"Christmas Arting"

Although I have an amazing support system, I still have my kids the majority of the time. Jayden had one more week left of school before Christmas Break when I was admitted to the hospital, so he was pretty easy to take care of. Karah, on the other hand, got to spend quite a bit of time with my mom and a friend from church. Friday was the first day I had her to myself all day. Let me tell you: it is not easy to keep a highly imaginative, energetic, bored-out-of-her-mind 4 year old entertained when you are confined to bed rest. She was awake at 6:30 am, and by 10:30 am she was just as done with television as I was and we had already played with Barbies, blocks, My Little Ponies, and she had been a variety of Disney Princesses. She wanted to have a dance party and she did not understand why she was the only one dancing at this party. We've tried to explain to her that Mommy cannot get up from the couch, but when she sees me get up to go to the bathroom, she assumes I'm fine now. We are slowly and surely getting the point across. Anyway, after a half an hour of arguing about what we could and couldn't do for the day, and our tempers rising (and I may or may not have had a few painful contractions in during this discussion), I had a flash of brilliance: Art. What child doesn't LOVE art projects? Especially "no boundaries" art projects?? Okay, I will admit. There was a HUGE amount of desperation in my decision, but I gave my 4 year old child unrestricted access to a box of art supplies that included crazy scissors, glue, construction paper, glitter glues, jewels, buttons, tape, stickers, watercolor paints, gel pens, and markers. Yes. I know this blog is about how I am supposed to be saving my sanity, and this post probably eludes to the opposite, but. it. worked. With minimal mess! It actually made me laugh out loud at how excited she was. She couldn't believe it. She'd pick something up and say, "You mean I can use THIS??" over and over, with her pitch getting higher and higher with each item. She nearly threw herself into cardiac arrest with sheer excitement over this wonderful development. I highly doubt she would have been more excited if a pink and purple sparkly unicorn had appeared and given her a ride over a rainbow... She sat there for HOURS and worked hard on project after project, and even cleaned up after herself! I think she realized either my desperation to entertain her or the ENORMOUS privilege it was to get to "work" without me telling her what she could and couldn't use. She called it "Christmas Arting", and we have her handiwork all over the house and Christmas tree. Jayden has even gotten into it. They have letters ready to send to cousins, beautiful pictures for aunts and uncles, glorious portraits and Christmas cards for grandparents, and they.get.along!!! I know I have a long (hopefully) 10 weeks ahead of me, and that my kids and their interests are subject to change at any second, but I will take "Christmas Arting" as a win. It may be temporarily messy, but the peace, love, and beauty it brings to my house (and the fact that I don't have to get up to do anything) makes it totally worth it. My sanity will last another day!