sv evi

As a parent, it feels there is never enough time in the day. Well, never enough time (and energy) in the day for me to do things for myself.

In the States, I was working a little under 50 hours a week teaching Spanish at a high school. When I got home, I wanted to spend time being a mama to the kiddos I hadn’t seen all day. I left the house before the kids got up, and I got home about 3 hours before bedtime.

Here I’m not working! Wow, what a luxury. 

I’m definitely still busy AND I also have some time in the mornings to do yoga in my house. I have some time to write on the blog. I have played Ultimate Frisbee on Sunday mornings. I began reading Mary Oliver’s book of essays. Riki and I (and Luz) go out to breakfast once a week in the city center.

It feels so good to not feel like I am constantly running, constantly exhausted…feels so good to have more energy for myself and for my life partner at the end of the day when the kiddos are down.

Also, we have the incredible gift of having a lot of time to spend with our kids. Since we moved to Ecuador, Tomu has really taken an interest in playing cards. In the States he already knew how to play uno, and we had played war a few times, old maid a few times, go fish. 

But now I’ve taught him 99, knock, castle, king’s corner, fancy crazy eights, casino, and spades. His favorites are castle and war. He knows how to sort his hand by suit and number. He knows how to count high cards which will take tricks so he can bid in spades. He knows some strategy in castle. He knows which card wins in war, and by how many. He loves learning new card games, so much so that I have to ask my siblings to think of new games I can teach him. Since I love playing cards, I am delighted by his interest. I think it’s a good sign that he’ll play bridge with us in the future. 🙂 

Jade also plays cards with us, because she always wants to do what Tomu does. She can play uno by herself, and otherwise we help her by telling her what to play.

We play cards every day, sometimes even before the kids leave for school in the morning we’ll get a game in; it’s a good activity for one parent to do with the kids to free up time for the other parent.

Tomu playing clock, a solitaire game