Moving slowly

Pera's dad and I have crafted this finely tuned schedule in which one of us is home with Pera each day; so we can parent, play and experience the world through our ever changing 2 1/2 year old. We try to live slowly. We don't rush here and there.. Being one who has rarely ventured into the mall or other such place its not hard to say, "Okay, any where we go today we will walk, skip or hop! No cars, errands can wait."

That said, it's not always easy to slow down. We have had to set some ground rules for ourselves, like no crackberries at the table and when the girl says "Let's Play!" we do it. At the same time because we work at home (this is how we have made the schedule work day to day), she says things like, "Email dada!" When you work from home its easy to just work from dawn to well past dusk, because you don't ever leave your office. It gets tricky. For us slowing down includes not being plugged in all the time, with blackberries and wireless internet its hard to unplug sometimes!

So slowing down for us means setting those artificial limits so that we can enjoy our time with Pera and nourish our family connection while attempting to balance work with life. I was reading this article in this month's Parent Map and found there is yet another lable for this type of parenting: Slow Parenting. Slowing down and really enjoying the moment. Bouncing on the bed, dancing in the kitchen to "Dancing Queen"and having pancakes for dinner (and sometimes lunch, and definetly breakfast) are ways in which we parent slowly around here.

I know I am a mama to one, and going through this for the first time its easy to get on a soap box. There is a lot of privelege in the "choices" we make. Not many have such versaltile work schedules to do what we do.

I so much want to thank Pera for all she is teaching me a long the way. I may get razzed for staying in my jamas until 11 am some days (heck I don't think I get out of them some days). But I wouldn't trade in this time for the world. Being slow is a conscious choice. Being in our jamas, walking to the park (after changing clothes most days), or reading books in bed until we hanker for some pancakes with blueberries are all ways we physically slow down.

This month we are looking at a preschool for Pera. Not preschools, just one preschool. There is one 2 blocks from our house that is a cooperative school, which means parents are way involved in the day to day of the school's operation. There is very limited space. Most of the moms in our hood that we have talked with are applying to 4 - 5 some have looked at 19 schools! We have looked at one. It fits us. And if we don't get in, we can try for the next year. We will continue to fill our days with play, walks, books, and exploring the world around us, slowly.