Monday, August 30, 2010

McGaugh Family Movie Night #2

This week our McGaugh Family Movie Night fell on Saturday---which I declared a "total fun day" with no real chores (other than picking up toys and doing dishes) or worries. Every once in awhile, I believe, we need to treat ordinary days as if they are actually holidays.

We stayed in our jammies for a long time, made Katie's favorite breakfast (orange rolls, eggs, and bacon), read books, played with water and kitchen implements outside, and rested. Bill watched the kiddos while I took a nap---my first nap since Eric's birth. That was a wonderful treat. After my nap, I took a late walk with Katie and Eric to a nearby park. Katie and I climbed all over the play structure, looked for intriguing items in the grass, and held footraces. Eric snoozed. Katie loved our park time and got some great exercise.

Home again, we made our angel food cake for our movie dessert and cooked our pizzas. For MFMN #2 we chose E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial. Classic. Katie really enjoyed it, and she found parts of the film extremely emotional. Spielberg's heart-wrenching moments resonated with her. She did not want E.T. to return to his planet. For the past two days, she has been pretending to be E.T.

Up next for MFMN #3: The Princess Bride. Also a classic...and one of my favorites. We seem to be in the 1980s family movie genre... The challenge is definitely to find something all of us can enjoy together. I have several films on my Netflix queue, including Rosa's suggestion of The Neverending Story. Part of the fun for Katie and for me is planning all week for our movie night. We plan the movie and we plan the dinner. It's a special time when we look forward to all four of us cuddling next to one another on the couch. I think it is important, as we establish new patterns as a family of four, that many of those new patterns are something Katie looks forward to experiencing. She has had to give up (or learn to postpone or shift the time of) some of the routines that she and I had together for so long, so I want to show her how new traditions with all four of us are even more special. As I was telling her on Saturday, our "total fun day": anyone can make any day magic or full of fun at any time. We have to create our own exciting moments, our own wonder. We can choose by our own mindset and actions to make any day feel special or extraordinary, or as magical as a holiday.

I am already excited for next weekend!