Simpler Parenting

I haven’t shared much of my parenting experience lately. Time is the obvious reason, but also the motivation and energy. I am simply exhausted.

Cu Dao is still giving us grief, but he could be quite joyful at times. He never ceases to make me laugh when I am not expected. He talks like a train. Last Saturday, him and I raced to the parking lot. He ran, stopped and said to me, “Daddy, I ran out of puff.” I said to him, “I thought you’re supposed to be fast.” He replied, “I am not fast. I am express.” I was a bit amazed at how he applied what he had heard to real-life situation.

Our lil Dan continues to attract most of our attention. He smiles and responses to almost anyone who interacts with him. Unlike Dao who rejects things immediately, Dan is a much more observing. When my cousin sang and clapped her hands to him, he stared straight at her for good five minutes before he decided to join her. He started clapping, smiling and kicking his feet after he thinks she’s ok to play with. I took him on a carrousel ride the other day and he just sat there, looked up, down, around and then at me as if he was questioning me, “Is this suppose to be fun?” He was not excited but he was crying either. Dao, on the other hand, simply refused to go on the carrousel.

Nowadays, we spend a lot of time together, especially on the weekends, but we don’t do much activities. Back when we first had Dao, we signed him up for all sorts of activities including Gymboree classes and children museums. He actually didn’t like any of it. He didn’t want to participate and he didn’t want to anything. All he wanted to do was playing table train, riding train and playing mini golf. Now instead of trying to think of things for them to do, we just spend time together. We ride around town to get breakfast. We drop by the mall to play indoor if the weather is too hot. At home, we just fill the bathtub with water and splash around. I like this simpler parenting approach. It makes my weekend a bit more relaxing while spending time with the kids.