Tuesday, July 17, 2007

From Noisy and Messy to Quiet and Clean

Since Amy watches both kids all day three days a week, it's only fair that every so often I watch them both at least one of those evenings.  Tonight was one of those evenings, and as with other such times, it had its drama.

Amy had set them both up nicely for me: when I got home from work, they had both been bathed, fed, and changed reasonably recently.  So we went to the living room, where Jada watched her Pooh DVD and I watched Aaron crawl around. 

Shortly thereafter, we headed for the kitchen, where I prepared dinner for Aaron, Jada, and myself.  Aaron scarfed his down, and I tried to do the same with mine, but Jada wasn't having any of hers - and she wanted to go upstairs. 

So upstairs we went, me carrying Aaron and my dinner.  Soon after, Aaron had a poopie, so I put my dinner down to change him, only to find Jada mooching my dinner, and spilling some of it on the carpet. 

So we schlepped back down to the kitchen and I fed her some more, all the while lecturing her on why Amy and I can eat in the living room but she can't.  We then went back to the living room so I could deal with the mess on the floor.  At some point, I noticed Aaron's spit-up on my shoulder.

Neither child had had a good nap that day, so they were both rubbing their eyes pretty quick.  I put Jada down first, repositioning Aaron every ten seconds to keep him from the various toys and books on Jada's floor. 

But not a minute after I'd left Jada's room than she started crying.  I went back in to see what the deal was, and she said she wanted to put her socks on.  Sorry, girlfriend, you're going to have to get yourself calmed down for bed without my help on this one.  And in fact, she had to howl it out for a good ten minutes before she got quiet.

Meanwhile, Aaron was letting himself be heard, signaling that he wanted a bottle.  Luckily, I had had the foresight to get it ready before Jada's bedtime, so it was good to go.  He sucked it down and was asleep not five seconds after I laid him down in his crib. 

Time elapsed from when I got home from work to when they were both quiet in bed: less than two hours.  And yet we went from noisy and messy to quiet and clean in that tiny sliver of evening.  Ah, the joys of parenthood.

1 comment:

shelley said...

How do single parents ever do it??