day 582 | may 31, 2012 | distracting my little distractions

it's the school holidays again, and like any parent with little ones, boredom is my biggest foe. i'm in no risk of getting bored with the mountain of work i've got, but roo and red are almost always looking for something to amuse them.


we've been going to museums, playgrounds, playdates and meet-ups, and we've been doing craft days too, but some days, this mommarazzi just needs to hunker down and get work done. of course, roo and red don't truly understand the word 'busy.' pair that with the fact that my room is their local disneyland, and i can barely get a few minutes of work in before my spicy distractions come marching in with a request, or a demand, or worse, with stuff from my cabinets strewn all over the floor. "are we going on a playdate today?" roo asks first thing in the morning, while red pulls me to her snack cupboard so i can open more treats for her.

red is the trickier bit, as her attention span is about short as she is. one thing she loves though is playing with my coin pouch, alternately taking the coins out, then putting them back in. i imagined that giving her more coins would mean more time for me, so i gave her my piggy bank instead. 5 minutes later, she's popped my piggy bank bottom and is already bored again. (they make these newer models smarter than they used to, i swear!)

food is another distraction for red. unfortunately, it doubles up my work as i have to go clean up the mysterious places she manages to pour, wipe, and decorate using her meals.

a classic favorite is the 'compartment squish.' my closet is now empty, and i've taught them "secret" hiding spaces they can crawl into and tuck themselves in for an extended "hide and seek" play. the last round we had, roo complained i took too long to find her. grin.

even without a game of hide and seek, the little runts are quite happy to squish themselves into any random limited space, from boxes to cupboards, to underbed storage compartments, and luggage bags.

my cabinet gets stress-tested by red

roo is a lot easier. she's got her ipad, which entertains her for good stretches of time though i do try to limit the time she spends with it. we do supervised play where she googles things beside me, while i help her spell the things she's looking for. she's recently very interested in countries and flags (and getting to hong kong for disneyland). i did remind her that if she let me work in peace, we'd likely save up for that trip faster, but i don't think the idea has sank in yet.

she's also a lot more "creatively" inclined, so my magazines and scratch paper pile never last longer than a couple of days before they are posted on my wall as my inspiration board, roo-style. i don't have the heart to take them down, and am waiting for the day i can no longer see my wall.

their daddy's socks die pretty deaths as roo decorates them into her very own "socks-y." thank goodness, she finds my socks unsuitable for her craft projects.

a new favorite which i'm milking for all its worth is the "jail break" where roo and red try to open the gate. our gate is a bit tricky and doesn't open from the inside, so it's quite a challenge for the kids. it started with roo, who persevered using two hands to get the thing open. red watched in rapt attention as her sister struggled with it. now, if i need a little quiet, i ask them to work on opening the gate -- and voila, they're off for a good 20-30 minutes before i hear some happy hooting. (now, just need to make sure i inculcate the idea that they should never sneak out once they're teenagers!)

 oh happy days!