Boys and empty hours.

I dread Mondays, because they are the one day that I have nothin’ goin’ with my two boys.  On every other day of the week, there is some planned activity: speech therapy, preschool, meeting up with a friend, gymnastics lesson, something.  And let me tell you, having a three year old, and an eigth month old boy…sitting around in the house all day is simply not an option.  These are BOYS.  They need to do stuff, need to get the energy burnt in some way or it all comes back on me in the form of monster tantrums (well, the baby doesn’t know yet what a real tantrum is, but he’s watching his older brother with something that looks a lot like awe…he’s going to learn to mimic it pretty soon). 

Coloring at the kitchen table, playing together on the floor, reading a book–these occupy my eldest for all of 10 minutes.  So, there’s the park.  Can you be a good mom even if you really can’t take going to the park once a week?  It’s not that I dislike parks and playgrounds per se…well, actually, maybe I do.  I’m not particularly a park type of person, I guess.  I’m not an outdoor person at all, so it’s no surprise to me that trekking to the park with two kids in tow, dealing with sunscreen and sand and packed snacks and possible injuries from the monkey bars…it’s not my bag.  But, on a day like today, the clock is ticking.  My oldest has had enough PBS for the day and has started his morning refrain, “Mommy, what we doing?” 

We’re going to the park.