attention span.

i'm not really into reading books about how to be a good mom, or really about how-to anythings because i mainly think they're ridiculous... but.

i do tend to read other people's blogs for ideas on things to do with samil during the day. i mean, i would love to have no responsibilities and be able to play with him for hours and hours, but that's not reality. mostly because i work. and he needs to be independent, too.

i have a real problem with kids who can't entertain themselves unless they're watching tv.

and that's the problem. i don't want to plop samil down in front of the tv when i've got things to do and he's getting to that point where he doesn't need two long naps a day (though he still does need two, just the morning one is way shorter than it used to be). of course, there are times where i throw in a movie and hope for the best, but i guess because it's so rare, he's not really into it.

he likes the music from hi-5 and if it's on, he'll go about his playing and dance along. he likes the music from backyardigans, but i doubt he'd know who they were if there was no music. and that's about it.

so anyway. i've been reading other momblogs. and i really loved the idea of a set playpen time everyday. i started him at 10 minutes a day - which is kind of long, but samil chose the time... he didn't start whining until around minute 9. and we're not up to 25 minutes a day. i throw in all of his toys and put the thing on the balcony so he can still see everything that is happening. it works like a charm.

why i really like it is because it's teaching him that he has limits, that he can't just do or go wherever he feels like it all the time. the independent play is nothing new, though, for an only child not in daycare. he's quite the independent player with or without the playpen.

it also helps him to just be. and it's helping him to be able to sit still. in collaboration with the playpen time we've been leaving him in church longer. the church has a really great nursery with a lot of toys... but if we're getting up to go to church on sundays with one of the reasons being that we think it's an important routine for samil, he needs to be in church with us. at least for most of the service.

we've been going to an evangelical-ish baptist church - which means no liturgy, just some free-form worship and a sermon. (i'm getting to be okay with that... i like the music and the pastor is good, so i deal with the compromise... it could be worse, it could be pentecostal or one of those churches where women have to cover themselves and aren't allowed to speak...) so we leave samil in for the singing and now we're trying to get him through the sermon.

no pews, but lots of plastic chairs... and you can bet that after about 5 minutes of the sermon, samil got down on hands and knees and made his way all the way to the pulpit. and started talking to the pastor. i don't know how he made it so far so fast without getting stuck in people's feet, but he did it. and it was hilarious (i know you're not supposed to think those things when your kid does something like that, but it was and he's a baby, give him a break).

so much, i guess for limits.