Kids on Vacation, Day 1

The kids are home all week, so I'm going to blog every night -- I hear that "daily" is actually something many bloggers do -- about the highlights and lowlights. Here goes.

- Both kids slept well, a major plus. If either wakes up too early, the other normally does, too. The results include the day starting way too soon, Kate wanting to nap too soon, Jack getting cranky too early, etc.

- At one point Kate and Jack both seemed to be playing nicely, so I went in the kitchen to wash a few dishes. I'd only been in there a few minutes when I heard Kate coming over out of the living room. I looked down, prepared to be annoyed that she wasn't still playing happily. She stood there, looking up at me, holding a large book in her hands, extending it slightly. Her eyes looked hopeful. How does anyone resist that? The dishes could wait.

- Kate was sitting on my lap as I read a book to her. Jack came over and sat down next to us, listening. Then he moved closer. Then he sat on my right knee. Then they were both on my lap, elbows cramped against each other. Cute.

- The cleaning crew showed up at 11, around the time Kate appeared to most want a nap. Excellent. But, we played downstairs while they cleaned upstairs and then she napped anyway when they moved downstairs. Jack and I sat in his room and played with lincoln logs. We made a doghouse for his small stuffed dog -- his favorite stuffed friend today.

- Jack played fetch with Kate. He sits on the couch, she brings him stuffed Backyardigan toys, he tosses them across the room, she laughs and brings them back. I know it's terrible, but they both seem to enjoy it, so I don't have the heart to say it's wrong or whatever. Now that I think about it, Kate often brings me my shoes (without my asking) or my slippers (if I do). Hmm. She likes to bring things from one place to another, I think it's really that simple.

- Jack and I did a puzzle composed off little blocks (there are six different puzzles you can make, one for each side of the cube. As we worked on the puzzle, Kate took the blocks one by one and brought them over to a table, where she made a stack. Her stack was at 5 by the time we had the puzzle complete (except for 5 missing pieces). At this point, something had to give. Kate moved onto something else and Jack and I finished the puzzle.

- Kate likes to have books read over, and over, and over. There's this "touch and feel wild animal." It has eight pages, and about five words on each page. "Touch the lion's furry mane." That kind of thing. Pretty dull, right? I read the thing about 10 times today. IN A ROW. You would think she'd get tired of it. She did not.

- Both appear to love the same foods right now. Yogurt, apples, goldfish. I gave Jack an apple while Kate was napping. When Kate woke up, she had an apple, while Jack had yogurt. Then she wanted yogurt. And Jack wanted more apple. I then gave Jack a few goldfish. Kate wanted some goldfish too. Then Jack reached for a slice of Kate's apple. It was a scene. Tomorrow I will do things differently.

A pretty good day. Tomorrow we'll leave the house.