The last 36 hours

Friday afternoon we finally made applesauce with the apples I set out (and intended to use) on Monday. I'm slowly improving on the slowing-down-and-taking-time-to-do-meaningful-things-with-Jacob front. Since that bad day, whatever day it was, Jacob and I have been getting along really well. He has not been such a grouch, and I have not been losing my head in the moments when he is a grouch. There's been a lot of Jacob holding my head with his little hands cupped around my cheeks, and the "You my best mommy - you're my best boy," exchange. It never gets old.

Soon after the applesauce was finished, I had to rush off to work. Zach was coming from a paint job to relieve me, but he had to go back to pick up all his stuff. So Jacob went there with him and, not having a nap, fell asleep in the car at 6pm. If you'll recall, this is the point where we know in our heads that he won't make it through the night, but our hearts tell us he is so cute and maybe just because he was 'extra tired', he'll sleep through the night. Even if our heads win over, it's still pretty impossible to wake Jacob. He used to be the world's lightest sleeper when he was a baby, but after he turned 2 he started sleeping pretty hard.

So I came home from work, and Zach and I had the passing exchange again, as he was off to the bar to say goodbye to someone from work who is leaving. Earlier today when Zach was telling me the funny drunken karaoke stories, Jacob tuned in and then started trying to top that 'funny story' with one of his own about the rooster at Daddy's work? He was going on about this rooster and what it did, and every 30 seconds or so he stopped to laugh and say, "That was a funny thing!" I'll give him points for effort.

Back to Friday night: Things were going good, and then Jacob woke up at 10pm. Zach came in around 11. I conked out at some point. Then someone woke me to come upstairs and snuggle with Jacob. And it all finally ended at 2am when Jacob finally went back to sleep. On nights like that there is just no fighting it. Jacob has just slept for 4 hours, and if you don't get him back to sleep immediately, it becomes a 4 hour nap. A child who has just had a 4 hour nap is very rested. This is the delicate balance that we struggle with everyday.

Zach was out running when Jacob and I woke up this morning, so we decided to pop in a video while we waited for him to get back. I turned on PBS first to see if there was something different to watch. Well there wasn't any kind of children's programming, but there was something even better: This Old House! Jacob settled right in and sat there enthralled. Wave my hands in his face without so much as a flinch enthralled. Then Zach came in, started to say something, saw what was on TV, sat down next to Jacob, and never finished his sentence. Two peas in a pod...

Today was a beautiful day, and I actually skipped two big errands of mine so we could be outside for the better part of the day. Jacob has what we call the 'dig pit' in the backyard. I'm going to totally guess here; maybe 4' X 10'? It's where the sandbox used to sit, but after a while we realized that our child was not the kind who would be satisfied with a mere sandbox. So we marked off a spot along the fenceline with bricks and Jacob did the rest. When he is in a grouchy mood, I know he needs one of 3 things: food, sleep, or time in the dig pit. He can stay out there for hours moving dirt around, digging holes, talking to himself, or Bob.



The dogs were outside with us for quite a while. I thought it would be fun to throw a really big, thick stick and watch Mango try to pick it up. She did, by the way, pick it up, and have a blast with it. But on my first wind-up I swung my arm back without realizing that Ginger was right there and I clocker her in the head with the log. This was probably the worst thing I coud have done to her. We know she's afraid of sticks. If ever you are carrying a stick, or anything remotely resembling a stick, she cowers away in fright. You don't even have to be anywhere near her, just visible. We assume that someone must have 'done something bad' to her with a stick - I can't even bear to say it. So I hit her in the face with a stick and she spent the rest of the day running away from me. Great.

After the digging in the yard, we put off doing our errands again, and Zach eventually left for work. Jacob and I followed shortly after so we could get in a little skating time. The rink has been open for like 3 weeks and we hadn't made it in yet. That's crazy...and goes to show how busy life really has been. So we had a good time there, but had to pack it up for me to get to work. The walk back to the car was really long and when I got there, I had the wrong set of keys (I took the wrong set, or Zach handed me the wrong set, depending on how you look at it). I had to truck it back inside to get the right set, and since I was carrying Jacob this took a lot longer than is should have.

Anyway, Date Night was crazy with 9 kids! It's kind of like that story they used to read to us in elementary school...where the guy in the book complains that his house is too loud so a wise man tells him to get a goat or something, and when it's still too loud he has him get a cow. And then something louder, and something else, until the man can't take it anymore so he finally gets rid of all the animals and then his house does feel quiet. That's kind of what coming home to just one kid feels like.