Expectation vs Reality.
To keep up with fun thing for the girls to do while Emmy was on Easter break last week, I decided to be brave and take them to the local children's museum by myself last Wednesday. We've been there a few times before with Emmy, and she always has a fabulous time. We hadn't taken Charlie yet, but she's about the age Emmy was when we first took her, so I knew she'd have fun. I knew it would be a little stressful running after the two of them alone, but I knew it would be worth it. Plus I only have two kids, and people do stuff like this all the time with way more kids.
In theory, this is what would have happened:
The girls and I would have been up, dressed, and at the museum as soon as the doors opened. We would run around and play for at least two and a half hours. Yes, it would be a little struggle to keep an eye on both of them, but we would figure it out. They would be so happy and it would tire them out. We would then go out to a nice restaurant for lunch before hurrying home and they'd both take nice long naps in the afternoon. We'd then play with Skip all afternoon, eat a good dinner, and then they'd pass out easily at bedtime.
HAHAHAHA. Okay, while I'm so glad we went out, and I think overall the girls had a great time, which is the most important thing to me, things did not go according to plan.
I did manage to get us all up, dressed, and at the museum right when the doors opened at 10:00. It was not that crowded yet, and I had prepped Emmy the whole way there that while she would get to have fun too, we would have to spend a lot of time chasing after Charlie.
I totally underestimated how fast Charlie is. I also underestimated how strong-willed she is. I often forget that she is no longer a baby, but almost two. And while she has been the happiest, most easy going toddler, she's still a toddler. Girl just wanted to run, everywhere. Every once in a while she would stop and play with some things for a bit, but that would last about a minute...tops.
Poor Emmy just had to tag along, attempting to play with things as we ran passed. She really was so good about it though. At 11:00 they had a puppet show in one of the little rooms, and I thought that would be the perfect break for the girls. But as we made our way to the super tiny room, I started to get a bad feeling. Apparently everyone else decided to go to the show as well, and while there was a spot for Emmy to sit, there was no room for me and Charlie. And my little girl was not happy. Charlie just.kept.screaming. So I had to pull Emmy out of there:(
I thought that maybe we'd have a little more luck running around the museum since so many people were in the puppet show. But Charlie just didn't want to stay still at any one activity. So after being there only a little over an hour, I wrangled on their coats and headed out of there.
I knew a sit down restaurant with the two girls would end up being a disaster. So I decided to take them to the mall food court instead. Lunch was pretty good, with both girls chowing down on their Chick Fil A.
We got home in time for nap, avoiding the dreaded car nap, and I whisked them upstairs. Both took poor naps though. Even bedtime didn't go that smoothly! Emmy went down great, but I was back and forth to Charlie's room till almost 10pm at night.
Next time I'll make sure to bring Skip with me on outings like this....or I'll take the girls on more one on one dates. Lesson learned.
In theory, this is what would have happened:
The girls and I would have been up, dressed, and at the museum as soon as the doors opened. We would run around and play for at least two and a half hours. Yes, it would be a little struggle to keep an eye on both of them, but we would figure it out. They would be so happy and it would tire them out. We would then go out to a nice restaurant for lunch before hurrying home and they'd both take nice long naps in the afternoon. We'd then play with Skip all afternoon, eat a good dinner, and then they'd pass out easily at bedtime.
HAHAHAHA. Okay, while I'm so glad we went out, and I think overall the girls had a great time, which is the most important thing to me, things did not go according to plan.
I did manage to get us all up, dressed, and at the museum right when the doors opened at 10:00. It was not that crowded yet, and I had prepped Emmy the whole way there that while she would get to have fun too, we would have to spend a lot of time chasing after Charlie.
I totally underestimated how fast Charlie is. I also underestimated how strong-willed she is. I often forget that she is no longer a baby, but almost two. And while she has been the happiest, most easy going toddler, she's still a toddler. Girl just wanted to run, everywhere. Every once in a while she would stop and play with some things for a bit, but that would last about a minute...tops.
Poor Emmy just had to tag along, attempting to play with things as we ran passed. She really was so good about it though. At 11:00 they had a puppet show in one of the little rooms, and I thought that would be the perfect break for the girls. But as we made our way to the super tiny room, I started to get a bad feeling. Apparently everyone else decided to go to the show as well, and while there was a spot for Emmy to sit, there was no room for me and Charlie. And my little girl was not happy. Charlie just.kept.screaming. So I had to pull Emmy out of there:(
I thought that maybe we'd have a little more luck running around the museum since so many people were in the puppet show. But Charlie just didn't want to stay still at any one activity. So after being there only a little over an hour, I wrangled on their coats and headed out of there.
I knew a sit down restaurant with the two girls would end up being a disaster. So I decided to take them to the mall food court instead. Lunch was pretty good, with both girls chowing down on their Chick Fil A.
We got home in time for nap, avoiding the dreaded car nap, and I whisked them upstairs. Both took poor naps though. Even bedtime didn't go that smoothly! Emmy went down great, but I was back and forth to Charlie's room till almost 10pm at night.
Next time I'll make sure to bring Skip with me on outings like this....or I'll take the girls on more one on one dates. Lesson learned.
This is the one thing that makes me nervous about having two. Controlling them at home is one thing but taking them on outings? Fun fun!
ReplyDeleteSounds like your trip was quite the challenge... I bet you were ready to fall into bed at their bedtime, too. But you did get some great photos and your local museum actually looks a whole lot like our local museum. Just thought that was interesting.
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