Saturday Child Care

Sara and I share parenting as many parents do, working out the best overall balance for the family. Because I lead the building effort during the week, Sara bears the brunt of childcare for Aurelia during work hours. Come the end of the day and the end of the week, it is time for me to step up the child care.

Papa and daughter share some reading time before bed (Harry Potter book 6).

Aurelia's best friend Zane lives across the street from us with his parents Bear and Alyssa. Sara apprentices with Alyssa in her homebirth midwifery practice, which adds to the frequent opportunities for sharing time with each other and our kids. When there is an appointment or another event Sara and Alyssa both have to attend, Bear and I often hang out with the kids together or trade so one of us at a time can go do something else (there being no shortage of things on the to-do list in our lives here).

This Saturday afternoon while the two moms are at a womens' story sharing event, Bear and I are again sharing childcare. I finished some tree-trimming work with our electric chainsaw while Bear read to them for a while. Then for a while the kids largely took care of themselves, and now I'm hanging with them and Bear's outside doing something on his little digital device. I'm sharing some Leo Kottke guitar tunes, and I'm experiencing a pretty ok Saturday afternoon.

Later this afternoon: bottling homebrew beer with Sheila in Ironweed kitchen: Arrakis Ale, a spiced beer we made with Thomas some months ago, and which has somehow avoided being bottled all this time.

Tonight: party in Ironweed kitchen, partly to celebrate Sandy, our work exchanger from France who departs toward the end of next week, and partly to end the two-week drought of parties. Have to go clean up, and consider whether I still have time to oil the recently plastered window sills before the party.

Soon: more photos!