Parenting Wins!

We made no plans this weekend intentionally. Between gymnastics meets and soccer tournaments, our spring schedule’s been quite booked, so when we realized that the only way to get a break from traveling was to be anti-social during a major holiday, that’s what we did.

But even though Cute W and I had our own list of putter-around-the-house chores (Cute W replaced the fraying rope on our tree swing, I’m putting together a killer playlist for dancing), we knew that, left to their own devices, the girls might be a bit sluggish. M in particular has been quite attached to her phone lately. In spite of the fact that she begged for a phone for roughly two years before she finally got one a year ago, she generally hasn’t been as phone-obsessed as many of her friends. Except lately. Every time I look at her she’s making a goofy face to SnapChat at someone. It’s a bit tiresome.

Inspired by a recent All Over Albany post, I proposed that we go for some sort of waterfall hike. Then, looking into it, I started to get a bit fussy, because the ones that were close to us were generally places that we’d already explored, and I knew we didn’t want to drive far since this was our big weekend of not driving far away. I started getting unmotivated. Luckily, by that time I’d sucked Cute W in, and eventually we settled on a plan. We decided on a quick look-see at the Cohoes Falls because none of us girls had seen them, then a hop over to Peebles Island State Park because the first stop didn’t seem to have too much hiking, and I’d been meaning to check out this park, anyway.

As it turns out, we never got around to actually going on a hiking trail at Peebles Island, because there were just too many tree-climbing and mucking-along-the-river’s-edge opportunities.

When we first left the house, I’d say that the girls’ enthusiasm was low, but about five minutes into our visit to Peebles Island, I achieved a parenting triumph: M asked if I could please hold her phone. It remained zipped in my pocket for the next hour or two while the girls played together, like we were on a mini-vacation.

One of our favorite parts of Peebles Island was the huge willow tree that’s got such a wide trunk that it’s practically a natural tree room. There’s a picnic table right next to it, and I think J would love to come back with some friends, a picnic lunch, and our inflatable kayaks. I think that they could potentially live in that tree for a while.

So the outing was a parenting win. We weren’t supremely motivated, but getting the girls outside in a new place turned out to be an excellent move. When we got home later in the afternoon, they headed back outside to play together again, the phone abandoned on the dining room table. Whoop, whoop!

Then it was crepes for dinner. Now, generally, everyone has ham & cheese crepes, and Cute W adds mushrooms, and I like to add mushrooms and spinach. Tonight, M requested some spinach on hers, and J, who’s been having spinach with hers lately, upgraded to spinach and mushrooms. So, just to review, my children are abandoning their electronic devices to play together outside and they are expanding their vegetable repertoire. I feel like someone should be offering me a Fabulous Parent sash.

Sadly, little J has lost all faith in magical creatures, and she asked me repeatedly about how I was going to hide a bike somewhere. I feigned ignorance and pointed out that I would not need to hide anything. “Do I look fluffy to you?” I demanded. “Do my ears extend beyond my head?” Any possible basket or bike hiding would be taken care of by a magical Bunny.

But I have a pretty good idea that the magical Bunny will be hiding things in our shower.

And for M, I think the Bunny is trying to ensure that I’m not too cocky about my fabulous parenting. Bunny’s bargaining that M’s basket will not be detected even though it’s in the middle of the living room because it’s buried under a pile of to-be-folded laundry. This is not an altogether unfamiliar sight in our house, I’m afraid. We’ll see if this works.

Happy Easter, everyone!