Guest Post: Day 4

Saturday August 17, 2013

Last night didn’t go as smoothly as the previous nights. Bath time and bed time went smoothly, but around 1am Greta started crying. Usually, giving her a pacifier and a quick pat on the back sends her back to sleep, but not this time. After continued crying I picked her up and rocked her and she put her head on my shoulder and soon feel asleep, but as soon as I put her back in her crib, she would start screaming again. After a couple repetitions of this, I sat down in the rocking chair with her and offered her some water, which she quickly pushed away. After about 20 minutes of rocking, I again tried to put her back in her crib, but she wouldn’t have any of it and started screaming again. This time, I left the room and let her cry for about 3 minutes, then went back in, picked her up, and sat back in the rocker. This time she drank some water, and after 5 minutes or so let me put her back in her crib and she finally fell back asleep. Whew.  

I woke up to hear Lucia walking down the stairs at about 6:20am. I called out to her and she ran into my room. I told her it was too early to get up, and she said ok and went back to her room, but then I heard her singing rather loudly, so I got up with her and we went downstairs. A touch early in my opinion.

We went downstairs and Lucia ran to the kitchen table excited to find her daily gift from Mama.  Today it was a Cinderella squinky along with a small square board book. Soon, Greta was up, too, and a small squabble ensued as Lucia immediately wanted to trade squinkies with Greta, who had gotten an Ariel squinky. Greta protested, and then finally agreed, but as soon as Lucia got her hands on Ariel, she had buyer’s remorse and insisted on trading back. Greta was amenable, however, as she sometimes is, and we were able to move on to breakfast without further incident.

After a few mini bagels (I know, mini bagels again, but we were basically out of milk!) we changed clothes and headed back to Taylor Park.  The girls were tired today, and we only stayed for 45 minutes or so, and then headed to Trader Joe’s to get milk and a few other necessities. The girls held up admirably at TJ’s, even though we were already pushing 11:30 and I could tell they were hungry.

When we got home, I made the questionable decision to not only have another picnic lunch in the backyard, but to also have hotdogs prepared on the grill. This may sound like not too bad of an idea, but logistically it was a nightmare. Basically, I had to get everything we would need on a tray, move the tray and the girls outside, fire up the grill, keep the girls entertained and away from the hot grill while the hotdogs cooked, unable to go inside at any point as then I wouldn’t be able to stop the girls from touching the grill. It was ridiculous, but I did it. Lucia, of course, had like three bites of hotdog.

1pm sharp we were up for quiet time and naptime. Greta slept until almost 3pm. Lucia called down to me regularly during her quiet time, and started saying how after quiet time she wanted to build a fort in the living room, so that is what we did. Greta didn’t quite get the point, and regularly walked into the blankets creating the fort, or tried to step on top of them.

The Fort got us through most of the afternoon. About 4:15 we went outside and Lucia rode her scooter on the road. We were out there for over 20 minutes and didn’t see a single car. Dinner was leftover mac and cheese, and then we went over and saw our neighbors for about 15 minutes before it was time for bath and bed.

Lucia and I have an elaborate bed time ritual, which usually involves reading 2-3 books, singing 2-3 songs, multiple hugs and kisses, at least two trips into the bathroom for water and itch ointment, lots of pleading for water, crackers, etc., and usually two trips up to talk to her on the landing of the stairs.

We’ve also lately been stuck on a rather strange selection of bedtime songs, usually covering at least some of the following: Let it Be, Hey Jude, If I Had a Hammer, Mary Lou, Do You Wanna Dance, All my Life’s a Circle, Taxi, Margaritaville, Come Monday. Quite a list.

And so ends my four days alone with the girls. Margo’s parents arrive tomorrow. It has been incredible. Rewarding, fun, full of love, sometimes frustrating, constantly in motion. I can’t wait to do it again.

Andrew