Day in the Life - Fall 15'

Tuesday, October 13

Charlie: 5

Levi: 3

Nora: Freshly minted 1 year old!

I wake up at 6:45 when Levi crawls into bed with me for a few minutes. I hear the bus pull into the neighbors yard and know we have to get moving or we'll be late. So thankful that Charlie gave up about wanting riding the bus in the mornings because, 6:45...EWWW

Charlie & Erik are already up. Charlie is likely on the Kindle. Come out to find my massive pile of stuff all ready to go - clothes for all kids, diaper bag & work bag. Prep as much as possible the night before. I feed Nora & get her changed and ready for daycare. Erik takes her to daycare. Charlie has breakfast and finishes getting ready. I try to keep Levi moving and am working really hard on not having to tell him 10,000x to do something. I tell him to check his chart to see what else he still has to do to get ready to leave. It is semi successful. 

We have been lucky to get to school by 7:55-8:00 most days and Charlie has been saying he wants to get there earlier so that he can play outside before school. Usually, I just dump him off at the side door and tell him he'd better hurry as everyone else is already inside. Today we do manage to get him there a couple of minutes before the first bell so he gets to play for a bit.

Levi & I arrive at work/school. I am annoyed immediately because the light is flashing on the copier meaning that someone jammed it, ran it out of paper, or something else and hasn't bothered to fix the problem.

 

We get Levi's little pancakes warmed up in the classroom and he sits at the table by my desk to eat his breakfast. This little arrangement saves time in the mornings at home and keeps him occupied until his school starts so that I can get some work done. He also has a chobani tube, applesauce and other treats he found in my desk likely. He's very excited to be wearing his "Get to" shirt and it is quite large on him. I am a little jealous I can't wear mine, but Charlie & I will get to wear ours on Wednesday.

It takes him the full half hour to eat and then I take him to his classroom and let him give me a ton of hugs before he joins his classmates. I am not sure what I did the rest of the morning, but I'm sure it was super exciting. At 11am, I have to go out and bribe Levi to get into the school van with a Life Saver. That sure has been a life saver, lol...but I sneak it into his backpack and get him buckled into his seat in the van for him to have after lunch at daycare. He's off to daycare basically just to eat lunch, as I typically pick them up before naps. Today is a bit different as I have to stop and get a tire fixed before going home. My boss suggests lunch and I figure it's perfect since I have to drop the car off anyways. We hit up DQ for some $5 lunch. Erik picks the 2 little ones up and takes them home since I won't be able to get them before nap time.

When I get home, Levi is laying in bed and Nora is in the office. I am able to get Nora down for a nap quickly but Levi is determined to not nap. I finally convince Levi to just rest for 15 minutes and tell him I will set the alarm on my phone. He wants to rest on the floor so I snooze in his bed for 15 minutes with him asking every few minutes if it's time to get up yet. He always naps at daycare but I think these days they come home early he just can't transition to settle down and very rarely naps on those days. I could have used a longer nap but as soon as that alarm went off he popped up and announced it was finally time to make birthday cakes.

We have to make cakes for Nora's party this weekend. Levi & I have a standing baking date pretty much every Tuesday afternoon. I find an old towel to cut up and put around the pan so it bakes flat while Levi does the egg cracking and mixing.

Nora takes a short'ish nap. Then Levi gets in her business while she plays.

Snack time. Nora has an applesauce. Levi helps himself to applesauce & "just a few" goldfish. At ECFE yesterday, I put goldfish in a cup for the kids to dump on their napkins so he gets out a cup pours himself "just a few". Ummm, no. I assist him in getting an acceptable amount for snack. And the cakes are done.

I do remember that our dog had been barking non stop all afternoon. I was very annoyed but with all of the commotion in the neighborhood with harvest I wasn't surprised. Erik eventually came down to investigate and it turns out there was a stray cat in the garage and that is what she was so bent out of shape over. We hear the bus and Charlie comes in. He is also not tired and proceeds to flop around on the couch and wander around looking lost. It drives me nuts when he is exhausted but won't relax, but I'm sure it's tough after a long day at school and then being on the bus for an hour. As he's crawling around under the table I say it's time to go outside!

The boys go out back and the girls are right behind them. The neighbor's dog just got let out so she's terrorizing our cat, our dog is barking at the other dog and then Levi chases them all away. Poor Patricia finally sneaks under the shed door to get away from Coco & Levi.

They all love swinging.

Erik joins us and within a few minutes it's time for me to get ready to go back to work. Change back into my work clothes and head back to school. Tuesday nights we have a mixed ages class and we also do a little meal with the kids so that parents don't have to worry about making supper before coming or waiting until after class. Tonight is sure to be a hit - breakfast for supper! Oh, I did spend time that morning searching for a pancake recipe that didn't have eggs since we have an allergy. Of course, that child didn't attend. I get my tables set up for crafts & catch up with the MJ our retired parent educator who I teach this one class with.

Class goes well and the kids devour the pancakes. I'm bummed none of the kids are as excited about my leaf wreath project as I am, but there's so much to do and such little time at ECFE. After free choice we eat, then do circle time and then the parents have talk time. In this class the parents just sit one side of the classroom while I entertain the kids. I like it because I can eavesdrop a little during parent time - it's what I miss most about attending as a parent! As always, the highlight of class is playing with the parachute.

Class is done at 7pm and we make extra quick work of cleaning up and rush home. The kids are bathed and ready for bed. I take them up and read to them and put them to bed, then get Nora settled in for the night. Then Erik & I work on finishing up the dishes and cleaning up in the kitchen, getting bags packed and organized for the next day, setting out clothes for everyone and finally collapsing in bed. Tuesday/Wednesdays are exhausting for me since I teach Tuesday nights and then right away again on Wednesday morning. One child is up shortly after we go to bed...I don't remember who or why :)