Play time

Terence and I are trying to encourage Kai to play on his own, and understand that other people too need to have time to themselves to get things done. So Terence created this little "fence" of toys (plus cushions to soften his falls), allowing him to entertain himself whever he turns.

If he's with me, playtime is typically in the morning after his breakfast and I need him to "mind" himself while I get dressed for work or get some chores done. Over the weekends, I'll schedule another playtime in the afternoon after his nap. But I'll sit by him and read, something which I used to do quite a lot until he came along. These sessions never last very long though as he'll get bored with his toys.

I was initially reading "A spot of bother" by Mark Haddon (author of "Curious incident of the dog in the night time") during these sessions. It's tough to follow the plot as I only managed to read a few paragraphs--if I'm lucky, a full page--before I'm interrupted by an "Erhhh!"

Just a few days ago, I met Aileen for lunch and she gave me "Like the flowing river"--thoughts and reflections of Paulo Coelho (author of "The Alchemist"). The short stories are short enough (some are just one paragraph long) to read while I mind Kai, and each contains a message that one can mull over for a while. It is a Christmas gift tailored just for these playtimes. Love it.