2:00am Awakened by unknown. Creep around house checking on Frog and Duck, check local TV station's website for the current radar display. Sky flashes outside just before radar loads to show a whole lot of green, a little yellow and a few specks of red. Realize what did the waking, return to bed.
5:30am Awakened by unknown. Follow high-pitched screechy sound to DH's computer. Shut down computer. Screechy sound continues. Pick up DH's cell phone, discover it is the source of the sound. Attempt to turn phone off. Phone continues to screech. Attempt to turn phone off. Phone continues to screech. Attempt to turn phone off. Phone stops screeching with no indication as to why it was screeching to begin with. Return to bed.
5:35am DH's cell phone begins to ring. Curse. Return to phone, find that the alarm has activated the ringer. Press cancel. Phone continues to ring. Attempt to turn phone off. Phone continues to ring. DH approaches to see what's going on. Hold up phone, say "See?". Phone stops ringing without explanation. Lamb begins screeching. Return to bed, feed Lamb, doze listening to the Weather Channel.
6:30am Awakened by DH to say goodbye. Lamb squirms and gets ready to fuss. Kiss DH, feed Lamb, continue listening to TV, doze a little.
7:30am Power goes out briefly. Frog and Duck definitely notice the lack of Blue's Clues. Frog gets over it and begins to play with toys. Duck decides that it's not worth being awake if there's no TV and returns to bed.
8:00am Feed Frog breakfast, contemplate coffee. Decide coffee is an excellent idea since creamer was both bought and discovered yesterday. Open brew basket to find that the last maker of coffee (DH) did not empty the grounds afterward. Wrinkle nose and toss grounds. Wash basket and pot. Lamb makes squirmy noises. Check on Lamb. Get interested in the news story on TV.
8:30am Remember Frog at table, remember coffee pot. Place frozen breakfast sandwich in microwave. Lamb makes more noise. Check on Lamb. Remember contact lenses and begin morning grooming. Contemplate shower. Decide to wait until the electricity flying around in the sky subsides before encasing self in oh-so-conductive water. Finish morning grooming.
9:00am Remember coffee pot. Remember breakfast sandwich. Start coffee pot. Contemplate waking Duck. Settle on finishing breakfast before picking that fight.
9:30am Lamb demands to join the rest of the family in the living room. Frog thoughtfully points out that Lamb is wearing pajamas. Continue breakfast. Duck awakens in a surprisingly fair mood, then realizes he was sleeping and becomes quite cranky about it. Move Duck to table, set out breakfast.
10:00am Weigh Lamb's crankiness against the weather's cold and wetness. Decide to try a few more things before resorting to car ride. Notice that the materials for three new houses in the neighborhood have arrived. Watch large trucks come insanely close to the Diva's car. Go back into the house to deal with Lamb. Read story about a
bus-riding cat in England. Turn off Noggin, attempt to talk Frog and Duck into picking up the toys in Frog's room. They're not buying it.
10:30am Watch Lamb play in his bouncy and coo adorably for a few minutes. Contemplate taking some "me" time to puzzle out toe-up socks for Frog and Duck. Decide to stick to cleaning before the motivation is gone. Aim to complete Frog and Duck's rooms before Frog's speech therapy appointment. Take a few minutes to attempt wearing Lamb in his Maya Wrap. Find that he likes it until he starts to get warm. Abandon Maya Wrap to redress Duck.
11:00am Find parts to swing's mobile for Lamb. After 20 minutes of searching, realize that until it was needed, the rotating arm of the mobile was always underfoot. Arm is no where to be found. Continue trying to convince Frog and Duck to pick up their rooms. Have some success with Frog. Duck's still not following the party line. Notice new IM from DH. Learn what a
pidgin is. Vacuum Duck's room. Use last of carpet powder. Rip off most of toenail and bloody up toe attempting to move Duck's bookcase to vacuum behind it. Decide it's a good time for a break. Contemplate short run to the store for more carpet powder and band-aids. Check weather. Note barely drizzling rain and creeping warmth. Cringe at inevitable mugginess, start gathering children to make store run. Feed Lamb before leaving.
11:30am Power blinks out briefly. Wait for it to come back, check to make sure "save as draft" was used recently. Finish feeding Lamb. Head to store. Contemplate
this post that DH found about saving money by giving up TV. Decide I could live without the extra channels, but not the DVR. Admit my addiction to TV despite the one hundred fifty dollar a month bill (cable, DVR, telephone, and broadband bundle).
12:00pm Drive back from store. Get several stares and incredulous looks for wearing sunglasses in the pouring rain. Wonder how many people are aware that the polarized coating on some sunglasses will reduce the glare from the road spray, improving the driver's vision (not for everyone, not always safe, reader discretion is advised, YMMV). Sit in van and apply band-aid to bloody toenail while waiting for the rain to slack up. Oogle at how dark its gotten in just a few minutes. As soon as rain slacks, herd children into house and serve lunch.
12:30pm Remember that today is Tuesday and try to remember to keep an eye on the clock. Make mental note that the van must be on the road by 1:30pm in order to make Frog's speech therapy appointment on time. Shudder at thought of getting all three children to speech therapy office. Realize hunger, contemplate food choices. Frog and Duck finish lunch. Clean chocolate pudding from Duck's hands, face, shirt, neck, forehead and ears. Wonder what possessed mommy to give him such a messy item with his meal. Pick up lunch plates. Notice Frog has only eaten the "good parts", ie: the macaroni and pudding, from her meal. Send both Frog and Duck to continue cleaning Frog's room. Duck's still not getting with the program, start helping Frog pick up. Note time til speech therapy.
