Kids on Vacation, Day 2

- Jack naps at school but not at home. So by today, he hasn't napped since last Thursday. It starts to catch up with him. He starts getting more tired easier, a little crankier, a little whinier. It actually wasn't bad today, though he was just a little bit sleepier than usual.

- It's great playing with Jack, but there are times when it can be frustrating. Every so often I need him to play on his own, but if you tell him that, he generally reacts poorly. "But I don't want to play on my own....it's no fun....Daddy...." I feel bad writing it because plenty of times I really want to play with him, and it's not like he's here all the time. Still, a common scene these last couple of days is Jack wanting me to play with the castle with him at the same time Kate is walking over waving a book, and meanwhile I haven't had breakfast yet....I have no idea how people do this every day, week after week. I have a tremendous amount of respect for it, it's insane. This is my second day of being alone with both kids and I'm freaking exhausted.

- There was a 2 p.m. movie at the library, the animated classic Charlotte's Web. I loved it as a kid and so decided to take Jack and Kate to it. Kate normally naps from noon to 2, so I put her down a little earlier. At 1 or so, she woke up, and I started to give her lunch. Jack and I had already eaten. At 1:20, I figured it was time to get ready to go. (It's about a 10 minute drive to the library, tops.) Well, by the time I'd cleaned Kate up, changed her diaper, dressed her, got Jack dressed, had him go to the bathroom, put water and snacks in the diaper bag, got their shoes on, got their jackets on, put a leash on Jack's puppy (a string from a gift Aunt Robin gave him on his stuffed puppy), got them both into the car, and pulled out, it was 2. All the way there I said to Jack, they might not let us in, we'll just look at books, etc. (Jack was not thrilled at the possibility of being denied a movie.) We parked, went into the library, hoofed it up to the third floor children's room....only to discover the movie was in the auditorium, which was downstairs and outside and into a little theater. We got there just in time to see Fern crying as she had to give Wilbur away. Excellent.

- The movie itself was still fun. Granted, the next scene we saw was Wilbur being told by the sheep he'd be killed and turned into bacon and ham, and Wilbur wailing, "I don't want to die!" Jack looked a little taken aback by the whole thing, as was I (I believe the sheep used the word "killed" four or five times), but that was better than the kids ahead of us who started wailing and had to be taken out of the theatre. In fairness, that happened every 10 minutes or so, and it didn't always involve threats of death to Wilbur; on at least one occasion it happened when Charlotte was singing about keeping your chin up and another when Temptleton was having his smorgasbord at the County Fair, a scene that ages surprisingly well; I think I laughed as much as Jack did at Templeton's big belly.

- Kate pointed at the screen saying "Bahhh! Baaa! AAA!!" for about the first 10 minutes; fortunately we were near the back. Then she settled in for a bit, then wanted to walk up and down the aisles, then sat in a seat, then was back on my lap, then walked around, then fussed a little, then enjoyed a snack of water and goldfish (good call, Daddy), then reluctantly watched, then enjoyed the music, then walked around some more. Jack danced in the aisles during a couple of songs late, which was nice. I had forgotten things closed with a barbershop quartet singing about Some Pig. Anyway, it was fun. We made it till the end, much to my surprise. Oh, when Kate saw people clapping for Wilbur on the screen, she clapped too.

- Driving home I was exhausted. Planning to make eggs and toast for dinner, before later sucking it up and making fajitas, which of course the kids didn't eat anyway. While I did that, Kate got into trouble. Repeatedly. Messing up Jack's lego towers ("I mind!" he yelled), pulling leaves off our plants, climbing on top of the DVR (gah!), climbing on the stairs, pulling caps off markers....just being Kate, basically.

- Music on the radio as I did dishes; Human League I think. Jack started dancing. Making silly faces, throwing his elbows around, shaking his hips. Then he came around, stood behind me, and put his hands on either side of my hips. "Daddy, shake your butt!" And laughed hysterically. I don't know what to say to that one.

- Day ended standing in the doorway to Kate's room right before we put them to bed, watching Jack and Kate play with one of her stacking toys -- putting different sized rings onto a post. "Here, Kate," said Jack. "First you put on yours. Now it's my turn. Now you. Then..." Kate laughed and clapped. And then they did it over and over again. That was OK.