Building a new road

When Erik told me today he wanted to build a new road, even though the gardener had just been here in the morning and my yard was perfect, I didn't have the heart to stop it. Today was just not the day to fight him, so I let him build a road. The funny thing is, once I started taking pictures he kept requesting over and over for me to take new ones and was relentless about me doing it. He was very interested in this new road he was building.

 

 

 

 

As I saw him doing this I thought to myself, this is a really good metaphor for my life these days. I am trying to build new roads. In so many ways, this fall has brought familiar changes, but I am also creating change in myself for the things that make me unhappy, or for the things I always wanted to do.

Elliot thought it was hilarious and fun for me to take a picture of his finger, so I did.

One of the first mantras I told myself for this year is to get involved. I decided to not get too crazy my first year, but just do a few little things to get my feet wet before I join the PTA and get immersed in Erik's elementary school next year when he joins kindergarten. So I am again volunteering to be the room parent for his preschool class if I make it to the sign up sheet on time Friday. Then for Elliot I volunteered to be a room rep and get involved with BPEC which is the preschool version of the PTA. Just the little things, but its out of my comfort zone and good for me.

 

There are other small areas I have tried to build new roads. Part of it is just with my diet and meal planning. We were home sick for a couple days and I basically prepped and freezed 4 different meals for the week because I am getting so involved and become much busier with meetings and such. We had the first one today and it was actually delicious. Tomorrow I plan on making eggplant parmesan and doubling the recipe and freezing it so I'll have even more food for the next couple of weeks.

Lastly I am trying to make a change for Erik, I have been trying to make this change for a while but have not been successful so far. I am just trying to make more out of school, male friends for him in his life. I have a great group of mom's that I love dearly and who have been with me since Erik was a baby, but they all have girls Erik's age. The older Erik gets, the more he needs more male interaction, so I need to create this change. This means if someone asks us for a boy playdate I won't say no.

Today a couple of Erik's friends from preschool came over after school with another mom's coordination. So while Elliot napped, I had five other boys at my house, which NEVER happens for us. It was so fun to watch these boys interact because they were obviously comfortable with one another. They were in the same preschool class all last year and now this year. Its funny too because I don't know the mom's that well, and its fun to get to know them, but its amusing to me because its usually the other way around. Erik meets his friends through me, not me meeting friends through him. It was amazingly peaceful to sit around and talk while these boys played. Although I must admit it wasn't all that different from when he plays with the girls except that did have a lot more swords or light sabers in their play.

Crazy, I didn't have to take a nap, eyes today.

So the change isn't big by any means and some of it might just be for right now, but everytime you build a new road you change a little about yourself and your perception. That is something I am always willing to do. I am just excited to see what other new roads we might build as the year progresses.