In my thinking about how to respond to the question from Shroedinger on my Got Ideas? post, I realized that I should make a record of what a typical day with Yogi is like. When I was first entertaining the idea of staying home with the baby (that was the only way I had to think of him at that point), one of my first questions was what would I DO all day? It also occurs to me that when Yogi is graduating from HS and I want to relive his babyhood, I might want to remember these little details of daily life. Shroedinger's question was much more thoughtful than a simple play by play and I plan to address it in a future post, but this is a start.
BEWARE - OVERWHELMING DETAIL AHEAD
6-6:30 Wake-Up
Yogi is a cheerful riser. I am usually roused by the sound of chattering and/or laughing on the monitor or my wife leaning into bed to let me know that the baby is awake. He is generally happy to hang out in his crib playing with lovie until I come in to greet him. But, once he is out of the crib I’m on the clock and milk needs to be forthcoming. He drinks 4-4.5 ozs at a time these days.
For reasons that I don’t understand, Yogi needs to throw back his head and wail when something like 1 oz of milk is left in his bottle. The wailing lasts maybe 20 seconds, then he returns to the last sip and everything is fine. Weird. The boy DESPERATELY needs to start feeding his own self milk, but that is another post.
7:00ish Breakfast
Each morning Yogi enjoys his super baby porridge (½ cup) with both cinnamon and some kind of fruit (mango, peach, banana). Four times a week he also gets a hard boiled egg yolk stirred in as well. It’s a pretty big breakfast for a little guy.
7:30 Walk
When my wife heads to the hospital, me and the boys go for a short walk around the neighborhood. I've grumbled about this for the last few HOT months, but I do actually enjoy it. I love going on walks and even if I'm sticky and sweaty when we get home, I know that the dog will be much happier (read less irritating) and that is worth more than a little unpleasantness.
8:30 Nap
Yogi goes downs with two books (whose pages he, and only he, turns) and a brief rock. Occasionally there is singing. His current favorite books include:
- It's Hard Being a Bunny
- Where the Wild Things Are
- Mommy, Mama and Me
- Ducks Don't Wear Socks
As soon as he is clearly asleep (this can take a few minutes) I hit the treadmill for a half hour. Afterwards, I shower, dress, eat breakfast and (when there’s time) reply to and send email.
9:30 Wake-Up
When I get Yogi out of the crib this time I get him dressed. Then it is time for milk and brief snuggles. Once he is entirely awake, the day is ON and this is generally our big activity period of the day. There is rarely a day when I don’t have something planned for the late morning. During the last few months I have joined a handful of Mom’s groups (which is another post entirely) and found them to be an excellent way to find fun things to do and play with other kids. Here is a sample of some of the things we do:
- Playgroup at someone’s house
- Story time at the library (we frequent both the quieter, lower-key branch story time and the fantsy-pants, professional actor story time at the Main library downtown)
- Visits to the zoo (this is actually a clean and shady place)
- Trips to one of the local parks
- Visits to a friend's pool
12:30 Lunch
In spite of his slow start Yogi has become an exuberant eater. I usually start preparing lunch when we get home while Yogi plays with his cars and books in the kitchen. He plays with his own toys when he can't get to what he really wants, which is most frequently the remote, my wireless mouse, anything filled with liquid, and the dog's bone.
The lunch menu usually looks like this:
- Plain yogurt with cinnamon stirred in
- Fruit (kiwi or banana)
- Black beans and rice or Tofu bites breaded with ground graham crackers and cheerios
- Avocado
1:30 Nap
Afternoon nap goes the way of morning nap with the exception that Yogi is always a tad harder to get down/slower to sleep in the afternoon.
While the little guy naps, I prepare lunch for myself and eat in blissful solitude. As soon as I've finished, I clean the kitchen from the mess of both breakfast and lunch. When that is done, I tackle whatever cleaning is on the list for that day. Throughout my entire adult life, I have set aside a few hours on one day during the week to clean the house. That has always worked for me. Until now. Now I get only small snippets of time (during which Yogi is asleep) to do things like clean bathrooms, vacuum, mop, etc. Attempting any of these things with Yogi is an exercise in futility. So, now I do a little bit each day. It works and that is the most important thing, but it also feels like it will never end. I greatly prefer to do it big, do it once and get it over with for the week. Oh well.
By the time I've finished with cleaning chores, Yogi is usually stirring. If it's my lucky day and he's still sleeping, I indulge myself in one/more of the following:
- Reading (books or blogs)
- Writing
- Blogging
3:00 Wake-Up
I greet him with more milk and more snuggles. Probably twice a week, this time of day is reserved for things like grocery shopping or errand running. If we don't have to TCB, we usually play or go for a walk with the dog. These days, playing involves:
- Crawling "chase"
- Putting the farm animals into the silo and taking them out (over and over and over and over....)
- Turning book pages
- Taking all of the books off the shelf
- Clapping
- Shaking anything that rattles while spinning in a circle on his tail
- Pulling up on anything and everything
- Pushing the taxi far and wide
4:30 Start Dinner
This is the hardest part of the day. Yogi is getting tired and ready for milk with Mommy, the dog wants to be fed this minute and I am trying to cook, damnit. Yeah, it usually feels like that.
5:15 Mommy's Home!!!!
Deep breath. When my wife gets home she takes Yogi and they breastfeed while I feed the dog and finalize our dinner. As for solid food, Yogi often eats what we eat for dinner, but there are still nights when we have to make a separate meal for him or add some things. My wife feeds him while I bustle around the kitchen cleaning bottles and pump parts. I am eager to start a true "family dinner", but so far it's been hard to give up the "whew, the day is over" dinner on the couch with my wife after putting Yogi to bed. We do need to head that direction though.
6:00 Bathtime
Yogi LOVES a bath. My wife takes the lead on bath and the two of them have a great time. There is lots of splashing and lots and lots of cuteness. When bath is over, my wife wraps him in his little hooded lion towel and he turns the bathroom light out as they head for his room. He gets a bedtime bottle once he's in his PJ's and then it's time for the last playtime of the day.
7:15 Bedtime
My wife puts him to bed and they go through a similar routine of reading and rocking.
7:30 Dinner for Mommies!!!
Once Yogi is tucked in we collapse into dinner on the couch. Afterwards we watch about 45 min of TV (usually Top Chef, Project Runway or Brothers & Sisters). Once the kitchen is clean, the dog has been out and the coffeemaker is primed and ready for duty, it's time to relocate.
It's a glamorous life for sure!
2 comments:
I love the detail of this post.
That Yogi is such a lucky guy :)
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