Half of a Day in the Life

6:07am (Tuesday)
“Daaaaaadddddddyyyyyy….” I awake to JJ wailing over the monitor. I wait. “DAAAAAADDDDDDDYYYYYYYYYYYY…..”.

“You got him?” Jake muffles.

“Yeah” I say. I go into JJ’s room. He takes one look at me and screams “Daaaaaaddddddyyyyyy!!!!!!!”

“Do you want to go and snuggle with Daddy while mommy gets showered?”

“Yeah,” he whispers. I tuck JJ into bed with Jake and hit the shower. JJ goes back to sleep in my nice, warm spot on my side of the bed.

6:47am
“Na na na na na….thhhhhh….” I hear babbles and spitting noises over Jayla’s monitor. After one last spray of the hair I head into her room and peer over the rail. She smiles. I get her out of her crib. She seems to have a fever and a runny nose. First cold of the year. She eats and I read. I dress her for the day and we do a blog and make breakfast. As we play I watch the Today show and I am reminded that the audio and video on our new DIRECTV do not match up. I try not to get dizzy as I watch Matt Lauer’s lips move and hear the words that he says 5 seconds after he has said them.

8:15am
I hear our bedroom door open and then footsteps. JJ peeks around the corner and says “Hi!” followed by “Bob!”.

“Good morning, sweetie boy,” I say. “You want to watch Bob the Builder?”

“Yeah,” he says. “Mee, kah kah”.

“You want milk and crackers? You can’t have crackers for breakfast, but I will get you some cereal.”

“Eeeen kah kahl?” he asks.

“No, you cannot have a green popsicle for breakfast. I will get you some cereal.”

We play, get dressed, watch Bob the Builder, and send Jake off to work.

9am
We get ready to go to JJ’s music class. It’s his first one. I think back to what the teacher emailed me about bringing younger siblings to the class. Make sure they are out of the way and not distracting to the other kids. They can sit in an infant seat or in a stroller, or next to you on the ground. But they cannot crawl around or be a distraction to the kids in class. I start to worry. What if Jayla cries the whole time? It would be great if she would take a nap in her seat. What if I have to hold her the whole time and can’t engage in the activities with JJ? What if it is a disaster and we get kicked out of class? Stop worrying and pray I tell myself. Dear God, please let my kids behave well in music class. Amen. Coats on, bags packed, coffee in tow…we are out the door. Oooops, the trash needs to go out. Okay, we are on our way.

“Dad, done, ballin?” JJ asks as we get into the car.

“Daddy will be home at 6:30 for dinner,” I say.

“Mmmmm….mmmmm,” JJ says.

9:30am
Music class. We walk in and are greeted by the teacher. She shows us where to put our bags and then glances at my coffee cup. Ooops. I forgot the studio rules…no food or drink. I set my fuel on a cupboard and mentally prepare myself to drink it cold after class is over. JJ sits on my lap with his blankey as we sing and do songs with actions. Jayla sits next to us and plays with her doll. The teacher brings out the bells. JJ goes and gets one for himself and decides on his own to bring one back for Jayla. We shake the bells to the song and I watch the teacher come over to us. “Those aren’t baby proof,” she says as she gives a discerning look in Jayla’s direction. Oooooops. Sorry Jayla. I take the bell out of Jayla’s hands and put it out of reach. Jayla looks at me and smiles. She watches JJ and I crawl around and be dogs, walk-jump-skip, and bounce to the bouncey song. JJ and I watch the other 2-year olds fight over who gets to hold Rover the stuffed dog. The other baby sibling in the class screams and cries and distracts the kids. She has a runny nose and a cold too. Class is almost over….time to wind down and have snuggle time. We lay on the floor and listen to the soft music. Thank you God that we have almost made it through music class. Thank you God for my sweet kids. Story time. JJ sits on my lap and Jayla sits in front of the floor length mirror and plays and laughs at her reflection for the last few minutes of class. We sing the good-bye song and head to the car. Yay, we made it through without any major catastrophes.

10:45am
“Dad, mmmmm mmmm?”JJ asks.

“No, we are not meeting Daddy for lunch today. We are going to wash the car and then eat lunch at home,” I say.

11:15am
Jayla eats banana chunks in her chair while JJ and I clean up the kitchen from breakfast and make lunch. We eat pizza and chocolate pudding and drink orange juice. For dessert the three of us share popsicles and trade them mid-way through to try out different colors…all the while sharing our germs, drippy noses, and our colds. We play, fold clothes, and sing along to our new c.d.’s from music class.

12:30pm
“Time to read books,” I say.

“Dad, done ballin?” JJ asks.

“Daddy will be home at 6:30 tonight,” I say. “He’ll be home for dinner.”

“Daddy, home, niiiine ferrrty?” JJ asks.

“No, 6:30. Let’s go pick out some books,” I say.

We read books. “What song should we sing now?” I ask, as if I don’t already know the answer.

“Daddy,” he says.

“Oh, the Daddy song,” I say. “He’s got Daddy and Mommy, in His hands, he’s got Daddy and Mommy….” We sing and I tuck him in for his nap.

I go and lay Jayla in her crib for her nap. She looks at me and smiles as I turn on her mobile. I shut her door and mentally plan out my next 2 hours….pick up, start dinner prep, finish the laundry from yesterday…the rest of my to do list stares at me from the post-it on the countertop. I better crank the tunes for this. I put in ol Dino and let him schmooze me with his sultry voice, “When the stars make you drool just like pasta fazul, that’s amore….” Ahhhh….I can feel the ocean breeze.

3:30pm
I am halfway through my to do list for the day. Jayla is still napping. JJ’s bedroom door opens and he peeks around the corner. “Hi,” he says. “Walk,” he whispers as he points to the glider.

“Oh, you want to rock? Okay.” I walk over to the glider and he climbs in my lap, gets his blankey in perfect position, and requests the ‘daddy song’ once more. We rock and sing and I thank God for moments like these. My cup runneth over.

And that is half of a day in our life. Whew!