Riley Time

Last night I got to spend a couple of hours with Riley. Doc and Lucy were down for the count. Riley and I watched the Great Pumpkin, had a snack and spent the rest of the evening drawing and coloring.

I picked up a Spongebob Squarepants drawing kit last weekend at the Grove City, PA outlets. It is really nifty. It has colored pencils, markers, regular pencils, an eraser, and other little doo-dads for art. There are two books: one full of blank paper to draw on, the other was a "How to Draw Spongebob" book. So, I would draw a character (Plankton, of course, was my first one). Riley would color it in and add background illustrations. We ended up with portaits of Spongebob, Patrick, Mr. Crabs, Squidward, and Sandy.

It was strange to spend so much time doing one thing with Riley. Usually, because Lucy is two and has a short attention span, we bounce from pillar to post doing this and that. But to spend two hours drawing and coloring, until our hands were literally hurting, was quite a treat. As we drew we talked or we were silent. The TV was off. The cat was snoozing.

I finally had to call it a night at 9:30 because I was stiff from sitting so still for so long. Riley was sad and didn't want to head to bed (no surprise). But I read her a great book that would have been way too long for Miss Lucy. It was called Peach Heaven. I found myself reading the book slowly, relishing the language of it and really getting into the story. When I finished, Riley immediately wanted to hear it again.

I promised her we'd read it tomorrow and that what we really needed now was a good night's sleep. I tucked her in and settled down in the living room to read. I thought to myself that I probably would have had more evenings like that if Riley were an only child. I was a little sad that, in dividing my attention between two children, I'm not really giving either of them the best of me. In fact, it's been rolling around in my head all day today.

I think the solution is to more consciously seek out time with both girls one-on-one. Doc and I could each take one and do something special with her and then the next week we could switch. It sounds pretty good to me. Now that I've had a taste of that special time, I find I'm craving more of it. If I seem clueless about all this, please remember: I was an only child. I don't have any real experience in a family bigger than three. I'm figuring it out, I think. But, I wouldn't turn away any helpful advice (hint, hint).