Cuaresma

Today is Ash Wednesday and therefore the first day of Lent (Cuaresma). We have 40 days and 40 nights ahead of us for prayer, repentance, and penance. I have fasting to do today plus no meat and then no meat on Fridays until Easter. C.J. and I attended the 12:10 pm Liturgy at our church to receive the ashes. Now, most people usually give up a certain luxury for Lent - sweets, alcohol, cursing, bread, sex, even social media - whatever most can think of that will be somewhat difficult to endure. Although I am going to watch what I say as far as cursing goes, (I know I can have a "sailor's mouth" on me when I get going), I've decided to go a little different this year.

I am going to change a few things about myself, what I do for C.J. and our daily routine. Things have really changed for us since moving back to Texas and with Erick being gone and with us not being in a place we call "home." I've noticed a change in me, it is not necessarily bad, but I know I can do better. I just want to be a better Mother to C.J.

I actually started a few weeks ago:
C.J. now has a bedtime of 9pm. He is no longer napping during the day so this has been pretty simple to achieve. At 8:30pm he brushes his teeth, goes potty, and changes into his pj's. He is in bed by 9pm and usually out within 10 minutes.
We now wake up at least by 9am. Since Erick  had returned to Japan, we've been sleeping in 'til about 10:30 or 11:00am - this just seems too late for me. So from now we wake up at 9am, I have coffee and he has breakfast.
Our schedule continues as follows:

C.J. will watch his Leap Frog Numberland DVD, then he will watch his Your Baby Can Read DVD - he is not allowed to play with toys during this time so he can pay attention. We go over ABC's - I point to his refrigerator letters and we sing them aloud. We go over numbers (1 - 20) in English and Spanish, same as ABC's, I point and we recite them.


We also go over ABC's in Sign Language and a few words everyday. Lastly, we practice writing his name on a sheet of paper. I have started with just "C.J." for now but once he shows more improvement we will move on to his full name - Cristián. I am actually really proud that he has picked up his initials quite rapidly. He is doing very well.

All the things we do are not new to him, he's known all this for a while now, I just don't want him to forget these things. I know that this knowledge and education can only benefit him later.
Since his grandparents' Christmas gift of a Nintendo DS, all he wants to do is play it. I am no longer allowing this. He is limited to 2 hours per day of play on the Nintendo DS.
All this is done throughout the day. I do not do everything back-to-back, I don't want to overwhelm him. This helps the day go by a little faster and we enjoy ourselves too. He still watches his favorite shows on Disney and Nick Jr. and he plays with his toys throughout the day. We still play Candy Land, the Memory Game, Play-Doh, we do puzzles, color and paint. He also has some very fun and educational toys that I prefer he play with also so we practice reading, writing, and spelling.

I have also limited the use of my laptop, Twitter, and Facebook accounts. I get emails and alerts to my Blackberry so there really is no reason for me to constantly be in front of the computer. I keep myself busy with C.J. and with daily household duties and at 5pm I have my workout time - everyday. I am now playing softball on Sundays so that is another form of "me" time and exercise I get.
And C.J. loves it because he gets to play in the park. (My friend Maria watches him as I play so she is a big help.)

I don't want to think that I am being strict, because that is not the case, but I also don't want to be labeled as a lazy Mother either. I didn't grow up with the attention from my parents that I would have liked and I don't want to smother him either, but I want him to know and trust that I will always support him and help him in any and every way possible.
I just want to do better for him....