Yesterday, we slept in until 6:40AM. My bad. I managed to get the kids to school by 8AM. Henry cried, but either it wasn't quite as intense as before or my heart is getting numb. I still hate leaving him. I'm not so concerned about Miss R. She cries but seems to adjust before I'm 30 feet away.
I picked them up at school at 3:40PM. I got Henry first. He flashed me a big smile and said "go home." Then, we went to get Miss R. She also gave me a big smile, said "Mommy!", and ran over to give me a big hug. It looked like Henry and Miss R ate their lunches and their afternoon snacks. Not surprising for Miss R of course, but I was very pleased that Henry had finally received a check mark next to "ate all" during a meal.
We played for a little bit at home. No TV. Jeff and I even discussed whether we should actually unplug the TV and move it to the garage for the next couple years. The biggest problem is me. As a communication research, I really should be watching more television than I do. My news consumption is almost exclusively through online newspapers, but I should be watching some of it on TV. We could get a small TV for my office and have the DirecTV line moved there.
We decided to take the kids to Borders to look at books. Uncle Jim gave Henry a Borders gift card for his birthday. Miss R found an Elmo stuffed toy. She carried it with her everywhere and noticed all of the Elmo books. We bought her one. Henry found a young girl (about 8-10 years old) and followed her around. She was doing some dance moves and Henry tried to copy her. We found some good books (Sponge Bob, Lady and the Tramp, Thomas the Tank Engine). We also go Miss R a book of Disney princess stories with a projector (they've progressed since the days of the View Master). It was hard looking for books and keeping tabs of the toddlers. The hardest part was when Jeff went to buy the books and I had to watch both at once. At that point, Henry made a break for it down one of the aisles. He is fast. Miss R was upset that we didn't get her the Elmo and had to leave it at the front desk (she already had an Elmo at home). All in all, the kids had a fabulous time.
We then headed to Jason's Deli, ordered our food, and walked over to Toys R Us. Neither Jeff nor I said the word "toys" but as soon as Henry saw that we were in the Toys R Us parking lot, he looked at the sign and said "Toys!" We were actually on the hunt for big boy and big girl underpants. We think that Henry might be more inclined to accelerate his potty training if (a) he feels the joys of being free from the massive padding of the diaper, and (b) he feels the discomfort of wet cloth when he urinates in his underpants. This contention is bolstered by the fact that Henry seemed confused when he peed in his swim diaper when he got out of the pool the other day. At least we suspect that the down pour was not pool water. As soon as we saw the down pour, Henry said "Change diadie!"
Alas, they didn't have any underpants in the baby/toddler section at Toys R Us. But they did have a Thomas the Tank Engine table that fascinated Henry and Miss R for 15 minutes. They would have stayed longer and protested our leaving the building, but we wanted to pick up the food and have some dinner. Henry was very cute at the Thomas table. He put several of the engines in the shed, closed the door, and said "Good night!" Miss R had a great time at the table too. She also seems to be intrigued with the Thomas books that we have at home.
On our way home, the kids fell asleep. We rolled into the garage at 7:47PM. They were out before they could get some dinner. We put them to bed. At 8:15PM, Jeff headed out the door to go to Trader Joe's because we only had a few ounces of milk (cow's or goat's) left in the house. He also had a prescription for Miss R to refill. At 8:18PM, Miss R started crying. I changed her diaper. She still cried. I gave her water. She continued to cry. I crawled into bed next to her. She wailed. I asked her if she had to go potty. "No!," she said. Henry woke up. He started crying for Daddy. For the next hour, all hell broke loose. Two wailing kids. Henry insisted on "Daddy!" Upon being told that Daddy was at the store, he sobbed louder. I finally figured out that Miss R would quiet down only if I let her lay directly on top of me, not next to me. But that didn't solve Henry sobbing. He wanted to wander the house looking for "Daddy!" I wouldn't let him. I tried everything that I'd read in The Happiest Toddler on the Block. I repeated his request for Daddy so that he knew that I understood what he wanted. But as soon as I told him that "Daddy is at the store" or "Daddy will be here in 10 minutes" (OK, that was a white lie; I knew Jeff wouldn't be back for a 1/2 hour at the very least), then Henry would sob uncontrollably. Miss R appeared to be asleep. When I tried to move her off me to comfort Henry (not that he wanted me), she'd wail again. And she's loud. Having attempted everything that I'd read, I decided to leave them in bed and see if they would cry it out. Seven minutes later, they were just as loud as before. So I moved them to the living room. Miss R quieted down as soon as she was in my arms. But Henry was still sobbing. I asked them if they wanted to eat, Henry said "Daddy!" and Miss R said "No!" I felt like the unhappiest mother on the block. I poured the last two ounces of milk into their bottles as the water didn't seem to be doing the trick. That quieted them for a couple minutes, as long as Miss R was directly on my chest. Then the milk ran out. Henry did take a little water, and then Jeff came home.
Henry wanted Jeff. Jeff got Henry to sleep within 10 minutes. He told Henry it was time for bed, and Henry listened. Then, Jeff pried a sleeping Miss R off my chest. She cried, but she obeyed him and went to bed.
I was frazzled and exhausted. I ended up watching 1.5 Law & Order and two Cold Case episodes. That felt nice. So much for getting rid of the television.
This morning, I got Henry to school around 8:15AM. He cried but I think that he is doing slightly better. I then took Miss R to get her blood tested. That took well over an hour. Dr. Bianchi's nurses didn't send the order over to the lab, which held things up. I was a little peeved that his nurses tried to pass the buck by telling the lab technician that the parents were supposed to pick up the form, which is complete and utter B.S. Dr. Bianchi specifically asked me which lab that I'd be using. I said that I'd be using SonoroQuest. He said that he'd have the order sent there. Thanks nurses for failing to accept responsibility and wasting my time. Sigh. Miss R was very good waiting for as long as she did with me in the waiting room. She cried when the needle was put in her arm and put up a very good fight. I was the lucky one who had to restrain her. She then wanted her bottle, which I couldn't giver her, because she'd thrown it on the floor. The nipple had touched the ground. I'm not a completed germophobe but I wasn't going to give her a nipple that had touched the ground in a medical facility (germ central!). Yuck! I returned her to school around 9:30AM. Her class was about to go outside. She cried when I left her but it wasn't as mournful a wail as some of her cries are. I peaked in on Henry. He wasn't crying. That was good.
And now, I'm working at home. My mom is going to pick up the kids today at daycare. I'm going to work this afternoon until 5:30PM. Jeff is going to go mattress shopping around 4PM.
Hopefully, the rest of today will be uneventful. I like uneventful. Boring is A-OK with me.
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