1:15pm Frog's room joins Duck's on the clean list. Duck celebrates the newly vacuumed floor by rolling on it like a cat in catnip. Frog celebrates by pulling several toys out of the overstuffed toybox. Mental note is made to sort through Frog and Duck's toys to see what can be gotten rid of, especially with Duck's birthday coming in a month. Begin packing diaper bag and selecting knitting project to take to speech therapy. Stop to referee a fight over whose milk is whose.
Yell Talk about cups not leaving the dining table. Settle on sock scrap squares for the sock yarn blankie as the traveling knitting. Contemplate taking the Maya Wrap.
1:30pm Get ready to walk out the door, notice rain has started again. Wait a few minutes for rain to slack up. While waiting discover that the previously buried by clutter bag sent by my Knit Mitt Kit Swap partner is perfect for holding purse contents, diaper bag contents, Maya Wrap and knitting project while quite neatly hanging across the chest messenger style. Fall in love with bag for cutting an arm full of junk down to one easy to carry bag.
1:40pm Check to see if rain has eased. It has not. Decide to use the dreaded (broken) side door to exit house with least amount of exposure to rain. Gather jackets and children. Duck is vocal about his crankiness. Hope silently that he naps during the ride and that the rain stops before we get there. Leave for speech therapy.
1:55pm Turn on to Ambassador Caffery
Spillway Parkway. Notice some sun trying to break through and remaining clouds swirling like rain bands off a hurricane. Think to self that this does not bode well for the upcoming hurricane season. Mentally try to calculate cost of purchasing enough plywood to secure all windows on the house before the season starts in seven weeks. Get headache. Drive through huge puddles, sending water splashing up as high as the top of the van, much to Frog's delight as she cries "All WET!" with each new plume.
2:10pm Arrive at speech therapy. Begrudgingly awaken Duck. Duck objects to being awake, quite vocally. While waiting for Frog to finish her session, get Lamb into his Maya Wrap where he snuggles in close and is quite happy until hunger sets in. Feed Lamb. Lamb falls asleep in Wrap. Duck continues to be vocal about his unhappiness.
3:00pm Frog emerges with sticker. Ask therapist about Duck's refusal to talk and constant humming. Therapist suggests getting pediatrician to refer for speech therapy evaluation. Duck punctuates discussion by humming loudly at mommy. Children are herded back to van.
3:15pm Frog falls asleep in backseat. Stomach growls and forgotten lunch is remembered. Checkers fries solve hunger and give Duck time to fall asleep again.
3:20pm Pass Doyce Langeaux's Store. Remember that today is the tenth. Continue to house, leave kids sleeping in van, run in and grab the water bill and checkbook. Return to Doyce Langeaux and pay water bill. Wonder if Calgon really can take me away.
3:50pm Arrive home, awaken Frog and Duck. Lure them into Frog's room with Blue's Clues. Begin working on bills and budget. Suddenly realize design project is due a week from Friday and *zero* work has been done on it. Return to bills and budget. Get headache. Call Frog and Duck to table for snacks.
4:25pm Take Lamb for new diaper, notice Duck's closet is horrendous. Realize that
Crazy Aunt Purl isn't so crazy. Decide to impose own "shopping moratorium" until at least May 1, 2007, with the option to extend. Include birthday and anniversary exemptions in moratorium. Begin looking for suitable containers for collecting "de-clutter" items.
5:00pm Give up looking for containers. Call Duck over to fix his shirt. Notice poopy hands. Discover Duck's been exploring his diaper. Change Duck. Wash Duck's hands and change poopy clothes. Notice full hamper. Start Frog and Duck's clothes washing. Fantasize about a lost masseuse knocking on my door and exchanging a back massage for use of the phone.
5:30pm Stop de-clutter hunt to start supper. Realize tomorrow is trash day. Make mental note to ask DH to take trash to curb. Decide to try
One-Pan Pasta and Meatballs from Betty Crocker's 4-Ingredient Dinners. Recipe claims to take 30 minutes. Omit disgusting olives, add frozen Creole seasoning in its place. Notice stove is covered in dirty dishes. Make mental note to ask DH to load dishwasher. Lamb becomes vocal about his empty tummy. Frog generously offers to feed Lamb and takes him his bottle. Seriously consider this a step towards her coping, think about re-starting her potty training in the morning.
6:00pm Check on far too quiet Duck. Notice the mess he's made of Frog's room. Decide to re-institute "pick-up clean-up" as part of nightly bedtime routine. Frog discovers jelly beans on the desk. "My Candies!" rings through the house. "Bye Bye Candies!" is met with a mournful "Nooooooooooo!" that sounds like someone just shot her best dog. Noggin on Demand comes to the rescue.
6:15pm DH arrives home, takes a look at Frog and Duck's room, "ooo"s excitedly at the smelly-good in the bedroom. Sees bloody toe, asks what happened. Tell him he can read about it later in blog post. Update post.
6:30pm Supper is served. Lack of hunger is noticed, sit at table with Frog and Duck anyway. Lamb lets loose a monster belch, then laughs and coos, quite pleased with himself. Attempt to eat some of supper, remembering
studies that found kids who eat family dinners are less likely to become obese, develop eating disorders or develop diabetes.
7:00pm Supper finished. "Bathtime" is met with an emphatic "no". The threat to re-institute "pick-up clean-up" is carried out. Baths begin. Frog delights in splashing as much as humanly (or toddlerly) possible. Duck checks in on progress. Notes that Frog is indeed taking a bath. Duck attempts to brush his own teeth, succeeds in filling toothbrush with hair. DH feeds Lamb and attempts to lure Duck over. Duck's not cooperating.
7:30pm Storytime. Frog objects strongly. Both Frog and Duck get their story, song, hug and kiss. Call it a day, publish blog. Head over to talk to Diva for a bit.
Labels: parenting
