One day at a time

Day 82: Catch-up, classics and cookies

Hannah played catch-up today on some journal entries we’ve neglected over the past few weeks, partly due to Mom’s lack of memory and largely due to Hannah’s lack of motivation.

She’s done with school.

But this morning, after a very good night’s sleep, she seemed eager to take it on, and we looked back to see how many weeks we’d missed. There were three, with two letters per week, and one entry per letter.

She was determined.

Within the first hour she had written “I see a nodle (noodle),” “I am a mokee (monkey),” “I see a Hannah,” and “I see a Brooke,” and completed each entry with illustrations. She saved this week’s – “I see a xylofone” and “I see a zeebra” for after lunch.

Each was written and drawn with gusto I haven’t seen from this little girl in weeks. Full disclosure – I thought she’d do one or two entries today, and maybe one or two more each day next week, given the mood around here lately.

Now we’ll have to fill her time in other ways.

Like the project I gave her today during her Art block, a throwback to my own elementary school days and a classic project we did more than once at different grade levels growing up.

I have a partial roll of newsprint from when we moved a couple of years ago, and I was gifted the end-roll for packing boxes. The benefits of working for a newspaper, I suppose.

So I cut a long strip of the paper and taped it to the floor, and when Hannah came in from riding her bike at recess, I had her lie down on it. Brooke traced her outline, and then it took a solid hour for Hannah to paint it.

What a perfect exercise for a difficult-to-entertain five-year-old. She was engaged the entire time, creative, and – most importantly, when I’m working at stories in order to take Friday off – out of the way and happily busy.

We now have a life-size Hannah painting and while I’m not sure what we’ll do with it, I’m admittedly proud of myself for remembering this timeless project.

While Hannah kept busy on the floor, Christian made himself busy in the kitchen whipping up another batch of cookies.

The Boy’s culinary skills are definitely improving. We’ve moved from flour exploding all over my workspace back in March to being able to bake up a batch of whatever he finds the ingredients to, clean up, and be sitting on the couch with video games within an hour.

And they’re tasty, too. It’s a good thing I’m dedicated to my morning workouts and healthy breakfast/lunch menus, because this boy is trying pretty hard to derail my efforts. Mom has a serious sweet tooth and those peanut butter oatmeal cookies – and yesterday’s brownie cookies – are all sitting right beside my “office” in our cookie jars.

See, when I’m at work and there’s baked goods sitting at home, I don’t even think about them. They’re far out of reach, being eaten by children before I can get home.

But these call to me all day long.

If I ran 5 K today, that means I’ve earned a few treats, right? That’s a slippery slope.

Willpower has never been tested this hard.

Krista Conrad, OkotoksToday.ca

COVID-19 UPDATE: Follow our COVID-19 special section for the latest local and national news on the coronavirus pandemic, as well as resources, FAQs and more.