have been for the last 32 years - and that's Miles. He holds it the same way, rubs it the same way, curls up with it at naptime. The only difference is instead of sucking his tongue (the way I do it - I am not ashamed) he sucks on the blanket. 
• He eats everything! I usually have a snack while we play, or eat my dinner while he plays, but he's figured out how to crawl over and open his little bird mouth and get a taste. Then he proceeds to climb all over me begging for more until it's all gone and I put the bowl down. I don't mind sharing, but I do mind that he usually wipes his mouth on my leg. 
• We get lots of time for lovies. Today he was tired, but we're cutting out the evening nap, so we were going to go run an errand and have a rest in the car. As I was getting ready he crawled over to my lap, grabbed his blankey and just curled up for some love. He's never been a big cuddler, but man does it feel good to get a whiff of his head. 

It's hard to tell, but this was what I looked down to see one night when we were going to bed. Two hands, two blankeys

He thinks that balancing blocks on his face is hilarious, similar to how he covers his face with his blankey and kicks his legs as fast as he can. Nut.

Ok, I could go on. I could also go on about the parts I don't like - like the lack of adult conversation, inability to wear anything nice,  trying to do a million things in one two hour nap, but frankly the good outweigh the bad so I'll just skip. Here's to my summers at home!

Stole my cream puff, but he liked it so much I couldn't take it away.

Goals

One of my summer goals is to read a book a week. I only get a few minutes every day while Miles sleeps and I pump, but I'm doing good so far. The other part of my goal is to record them here, so come fall I can remember what I've read!

Book 1: About Average  by Andrew Clements

I love Andrew Clements for his simple stories, school settings, and realistic characters. They are great books to hook kids on reading. This was a story of a very average girl trying her hardest to be anything but. It was a quick, simple, but enjoyable read.

Book 2: How to Cook like a Top Chef

I like the show, and I like to learn about cooking (If I were ever rich I'd go to culinary school just for fun). This was a good mix of "show stuff" - cooking tips - and recipes. Not that I ever cook that sort of fancy schmancy stuff, but I like to read how they do it...

Book 3: May B. by Caroline Starr Rose

This book was written in verse ... poetry ...short incomplete sentences? But it was really good. It was about a girl with dyslexia and the time she was sent away to work for someone in their soddy. It takes place on the Kansas plains, I don't know what year, but back when they lived in soddies and rode via horse and wagon. I liked  the visual pictures created in this book and the element the dyslexia had in defining the character. I'm not usually into historical fiction but this one was worth the read.

So far, all good reads. This week I'm taking on The One and Only Ivan.