This was my first-ever full day alone with both Jack and Kate. Emily went back to work a week ago, but her Dad was off last Friday morning (which is the day Jack isn't in daycare). Today it was all me. It's late and I'm beat, but I'm still going to -- quickly -- go hour by hour, more or less.
8:00 a.m. Emily leaves for work. Jack wants to watch TV, which he does while I give Kate breakfast. She's not overly into eating and seems cranky. I end up putting her down for a nap around 8:30, hopeful I'll get 90 minutes out of it. Sadly, while I'm putting her down, Jack has a potty accident. On the couch. It's extremely rare, enough so that we think it's an attention thing. He seems to have them when one of us is upstairs with Kate. I throw the slipcover and Jack's clothes in the wash.
9:30 a.m. Kate's awake. Not good. Ideally she gets about a 90-minute to two-hour nap in the mornings, I give her her first bottle at 11 a.m., and we're off to a decent day. Her being awake this early -- especially considering she woke up at 6 anyway -- will probably be bad later.
10:00 a.m. I'm encouraging her and Jack to play...basically stalling giving her that first bottle. At 10:30 though, it's clear I can't stall any longer -- she's not happy. I give her her bottle while Jack and I watch....I don't even remember now. Might have just been baseball highlights.
11 a.m. We pile into the car for Jack's haircut. Basically getting out of the house for an activity is essential. I push it by going to the post office to return a package, the bank to deposit a check, then haircut, then -- since we're out of the essentials, meaning bread for Jack's lunch and half and half for my coffee -- the supermarket. Jack wants to ride in the cart, so I stumble into the supermarket with half-asleep Kate's car seat on my arm pushing Jack in the shopping cart. I feel like a bad cliche of a Mr. Mom movie. I'm sure people are staring, especially as I stumble around with the both of them getting groceries. Yes, I'm one of those people who thinks they're going in for two things and end up with my arms full of 10 or so.
12:30 p.m. We go through the Wendy's drive-through. Going to the supermarket to get food for lunch makes it too late to consider going home to make lunch. Plus, I don't want a jelly sandwich.
1: 00 p.m. Jack eats his nuggets and fries. Kate eats her avocado and yogurt. I eat my chicken sandwich. I feel a sense of accomplishment.
2:00 p.m. We've had lunch and played a bit. Kate's getting cranky. I didn't bother trying to put Jack down for a nap. At some point he said he was going upstairs for a nap, went upstairs, then came down 2 minutes later. "I did have a nap!" he insists. OK, Jack.
2:30 p.m. I give Kate her second bottle and eventually get her down for a nap. Jack is watching A Charlie Brown Christmas on VHS. He's not exactly a slave to the seasons. Later he'll watch the Halloween special on DVD.
3:30 p.m. Kate's awake, as I'm reading stories to Jack. She's wailing and I tell him I have to go upstairs. "One more story!" he insists, with the hint of a whine that says, no, I haven't napped. I say, Jack, what if I left YOU upstairs wailing like the way Kate is wailing? He is unmoved, but I go anyway. Get Kate, change her, bring her downstairs. Jack wants to go outside and is at the door with his shoes on the wrong feet. You'd think he'd only do that 50 percent of the time, but it's much closer to three quarters.
4:00 p.m. We sit in the back yard. Kate doesn't know what to make of grass, which is to say she doesn't like it. I hold her a lot of the time, then bring out a blanket for her to sit on so I can toss a ball around with Jack. We do. She crawls to the edges of the blanket.
4:15 p.m. Jack wants a snack. We go in. He wants to come back out. I talk him out of it in favor of playing with the beach ball inside. I think Kate has had it with the grass.
4:45 p.m. I start dinner. Jack helps me open a can, which is a big thrill for him.
5:15 p.m. Mommy home. Day not so bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment