My day today

Today is Monday April 24th, 2012.

Most mondays are a busy day. Catching up after a weekend of fun and letting the house turn to mush. And with my genetic mutation of not having the inner drive to have a spick and span clean home, it was probably already needing a few chores done before the weekend started. Okay lets be honest, my house was in bad shape this last week, throw the weekend in there and it looks like a tornado ran through here. Multiple loads of dishes needing to be done this morning, clean up, and the normal every day hustle and bustle. I woke up with big plans. To be productive from early morning until this evening after dinner was cooked and family night was to be enjoyed.

This is how my day has run. Its all worked out great, but somehow just not enough time in the day!While this isnt exactly the same timeline, it will be pretty close


5:30 Lindsay's alarm clock goes off....uggh that means try to get in the last little bit of restless interupted sleep until Erik wakes up, could be any minute.

6:30 Rise and shine to a little hungry man (he let us sleep in a bit, wahoo!) Cartoons until breakfast time

7:00 breakfast is served. I get on the computer and check email, fb, and look up how to include vinegar into the laundry to try to get the stink out of workout clothes.ERik plays and chats with me. I also pay a bill online before I forget and scan in some documents and email them to the insurance company. Erik is begging me to play hide and seek or shooting.

8:00 I choose hide and seek, we play a couple of rounds and he cant find me hiding on the balcony, because its not one of the usual 5 that you can hide in our closet size apartment. Finally I start making noises and he finds me, when we swap so he can hide, he hides in the same place as last time. This is an ongoing lesson of not hiding where the adults just hid or the same place as last time. One day he will get it :)

8:15 Back to the grind, but trying to involve Erik into the chores. We get him dressed, I help him make his bed. He helps me load the washer and clean a drain with baking soda and vinegar, he likes the bubbling. He runs off to play and I load up the first load of dishes.

9:30 I throw on some clothes and make a short shopping list to take to the markets for dinner groceries. We will be on foot today so just a few things. Get Erik ready, walk to where our second car  is parked on the street, load him in, drive aroudn the neighborhood to find a place to park (it had to be moved by noon). Walk back...there is a park along the way...he wants to stop....I want to get out of the heat, but am trying really hard to get him outside for an hour a day for some type of physical activity (we do lots inside too), realize this is a good opportunity to get some of that in....tell him he has 10 minutes. Walk the rest of the way home.

10:15 Go to the managers office of the complex and going over some business matters with them. Go back to our unit, eat an ice block (popsicle). Get in a snack/mini meal and switch some laundry. Get readyand head out to walk to the shops. Erik walks the trolley about halfway there before he tires of it. I take over, we go into market, get our goods, load them into our trolley, Erik gets to play on the Big bulldozer ride for 2 minutes and then we head home. Walk home.

12:30 Arrive home. Unload groceries, give him another snack/mini meal (he is a bottomless pit with all the walking we do, especially on his little body). I make a couple of phone calls relating to my responsibilities at church.

1:45 Put Erik down for quiet time. Read him a book, sing him a song. Tell him he needs to rest in bed and look at books for a bit before he gets down to play with toys. Tell him he is not to come out unless he needs to poo (he knows all the tactics) and if he opens the door or asks if he can come out he is to get a time out. I know I sound like a mean mom, maybe I am but I am a firm believer in boundary setting for children. I am a bit  more strict right now with this as well, because he is really practising trying to manipulate and if we give him even a centimeter, he takes things a mile. So while he gets freedom and choice in a lot of matters, some things I still get complete control over because I dont think he can handle that freedom yet. Just some of my parenting thoughts.

2:00 Tell myself I can lay down on the couch for 30 minutes before I need to get up and finish my tasks before its time to start dinner prep at 3:30.

2:15 Erik has to go poo. Take him potty....and send him back to his room.

2:25 Erik yells for me and I ignore him. I dont want to fall into any traps. If its urgent he usually continuously yells or starts crying. A few minutes goes by and he yells again, I get up and think great, there goes my half hour nap. Open the door and he tells me he has poo in his pants. I check and sure enough he does. Diarrhea even. I try hard not to be frustrated. I could probably count on less than one hand how many accidents he has had, so I know it was tummy troubles and my lack of coming when he called for me that caused this. I clean him up, stick him in the tub, and here I am typing about my monday. Its now just a few minutes shy of 3 pm and I just had to document this because I thought it was  bit funny. By this time I thought my house would be clean and errands run. My child played with, quiet time finishing up and rolling smoothly.

The reality....there are 4 loads of laundry that need folded and put away. The house still needs picked up. One more load of dishes done. A child to be entertained, and dinner prep to be started. This is a typical stay at home mothers work day. Grand ideas, sometimes little to show physically but I will take it. Maybe I will get a shower  later tonight?!

Most days I do well with the shower thing I must admit but today lacked. Off to get my little smooth boy out to lotion. Hope you enjoyed the peek into my day!