Thursday, January 31, 2013

Down Time

Due to O’s dentist appointment yesterday, I had the day off. I could have taken half a day off and gone to work at noon but why bother, right?

When Olivia and I got home from her dentist appointment (after making a stop at Walmart because who goes anywhere without stopping there to pick up something? We needed bread, tissues and I’d promised O we could get her some Valentines for her school party. That promise got her over her weepiness caused by the x-rays.) it was time for her snack.

Apparently she and Tom have a pretty strict schedule each weekday. O eats breakfast with Alyssa between 6:50 and 7:10. At 9:30, it’s time for morning snack. At 10:30, it’s time to try to poop. At 11:00, it’s time for lunch. At 11:30 Olivia changes out of her morning clothes and into her school clothes. At 11:45, she puts on her coat and hat and backpack and by 11:50 they are watching for the bus.

We didn’t actually get home from the dentist/Walmart until 10:30 so the schedule was off but O really wanted her morning snack of toast with banana and berries. So I made the toast, sliced the banana and put some berries in a bowl.

I was then informed by Tom and Olivia that morning snack is eaten in the living room while rocking in the recliner.

Okay. We settled. Tom pulled a chair up and supervised. I know. Whatever.

Snack only took about ten minutes so Olivia decided she’d try to poop.

She only sat on the toilet for about five minutes before declaring she didn’t have to go and climbing down and telling me that maybe I could just feed her lunch. That morning snack had just stoked her appetite.

So lunch it was. After I fed her, I asked Olivia what she and Daddy usually do and she suggested we go back to the recliner and rock. And then she suggested I tickle her. That lasted a half hour until it was time to put on shoes and coat and wait for the bus. Except, she didn’t want to ride the bus that day. Since I was there, she thought it would be just fabulous if I drove her to school. Which, okay. It’s only four miles and I wasn’t doing anything else, right?

So one we saw the bus coming down the road, Olivia and I loaded up and headed toward the school. I walked her in where she was greeted by the teacher’s aide that works in her class. Olivia lead me to her classroom and showed me where she hangs her coat (for the record, I have been in her class before and know these things but I love it that she wants to show this stuff off) and where she puts her folder. Then she noticed the ingredients for the pancake party the class was having. That took her mind off the fact that I had to leave. She was so excited about pancakes at school.

So I left her classroom and stopped in the office to let them know that the girls needed to get off the bus at home.

After leaving the school, I wondered what I should do with my three hours of kid-free time. I never have kid-free time unless I’m at work and here I was with three whole hours before the girls would be home.

I decided to stop in at the library and enjoy a chance to browse the shelves instead of having to monitor two energetic kids who like to wander in and out of the stacks. I spent a lovely half hour at the library, all by myself, surrounded by strangers who didn’t need me to take them to the bathroom or hold their coat or come see this or that.

I went home and considered taking a nap but then decided to do some laundry. I thought about vacuuming the living room and family room but decided they could wait until the weekend.

I ate a grapefruit and watched the clock, waiting for it to be time to go outside and greet the bus and the two smiling little girls who would climb off it.

I watched a snippet from General Hospital and Days of Our Lives. Those shows never really change, do they?

Oh and I put some dishes away.

Finally, it was time for the girls to come home.

As much as I lament my lack of down time, it appears I’m not all that good at using it to my advantage.

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