Guest Post: Day 3
Friday, August 16, 2013
The girls must be adapting to my schedule unconsciously, as
today they both slept in until 7:30. Actually, Lucia woke up before Greta did
(well, Greta really woke up at 5:30am, but then only wanted her paw-paw and
then went back to sleep), and we tiptoed downstairs to have breakfast before
hearing Greta at almost 7:45. Wow. I could get used to this!
This morning, Margo gave the girls some new markers, Hello
Kitty pads, and Hello Kitty stickers, and they were in seventh heaven.
Lucia cherry-picked all of the markers she wanted out of Greta’s bucket before
Greta came down, but then I made her make sure each girl had an even number.
Lucia did wind up with all of the pink/purple/red colors, though, leaving Greta
with the blues and the browns. Greta didn’t seem to mind, though, and they went
right to work, applying the stickers to the pages, coloring with the markers,
and then coloring their hands with the markers, all before having anything to
eat. It was great, as I got to make myself a pot of coffee almost unmolested.
We had mini-bagels for breakfast, and each girl must have
had 1.5 of them (stop me if I’m giving you far too much detail in these posts;
I’m not sure how many of you are used to/interested in this level of daily
minutia. I’ll try to keep things interesting!).
My plan for the morning was to
take the girls to the zoo since the weather continues to be so amazing (in
fact, this morning my outdoor thermometer read 57! August?!?!). However, after
breakfast the girls went in to the living room and played so nicely together
that I was hesitant to break the spell. I fetched the paper from the front
porch and sat on the couch and actually read a bit, all the while watching the
girls play happily together with their markers and squinkies. We then decided
to head outside for a bit, and I decided that I’d try to let Lucia ride her
scooter on the road while I held Greta. This worked ok for a few minutes, but
then Greta started to object. So we pulled off the road in front of another neighbors
house and pet their sweet dog and collected acorns from the big tree in their
front yard.
Then occurred one of the more uncomfortable conversations that I’ve
had in Maplewood. Our neighbor mentioned that her dog Peaches liked to eat the
acorns in their yard, so it was fine if Greta and Lucia wanted to come back and
collect them, to which I replied “Oh, like the famous pigs in Spain?” She
looked at me blankly, so I continued: “Apparently the pigs for jamón Ibérico
are fed a diet of acorns for most of their life. It gives their ham that unique
flavor.” “I didn’t know that,” she replied, pulling her dog closer to her, or
so I imagined. Ugh. They probably all can’t wait for Margo to get back. (More
info on the acorn diet of pigs in Spain can be found in this NYT article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/travel/17journeys.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)
I have to say, though, that our neighbors have all checked
in on me throughout the past 2 days. “You doing ok?” they’ve yelled out as they
walk past the house. Many have stopped by to make sure we are all still
breathing over here. It has been touching, really, to experience.
As we walked back to the house, Lucia began making these
strange crying noises, and I was worried that something was wrong. I stopped
and said, “Oh, what is it? Are you ok?”
“Eeee! Eeeeeeee!!!” Lucia continued. What I should have
known, of course, or realized, was that this wasn’t Lucia who was crying, but
one of her stuffed animals inside the house.
“Oh no!” she said finally. “Cupcake is crying for her
mommy!” Ah, right. Periodically throughout the day, usually when there is a
lull in the action, Lucia will pull out this gem. There is no ignoring it. You
must respond in the following way:
“Oh Lucia, I think [Cupcake pillow, manatee, Squinkie, etc.]
misses her mommy! You better go and get her!”
Then Lucia will run upstairs to her room to get said animal
or object, and bring it down to you and exclaim “She really wanted her mommy!”
It is fun, and keeps you on your toes since you are never quite sure exactly
who it is that is missing her mommy.
Soon it was time for lunch, which today I decided we would
have as a picnic in the backyard. The mosquitos have lessened lately, either
due to the unseasonably cool weather lately or the spray I applied to the lawn
a few days back, so it was actually really nice to sit on a blanket in our own
backyard and a few plates of cold cuts, bread and butter, and (Margo, cover
your eyes) potato chips (gasp!). We played around in the backyard until 1pm,
and then headed up for naptime and quiet time. I actually made a quick work
call during quiet time, and responded to some email. Lucia was down in 60
minutes on the dot, and then Greta called out about 2:30, which was pretty
good. I came down with Greta just as Lucia was finishing up with her 20 minutes
on the iPad, and Greta screamed out “Pad!!” clearly wanting her own time with
this magical device (Margo, darling, we might have to talk about this when you
are back).
After refereeing another 10 minutes of iPad use, I then got
the girls into their shoes and we went back out to Taylor Park playground. The
rest of the day zipped along nicely from there, with Doc McStuffins on while I
made a mac and cheese dinner, eating out on the porch, and then a quick romp
around the yard before bath time and bed time.
The past few days Lucia has taken to running upstairs ahead
of Greta and I as we head up for bath time, and by the time I get to the top of
the stairs she has closed the door to her room. “Guess what, Daddy?” she says.
“I already cleaned up my room.”
I’ve been playing along and only going into her room after
putting Greta to bed, and then when I go into her room I exclaim “Oh no, Lucia,
I think a monster came in and played with all your toys and now we have to
clean up again!” She thinks it is hilarious.
Another fun, good day here on 25 Hickory Drive. No bleeding,
3 meals consumed, both kids asleep by 8:30. Success? We’ll take it one day at a
time.
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