Tuesdays with Topher

Today was day 2 of preschool for Lily, and day 1 of Tuesdays with Topher!

Topher and I had some serious talks leading up to today. I told him numerous times that school sucks and Lily is being punished for all the crying she did as a two year old and that's why we leave her at school/prison for 3 hours twice a week.

Just joking.

I told Toph that school is for Noona, and that next year (and every year after!) will be his turn to go to school. I tried to butter up the deal and told him that Tuesdays would be our special days together, and every other Tuesday would be Tuesdays with Topther and DAD! That seemed to whet his interest some. Probably the latter part more than the former. BUt I'll take what I can get so long as I can walk out of Lily's preschool room with a well-behaved child.

It took some coaxing once we were actually in Lily's classroom. So many toys, so many children, so many new things to knock off of shelves. But Topher man-ned up in a big way and was able to leave his sister's classroom with dignity.

We started off our time together by hanging out with my friend Mary Beth, and her daughter Paige. Paige is in kindergarten, but didn't start school until noon. THis may sound like an outting that is centered more on me than on Topher, but my boy loves to eat, and he loves Mary Beth! She and I refer to her as his "White Mama", which isn't politically or genetically correct, but it's funny to us. It's even funnier cause Topher either calls her "Blue Mama" or "Black Mama". He's learning his colors in English, Korean, and Spanish. So I will just cut him some slack on that. We went to Liberty Market, a personal fave, and had a seriously delicious breakfast. Topher's second of the day. Sorry, second breakfast of the day, not second delicious breakfast of the day. His first one was just eggs and toast. Nothing special.

Then Topher and I went to the library. This was our first time at the library just the two of us. It was AWESOME!!! Usually I go to the library with both Lily and Topher, and if one starts to run around, the other has to run around too. BUt with just the Toph Man, there was no one in instigate a 'run-around fest', and even if he wanted to start one, I was more than prepared to stop it. The good folks at the library had a cute little craft set up at a table, so Topher and I sat down and made a caterpillar! So fun! Topher loved using the glue stick, and having all my attention to himself. This new attention thing transformed him into a super-well-behaved little monkey. We were even able to sit down and read 3 books together! He is a pretty squirmy little guy, and sitting still is not his forte. He's also not the biggest fan of storytime unless it's naptime or bedtime, and being at the library made it evident that it was neither of those things, but he sat regardless.

We got into the minivan to go pick up Lily, and I was so happy and thankful for the time I got to spend with my son. We've never had much time together, alone that is. I was so glad that our finances did not allow us to send Topher to Preschool/Day Care with his sister this year. I think Topher will benefit much from time spent independently with me, and Chris on off weeks, but I know Chris and I will also benefit much from just getting to hang out with our son.

We don't want to leave Lily out of all this one-on-one hang-out time, so Chris and I are resolved to date our children as often as we can. We are aiming for once a month. I'll let you know how that actually pans out with our crazy schedules! We say that our family comes first, but when it comes down to it- Chris and I hardly ever go on dates, and the time we get to spend as a family of four is not as much as either of us would like either. But nothing that's good comes easily, so this is something we are definitely going to have to strategize and plan for.