Round the Clock Kids

You'd think that with the kids in day care 50 hours a week, there wouldn't be much time left for them to try my patience.  You'd be wrong.

Start with Aaron.  He's only home awake for an hour and a half a day during the week: 45 minutes in the morning, and 45 minutes in the evening.  But he cries for probably two-thirds of that time - in the morning, from the time I start changing his diaper to the time I get them out the door, breaking only when he's eating; and in the evening, from the time we arrive at home to the time he's dropped into his crib, again breaking only when he's eating.

Jada's actually pretty good in the morning and evening, in terms of meals and getting in and out of the house.  Except that from bedtime (8pm) to falling asleep (10pm) is some pretty spectacular theatrics: howling, bargaining, incessantly coming up and down the stairs.  Then she's up again at 2am because she's woken up in her pile of stuffed animals and can't seem to locate one of them, so she's up again to enlist us as a search party.  And up again for good at 6am, full of energy and ready to get the day started.

Between the two of them and a full day of work, I'm not sure when the day begins and when it ends.  Who knew that round the clock parenting wasn't limited to parents of infants?