Atlee wakes me up at 6:45am because she took the backpack and helmet off her Astronaut Bear overnight and can't find them now. I find them hidden in the covers, then tuck her back into bed to hang out until her "ok to get up" light goes on at 7:15am.
Miles heard the commotion and he's up. He talks to himself in the crib until a bit before 7am until I have to go in for him. I'm too bleary-eyed to remember to take pictures, but I record his morning conversation.
In his crib: "Mommy? Mommy? Mama? ....."
I arrive: "Hi! Hi! Guy?" (he wants help finding his stuffed friend, Guy)
Nursing: "Side? ... Done! Guy? Ah-ee?" (looking again for Guy and now for Atlee)
Looking at my computer: "Eee? Eee? Woof. Ba-bye! Up! Up up up up!" (he sees letters ["eee"] and a dog, then hops down and wants back up)
Finds and looks through magazine: "Mommy? Mommy? (hands it to me) Thank you! Pom-pom. Apple! Caaaar. Eee, eee, eee, eee."
Atlee comes out with Space bear and that sends him looking for his rocket: "Ah-ee! Rock[et]? Rock[et]? Top?"
I read two books, then get everyone dressed and ready. Breakfast. Atlee is still obsessed with space (particularly the Mars rover) and decides to wear her astronaut helmet during breakfast.
Miles eats at the picnic table in the nook.
He finishes his breakfast bar and starts breaking into the pantry for more food.
I distract him with books while I put together more food for the kids and try to slip in some food for myself.
Annoying cats want food.
Miles is thrilled when I let him sit at Atlee's seat to eat his egg.
Atlee plays with her papercraft Mars rover in the fairy tree hideout.
I let the kids destroy the playroom to get a few quiet minutes to eat and use the computer.
JJ gets home from his overnight shift. He's confused as to why I shove a camera in his face first thing....
To get a few minutes to chat with JJ, I let Miles go at my mole with plastic scissors.
Somehow this devolves into horseplay, and I sneak off for a shower.
I come out to find JJ and Atlee deep in conversation about Ewoks.
We get JJ off to bed and I settle in on the couch for what I know will be a long string of books.
And more books.
And more books.
The kids are really good about taking turns picking books, and they'll both sit through whichever book comes next. And.... they're goofy.
After about 45 minutes of reading, I get us moving. The kids usually get to play outside for a while in the afternoon, but cold and rain are forecast to move in. So I pack them off to the park for a snack....
... swinging...
... and sliding.
After some time at the playground, we wander over to the outdoor stage. Atlee pretends she's Spiderman and Miles is a bad guy, but Miles is busy pretending to be a dinosaur. Somehow this all works out -- Miles runs up and down the ramp to the stage and roars as loudly as he can, while Atlee finds leaves on the ground, tears them up, and throws them at him.
Then we're off to the library for storytime. You can see that both kids have this routine down at this point. Miles is headed off to the door by himself.
The theme is cows and dairy. Miles, as usual, "helps" with the felt board story.
The kids make cows out of paper plates and eat a snack of cheese sticks and chocolate milk.
On the way out, we stop at the bench swing to look over the books we picked.
Home again. A bit more food to turn the cheese stick and milk into a real lunch.
Atlee watches half of Sesame Street while I put Miles down for a nap.
But Miles doesn't feel like napping, apparently. Instead, he pretends to sneeze and laughs at himself.
After a while, I give up and bring him some books for him to read in the crib.
Atlee heads to her room for quiet time while I eat lunch and check Facebook.
And I have just enough time to make a grocery list and sneak some chocolate chips.
Quiet time didn't last long. We settle onto the couch for more books.
And then the kids jump on my back for a while.
I give Atlee some homeschool-ish materials to work on.
And then JJ's up! While we're in the other room, Miles dumps out a ton of blocks. JJ, still barely awake, picks them all up.
Atlee and I had planned to meet some friends at the local pottery painting place, but those plans fell through. I'm wiped after a night of bad sleep, so JJ takes the kids grocery shopping.
And I relax with the computer and an episode of Nova about string theory.
When the kids get back, there are more books -- and a snack of frozen peas for Miles.
Miles gets into a giggle fit when he says "apple" and I say "tomato" repeatedly. I love toddler humor!
JJ takes over some of the reading.
And then I forgot to take pictures for a while. But we went to a local pizza restaurant where Miles was totally wired.
On the drive home, he was totally tired and punchy. He kept saying random toddler words and laughing.
We stopped at the grocery store for some ice cream and split it between the kids. Miles decided to eat his with his hands.
And then the lack of a nap caught up with him, and it was bath -> bed in rapid succession.
I even tried to cheer him up by dying the bath water blue! But Atlee got to enjoy the blue water while JJ read from "Little House on the Prairie".
Annoying cats want food again.
Kids in bed. Here's most of the books we read today. Right around 20 was the final number.
And this is my nest for the evening. Some computer time, some TV, and a couple of cookies. Perfect!
