7:20 I wake up this morning and drag myself out of bed. I tell myself I need to get better about not reading so late at night so I'll get up earlier. I'm actually surprised Alexa isn't up yet. She usually gets up between 6:30 and 7:00. I pour myself a bowl of cereal, and sit down at the computer. I want to write down directions to the Adler Planetarium. I've driven down there before, but never my myself with just the kids. I've actually never been downtown alone with the kids before, so this will be a scary first for me. I check a few e-mails and then Alexa walks into the kitchen followed by Jared ten minutes later. They both talk with Steve for a little while as he gets ready for work, and Jared works on tying up his Batman figure. We kiss Steve goodbye.
8:00 a.m. I've got a lot to do this morning if I'm going to get us out the door at a halfway decent time, so I pour the kids some cereal and give Jared his medicine. I start defrosting the spare ribs in the microwave, and go into the kids' room to pick out clothes for the day. Alexa asks me to open her new Lego set she received for her birthday, and I pretend to be Alfred for Jared as he wants to play Batman for awhile. We continue our pretend game as I dress them both and fix Alexa's hair.
9:00 a.m. I want to jump in the shower right away, but Alexa really wants me to help her build a Lego car. At first I say no, but then I watch her with the instructions, how she has found the right pieces and has really made surprisingly good progress on her own, so I sit down on the floor and help her. We're both proud of the car when we're finished. It's actually the first time I've ever built anything with Legos before.
Jared has tied Batman up the umbrella again. Remembering yesterday's lesson, I left Batman dangling right where he was.
After putting the car together, I put on PBS (the last 10 minutes of Dinosaur Train is on) and jump in the shower.
10.00 a.m. Steve calls, so we talk for a little while, and I try to race through dressing, drying my hair and fixing my makeup. Meanwhile the kids watch Sesame Street. Here's a little aside. On the show, Elmo asks the kids which school they thought he should go to today. He talks about going to a school where there's a lot of animals. Then he yells out, "That's right. We're going to farm school today." Huh? How about we're just going to visit a farm? I hate how almost every PBS show portrays school as this place where you're almost always going on field trips or doing fun, hands-on things that you always love to do, and there are only four or five other kids in your class. Talk about indoctrination.
Anyhow, when I finsh getting myself ready, and I pack us a lunch, put the cameras in the bag, and water the plants. I also pour more sugar water on the flower inside the butterfly pavilion. We all take a quick bathroom break, put on our jackets and head out the door.
11:00 a.m. We make good time and get downtown in about twenty minutes. After letting Steve know I actually got us downtown safely, we run into the building and find a place to eat. At first they say we can only eat in the cafeteria where we'd have to buy our own food, but then a lady says we can see if there's room in the classrooms where the school groups eat lunch. We find a table in the corner, and it all works out. I feel sad, though, seeing so many kids crammed into that room. Jared decides to make a sandwich out of the bread, roast beef and string cheese I brought. He always wants to eat each item separately, so this was a first. He is very proud of himself.
12:00 p.m. We take a bathroom break and head to the new exhibit geared towards 2-8 year olds. It's called Planet Explorers.
Jared loves wearing this space outfit. Thank God he was wearing it after what happens a few minutes later.
I just love this picture of Jared on a space toilet.
The first part of our visit is ok, but then it seems all hell breaks loose. The school kids are finished with their lunch, and they come hurdling through the exhibit, picking up play rocks and whipping them at each other as hard as they can. To get away, we enter a room in the exhibit where it is pitch black, to simulate being in space. Jared stands right in front of me, and I'm about to take his hand, when a horde of kids push us from behind, almost knocking us to the ground. Jared gets away from me, and I can't see or feel him in the room. I've never been so scared before in my life. I can just imagine him being trampled. It's such a small room, and by now there are probably 25 kids in there all screaming and shoving. Thank God I feel Jared's space backpack in the dark and grab him. We press our backs against the wall and wait until they've left and it's quiet again. We make our way to the front where we can no longer see any other groups and play there for while.
1:00 p.m. We take another bathroom break and head downstairs to check out those exhibits. The kids find some parts of the new telescope exhibit interesting, but after a short while they ask to go upstairs to look at the Mars Rover.
