Tuesdays at our house are one of our busiest days. Gabe doesn't have school, but there is a violin lesson and three gymnastic classes that have to be fit into the end of the day. Yesterday was no exception.
It began early with a ravenous Charlie requiring yogurt for breakfast. Mission accomplished, Charlie and I went back to bed. At a more reasonable hour, I awoke to find Lucy reading. Lucy's normal morning involves sleeping as late as possible, so when she does wake up early and is productive, it's a relief. It means she has had enough sleep and that our day will go more smoothly.
After getting Lucy off to school I spent about three hours doing other things. My mind has conveniently gone hazy, which is a pretty good sign that those three hours aren't exciting enough to record here. Diaper changes, baths, and arguments about what is an appropriate breakfast, more arguments about Gabe's attire... That's it in a nutshell.
At about 10:00, our (superlative) friends arrived and we had one of our play/social/exercise hours. This is something I highly recommend to anyone spending copious amounts of time with (beloved) children. A little face-to-face adult interaction works wonders and can only be improved by exercise. Talk therapy plus sweat therapy equals happiness. AND it's free!
I probably should have showered and changed out of my spandex to go to the store afterwards. I didn't. You see, time is short and valuable when kids are due for a nap. I loaded Charlie and Gabe into the car and headed straight for the store to get chicken and broccoli for dinner. We also needed to get supplies to make birthday cupcakes for Gabe's preschool class today. The store outing went about as you might expect with two boys overdue for naps. Charlie left the store in my arms, screaming, and Gabe left nodding off in the driver's seat of a plastic kid-sized truck/grocery cart. Fortunately, both of were solidly asleep by the time we got home.
While they slept, I put groceries away, took a relaxing bath, and put dinner together. Charlie woke up in distress and it took a good hour to calm him down and feed him. By this time, Gabe had to get up in order to get ready for gymnastics. He'd had an accident in his sleep, so we plopped him in his own bath. By the time both boys were dressed and happy, Lucy and Grandma Judy were coming in the front door just in time for Lucy's violin lesson. Her teacher, Miss Lauren, was right behind them.The rest of the night includes picking up Gabe from gymnastics, taking Lucy to gymnastics, finishing dinner, eating dinner, putting together dinner for Lucy, Picking up Lucy from gymnastics, and going to a gymnastics class myself.
The extra good part about these Tuesdays is that a lot of times, we are able to squeeze in some time outside. Between picking up Gabe and dropping off Lucy, we have an hour. Today, we went to the park where the kids spent most of the time on the swings. They love swinging, and they love underdogs! An underdog is a playground move effectuated by the pusher upon the pushee. Said pusher holds on to the swing and keeps contact with the swing, holding the swing in front then pushing it over the head while running under the swing. It makes the kid in the swing go really high without having to build up to it. A courageous and impatient swinger's dream. This is something that we do a lot. It's one of those things where it's always the person giving the underdogs who ends it.
While I was running back and forth giving Charlie, Lucy and Gabe underdogs, I remembered my dad pushing me on the swings.
I don't think he ever stopped giving underdogs.
