Daddy Daycare

I was reading an article this week in Parenting, (from months past I'm still catching up!), and it was about 6 Things your Babies Really Need. One of the 6 was daddy-style play. Nick loves to play with our kids and I love to let him do it and I love to let him do it his way. But I hadn't consciously considered that his "style" is inherently different than mine. Play is just play, right? Watching consciously now I can see the difference between our play styles and I can see how important it is for our girls to get both kinds of play.

This morning Ladies Morning Out started up again so out I went. I take both girls with me so that they can be in the nursery, (Belle loves the interaction and I think it's important for Brooklyn to be in the care of people other than us), I also take them so that Nick can get a few minutes off from life. It takes a lot to get them out the door and from the car to the church building and them home again all by myself, but it's so worth it to make that effort.

As I think you all can tell I've been having a deep time lately and Nick has been a great support while I work through it. We talk a tonne and he lets me cry and he lets me laugh. So earlier in the week he told me I could have Thursday afternoon to myself. I didn't want Thursday afternoon to myself! I'm home alone with my kids all the time I get a tonne of time to myself and when I have time with myself at home it's free! So I politely told him that was fine, I was good without it.

I came home from LMO and he had been making plans. He called up a couple guy pals and made arrangements to get all the kiddies and the guys together at one house and sent me and my local Ange out for a free hour together between feedings. It was so cool. The guys all hanging out watching golf with 4 kids under the age of 2 around them. We didn't know what to do with ourselves though! We got a coffee and talked and wandered around the Georgetown 'mall'. An hour out and we didn't know how to entertain ourselves anymore so home we went. It was such a nice treat to look at things that weren't my house and to talk to another mom. It's true we never totally left the kids as that's all we talked about, but we got to use full sentences and words with two syllables.

I totally understand why babies need daddy-style play, and why mommies need it too!