Real-time Friday

6 a.m. We go get Kate out of bed. She first made noise around 5:30, I guess. Maybe earlier. We don't get her before 6, but she often wakes up earlier. We've tried various things to get her to sleep later, putting her to bed later or earlier, but the best solution appears to be curtailing her midday nap. Shorter naps have had her sleeping late. Of course, waking her up from a nap after she's been up since 5 a.m. also has its drawbacks. Jack also wakes up around this time, either because of Kate making noise or just because.

6:30 a.m. Downstairs, Jack doing a puzzle. Kate messes it up. We tell her to say Sorry; she doesn't. I make coffee, she comes in wanting breakfast. I say, first tell Jack you're sorry. She refuses, so I refuse breakfast. Five minutes later, she gets up, walks into the living room, walks up to Jack and holds her arms out for a hug. "Sorry, Jack," she says. It's a nice moment. Then she offers him her hand. "Breakfast?" They walk hand in hand to the kitchen for breakfast.

6:45 a.m. Breakfast is eaten, Jack and I finish his puzzle. A debate ensues over what to watch on TV. Kate has found the Finding Nemo VHS and wants to watch it, but Jack's not a fan. Something about all the scary stuff early on, which I kind of understand his feelings on. We settle on Madagascar, enabling Daddy to do a little work and drink lots of coffee without interruption.

9 a.m. Second breakfast. We have this because this is when I have my first breakfast, and me eating food prompts them to be hungry too. Waffles, bagels, bananas, it's a smorgasbord.

10 a.m. Jack plays with his castle and Kate plays with the pirate ship. Like talking to a pitcher during a no-hitter, I'm afraid to mention it further.

11 a.m. We play with Bakugan toys. Well, Jack and I do, while Kate uses the toy Dr.s equipment to check my ears and give me a shot. I get a bandaid, then she jams the thermometer into my teeth. Painfully. I guess I'm glad it wasn't my eye.

11:30 a.m. We're still playing with medical equipment. Kate takes my temperature with great enthusiasm. Jack does the same, and says, "uh-oh, Daddy." He shows me the thermometer with the wheel turned to sad face. I say, oh no. He says, wait! And checks it again, then turns it to happy face. Guess I'm OK.

12 noon. Lunch. Both eat yogurt. I give Kate avocado and tuna fish, the latter of which she doesn't eat, naturally. She takes one dainty, Kate mouth-sized bite. "No like," she says. I eat the rest. I make Jack a turkey burger, because there's leftover from last night. He grudgingly, eventually, eats it. It will be easier at afternoon snack when I'll offer them an apple, and they'll greedily wolf it down.

At lunch, Kate sings, a combination of Twinkle Twinkle and Itsy Bitsy Spider. She kind of mishmashes lines of different songs together, which is funny on its own, plus Jack corrects her. "Kate! It's not itsy bitsy STAR! It's Twinkle twinkle little star, and Itsy Bitsy Spider!" She says OK, sheepishly, but continues on with it anyway. Jack sighs and looks at me.

12:30 p.m. We play with blocks. Jack wants to make cannons, so we do that for a bit. Then he wants to make a dragon, so we do that too. Kate brings out one of her dolls, a baby (used to be Emily's, looks like a cabbage patch kid. Pretty cute). We spend 10 minutes putting her hat on...taking it off...putting it on.

1 p.m. It's time to put Kate down for a nap. "Not now, soon," she says. For Kate, "soon" is some distant point in the future. Even though she could barely keep her eyes open at around 10 or so. I say, yes, very soon.

1:15 p.m. Kate is standing near the couch, leaning back, sucking her thumb. I've been trying to get her to stop, at least at times not associated with wanting to sleep. Now, of course, she wants to sleep. So up she goes. I put her down on the changing table to check her diaper. "No, I'm good!" she says. "I'm GOOD." This is a phrase she's picked up from us. Turns out she is good. And tired.

1:30 p.m. Jack and I play with his cars a little bit, then I let him watch this short DVD that came with one of his toys -- basically a 10-minute commercial for Imaginext toys. I've now got the theme song stuck in my head. As he watches, I write this.

Jack wants to draw a picture of his dragon, using the DVD picture as a guide. I'm going to go watch.