I feel like with a kid life changes so fast – your daily routine will be different in just a few months, and never repeat again. So I wanted to get down a few notes about how our lives are going this winter.
We’ve been watching another baby since July, all day Tuesdays and Wed., Thurs. Fri. mornings until 1 p.m. She’s 7 mos. old now and it’s working out really well – their family lives just a few blocks away and her mom works from home so the schedule is really flexible.
I was worried about what we’d do now that it’s cold spending so much time inside (because I can’t drive anywhere with both babies) but the days have a way of filling up. There are plenty of friends to come over a couple days out of the week, and my grandma (Jane’s “g-non”) comes over every Wed. It’s definitely a highlight of our week, she brings us coffee from Caribou (by us I am also including Jane – she actually likes cold black coffee – Nana let her have a sip once, thinking she’d leave it alone after that, but she always wants more. Nana says she is a “good little Swede” =) and usually some fruit or toys from the thrift store too.
Some days Jane drives me crazy with all her whining and constant talking and I think wow I NEED to get a job outside the house and get this kid in pre-school. But then I realize, again, that lucrative part time jobs are hard to come by when you factor in child care costs. And even if I found one that was worth it financially, I would hate hate hate having to get somewhere in the morning and probably work in an office and have to be nice to people I don’t really like. When I think about that I really appreciate the arrangement I’ve got.
It’s pretty awesome that we’re done watching the baby at 1 p.m. because that’s when Jane naps so I get a break right away. She held on to the 2nd nap well past 18 mos., but it slowly disappeared and after some struggle she’s settled into a reliable 1 hr. 15 min. afternoon nap, but sometimes up to 2 hrs.!
When she wakes up we usually go to the gym. I’m not a big fan of the gym, but don’t know what I’d do without it in the winter. The kid’s club is only $10/mo. on top of my $32/mo. membership and Jane loves going there. And I’ve realized if I make sure to take the classes and not get stuck on the treadmill watching Fox News or Desperate Housewives, I can actually enjoy the gym too.
We get home around 6:00, right when Daddy gets home, Jane eats dinner and goes to bed at 7:00 now that it gets dark so early. She was going to bed 8:00 or later in the summer.
Ok onto some of the cute stuff she does at this stage. She talks nonstop (can be funny or annoying!) narrating everything going on. A recent morning “Daddy in da bathroom! Daddy flush dat poop! Daddy wash da hands! Daddy dry da hair! …. (turning to the fridge where we colored the turkey out of the t-day paper) Mama coleed dat chicken orange! I want da nummy PLEASE MAMA! I want dat apple sauce! Apple sauce! (repeated a few dozen times).
When I make her oatmeal and we sit down to eat she likes to list all of the things that went in the oatmeal. “Flac (flax) IN, applesauce IN, milk IN, alm butt (almond butter) IN” And lots of times she will thank me for the food too. “Tee To Mama!”
She absolutely loves smoothies too. Lots of times I’ll make a smoothie for myself while she’s taking her nap and save some for her. When she wakes up (always suuuuuuuuuper cranky wake up!) I’ll rock her on my lap for a minute and then say “Guess what Mama made while you were sleeping?” …. “smooovie?” and she runs for the kitchen.
Don’t mess with my smoothie!
When I come around to open her car door I always laugh when she says “OPEN!”. And I always try not to laugh when I go to brush her teeth and she looks at me defiantly and says “CLOSE!” and closes her mouth…
The past couple weeks she has been obsessed with the moon too. I don’t think either one of us has ever pointed out the actual moon to her, she must remember it from Goodnight Moon. She says, SO excitedly, “I found da moon!!” when she sees it out of the car window. And when we turn away, “bye bye moon!”.
So that is life right now. I’m always thinking about future possibilities…. pre-school, a different job for Nathan, a side job for me (I’ve always thought about becoming a health coach…) timing of a 2nd child, a different house? But things are pretty good how they are.
That pea soup smoothie looks nummy.
Actually TS, no peas, just celery, parsley, and kale… plus lots of fruit… try it, you might like
I like my kale rubbed with olive oil, roasted in the oven then sprinkled with salt. Lots of salt.