A Day in The Life - 1/4/11

I did two Day in the Life posts last year. One in March, and one in July. I had planned on doing 4, spread out thru the year, and obviously for various reasons that didn't work out. Most of those reasons were me forgetting all about it, but a few were me not feeling like it. Every 3 months seems often for such a boring, and yet time consuming to write, post. I plan on doing 2 this year. One in January (aka yesterday) and one in July. That way I still get the benefit of looking back on an "every day"day, and even one in different seasons, but there is actually enough time lapsed to make a difference in our lives.

This particular day ended up being an extremely boring one. But then again, that is pretty normal for us in the middle of winter when I dont much want to leave the house because it looks like this outside:
Anyways.

PART 1: A SLOW MORNING WITH NO WHERE TO BE

7:30 Zeke wakes up in his own bed. Since he went to bed last night, stayed in bed all night, and then woke up this morning, all without a tantrum, he gets to watch TV. (We have resorted to bribing our toddler with TV for every 12 hours he goes without tantrums. If he lasts the entire day he gets TV right before bed, if he lasts all night he gets it right when he wakes up. TV is really the only reward he cares about and sadly this hasn't really added up to that much TV.)

So Zeke picked out his outfit for the day, brushed his teeth, and requested Dinosaur Train. I made tea, checked my email, and start to read "Water for Elephants" while he watched his show.
After a little while Mal woke up too so I threw some pants over his onesie ( Now that its cold my "three outfits and then you are naked" rule might count as cruelty. So the new rule is Mal's clothes dont get taken off until they are destroyed. I still go thru 2-3 outfits a day.)

8:30 We "paused" Dinosaur Train and all went to go make breakfast. (Yet another *explanation* We never turn off a show around here. Instead we wait until riiight before the credits and "pause" it for "later". It doesn't matter to Zeke if "later" is days and days, and a toddler crisis is averted.)

Zeke and Mal both had Rice Chex while I did last night's dishes. Zeke ate 4 bowls worth. For some reason I thought I could have something different then them and made myself an onion bagel. After the boys saw it this is all that was left:
I made another.

9:30 I deposited the boys in the toy/school room, helped Zeke build a train track:
convinced Malachi the sound matching eggs were better then irritating his brother by destroying his train tracks:
and then gathered up all the bedding in the house for cleaning.

The boys had lasted that long nicely, even switching places with the trains, so I decided to risk a shower before starting the washer.
I only had to yell from the shower 3 times. Twice when Zeke locked Mal out of the room, once when Mal was "chasing" Zeke.

By the time I was clean, teeth and hair brushed, and dressed for the day, Malachi was standing at my legs desperate for attention and the sound of frantic barking and hysterical laughing told me that Zeke was playing with the dog.

So we cuddled up to read a few books. Mal especially enjoys the lift-the-flap ones.
Zeke gets jealous and says he's sick.
He has the tissues to prove it and blows his nose several times.
I offer to read "Thomas and the Naughty Diesel", Zeke's newest favorite book, and he agrees while arguing that "Diesel isn't naughty, he's a good engine!" Josh and I suspect that Zeke really identifies with Diesel.

Claudia is all riled up from Zeke's playing earlier so the boys and I throw the ball for her a while, we've been trying to get her to master the "give" lately. Mal especially loves to throw the ball.

PART 2 LUNCH AND SOME SCATTERED NAPS

11:00 Malachi gets hungry so I sit in the rocking chair to nurse him and suggest to Zeke that he play tug-a-war with the dog. The boys have a hard time playing catch with her without me, since Claudia wont forfeit the ball for them. But, being evenly matched in strength, tug-a-war is a perfect game.
Mal is acting sleepy so I take him upstairs and put him down for a nap. Zeke and I do some preschool. We sing, count, read a few books about snow, and play with some new play dough he got for Christmas.
Then he does art with some stickers at the kitchen table where he can see and talk to me while I do my daily chores (feeding the animals, sweeping, ect) and put some potatoes in the oven for lunch.
When he's done he asks if we can play Rock Band. I'm fine with that.
12:30 Malachi wakes up right in time for lunch. We "pause" Rock Band and doctor up our potatoes with sour cream and chives.
1:00 Zeke is delaying finishing his meal so that he doesn't have to take a nap. We argue about naptime, while I get out his special nighttime cup and put the (now clean) sheets on his bed. He asks for 400 different toys he needs to sleep with, and I finally threaten no TV if I have to come in the room again.

Mal plays in the living room while I spend a while online, writing this, reading blogs, checking my email, and asking for advice about nap time struggles on Facebook.
2:00 Mal is getting cranky so we spend a while playing together with stacking cups (he likes to put the little ones inside the big ones, and then take them back out). He's still cranky so nurse him and put him down for a nap on the couch (Zeke is STILL awake in their room- though quiet)
I light some candles and have some prayer and meditation time. Then I get Water For Elephants back out....its really good. I steal Claudia away from Mal to cuddle with.

4:00 Both boys wake up- almost simultaneously. They get diaper changes and then play with cars in their bedroom while I do all my Tuesday specific chores- puting all the clean sheets on beds, cleaning the litter box, cleaning up both bedrooms, and vacuuming upstairs.

PART 3 THE EVENING

Before I'm quite finished, or its quite 5 o clock, Zeke yells "Daddy!"

Yep, that was the door.

Malachi, who is usually thrilled to see daddy at the end of the day, wants nothing to do with him. Its true he hasn't had much mommy time. So Josh ends up making dinner according to my verbal directions while I stand in the kitchen holding Mal. It's Tuscan Soup.
While it simmers we all move into the livingroom where Zeke throws himself dramatically on the couch and says he's had a "very hard day." I ask him what would make his day better and he answers, peeking thru fingers, "cookies." Since I had been thinking that very same thing I agree and we head to the kitchen.
We make snicker doodle dough and then it in the fridge to cool. Malachi is now perfectly happy to sit in the livingroom with daddy. They throw the ball for the dog.

I put the last touches on dinner and Zeke sets the table.

We all eat. Malachi tries to jump out of his highchair several times.
After dinner Josh takes Mal to the bathtub and Zeke and I roll the cookies in sugar and cinnamon. Zeke then joins his brother in the bathtub
and I man the oven, clear the table, and look up the difference between different varietals of wine on the internet. Josh and I are talking down the hall to each other about wine, and trying to figure out which ones I'd like (So far I havent likeed Merlot (too bitter) or Chardonnay (too sour), but I DID like the Syrah my mom gave him for Christmas). Josh loves all wines so this discovery was exciting for him.

We pajama the boys, eat a few cookies each, and Josh and Malachi transfer our phone numbers to our new phones (we both got upgrades delivered in the last few days).
Zeke plays with his trains, I can hear him acting out Thomas and the Naughty Diesel. I sneak over to a corner to read more of my book.

9:00 Bedtime. Josh takes Zeke and I take Mal but I fail utterly and when he comes downstairs Mal is still up. So then Josh takes Mal as well, and I go back to my book, feeling just a bit guilty but not enough to stop reading.

It only takes him a few minutes to put Mal down (Josh has a magic touch) and we play a couple rounds of Blokus To Go (We aren't exactly "to go" but this version is 2 person, while normal Blokus requires 4). We each win once. Both games are very close.
10:00 Josh isn't feeling particularly well so we go to bed early.