2:00 p.m. We're all getting a little tired, but they are reluctant to go. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit I lure them away with a promise of a scoop of ice cream at home. I'm still not feeling the greatest since the ER trip. I give Steve a quick call in the car, and we drive home. Jared has fallen asleep in the car (the expressway was really backed up so it took almost twice as long to get home), so I lay him on the couch. Alexa and I check on our butterflies. Three more have hatched since we've been gone. We sit at the kitchen table and share some cherry almond shortbread cookies. Alexa wants to build more with Legos, so we take out the box.
3:00 p.m. We work on building a Lego house and have just finished when Jared wakes up in a crabby mood. He always wakes up crabby if he happens to fall asleep in the car. He settles down quickly, though, when I share one of our cookies with him.
4:00 p.m. We go onto the Amazon.com site and look up some more Lego sets, dreaming of the next one we want to get. Jared falls in love with the Batmobile set. I run across an awesome free site called freelegoinstructions.com. It has thousands of instructions for previously made Lego sets. So I suppose if you have lots of random Lego pieces, you might be able to use the instructions to build something. Or just use your wonderful imagination. Jared decides he wants to ride his bike outside, and Alexa starts drawing on the porch with sidewalk chalk. I check on our butterflies and am so excited to see one actually coming out of its chrysalis. I call the kids in and we watch for while. They grow tired of it and go back outside to draw. They soon call me out to see the words and letters they've drawn on the asphalt. They tire of this and decide to make "sea water" - a blend of water, grass, sand and dirt. Meanwhile, I work on straightening the house.
5:00 p.m. While I straighten, the kids come back in the house and strip naked. For some reason, at least once a day, they feel the need to strip naked. They smear glitter lip gloss on their chests, and after I ask them to wipe it off, they do flips off the couches. Jared does this naked, except for his Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle mask and shell I made for him. Today he is calling it his Mean Skeleton costume. Steve calls, and I mix flour and water together for the gravy and drop some corn on the cob in a pot full of water to boil. This entire time I've also had to play Batgirl, too. Steve walks in the door, and the kids talk to him while I finish making the gravy, make some toast and cut up fruit.
6:00 p.m. We eat hurriedly because Steve needs to leave for worship team practice tonight by 6:35. He plays guitar every other week. The kids talk over each other, telling him about our day and showing him the Lego car and house. Steve gets his stuff together while I start cleaning the kitchen. He leaves, and I finish cleaning the kitchen while I play Batgirl.
7:00 p.m. I get the kids in the bath, and quickly put the dishes away, sweep the floor and give the butterflies more sugar water. Then I give the kids their bath and dress them. I've promised them that tonight they can watch half of the Little Mermaid II ( I think they've watched that about a dozen times already). We start the show at 7:40. I continue to straighten the house, bring in the plants from outside and check e-mails.
8:00 p.m. I work on posting to this blog until 8:25 when the movie is over. Then I read Jared a Batman book called Birthday Bash (it's a Scholastic Step 3 book), while we halfway watch American Idol. We usually watch the show together as a family. As tonight is just results night, I mute the show and just turn it up when they start to announce who will be kicked off the show this week. Alexa's book request for this evening is TinkerBell and the Lost Treasure - another Step 3 Step into Reading Book. My friend calls about going to a bounce place tomorrow, and when I've finished that call I notice Alexa has fallen asleep on the couch. I lay her down in bed.
9:00 p.m. I work on another blog post, while Jared sits on the couch, flipping through his Batman books and making up stories. Steve calls at 9:20 and is on his way home. We talk for 5 minutes. Jared follows Steve in the bedroom while he changes when he gets home. They both go outside for a while to look at the lightening. Then Steve carries him into our bedroom and makes up a Batman story for him. I finish posting to my blog.
10:00 p.m. Jared finally drifts off to sleep at 10:20. I make a cup of hot chocolate and read for awhile from my Elizabeth Peters book - He Shall Thunder in the Sky- (It's the 13th book in the Amelia Peabody series, about a armature Egyptologist who also solves crimes) - while Steve enters receipts into the budget. We watch the last 20 minutes of Law and Order together, and then we get ready for bed. I read some more in bed until about 11:15.
1 comment:
Sounds like a very busy but fun day.
Blessings
Diane
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