Super Solo
Karl is in Seoul this week. I have been steeling myself all month for a week of doing bedtime alone. Lately Ingrid has been falling asleep at 7:00 but waking up every 20 minutes until 9:00, extremely pissed off that no one is rocking her. Henry puts himself to sleep after we drop him in bed at 8:15 but I hated the thought of depriving the little man of stories and cuddle time, especially since Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa all left him today. I wasn't sure how it was going to work, but I figured there would be screaming involved.
Then I realized yesterday that Elaine had Columbus Day off. So in addition to doing bedtime alone today, I had them both to myself all day long.
You know what? We did fine! We took nice walks in both the morning and the afternoon. Nobody acted crazy in public. Henry was a model toddler during lunchtime and before his nap, and Ingrid was happy to sit on my lap while we did pre-nap milk and read a book. Karl was home long enough in the morning for me to shower and prep some food. That was critical. Henry only napped for an hour and a half so I wouldn't have had much time to get dinner ready. As it was, I had a giant batch of chili in the slow cooker ready to go. It was more food than one adult and one toddler could humanly eat, so we invited some friends over for dinner (hooray for adult company, such as it is with four children under age 3). Henry was tolerably quiet while I nursed Ingrid at 7:00, and instead of putting her in bed, I put her down in her swing. That bought us about 35 minutes of sleeping baby -- just enough time to bathe Henry, get him in pajamas, and read a respectable number of stories before Ingrid woke up pissed off that she was being rocked by a machine instead of a parent. But by 9:00 I had two children fed and sleeping in their own beds.
Mommy FTW!
Then I realized yesterday that Elaine had Columbus Day off. So in addition to doing bedtime alone today, I had them both to myself all day long.
You know what? We did fine! We took nice walks in both the morning and the afternoon. Nobody acted crazy in public. Henry was a model toddler during lunchtime and before his nap, and Ingrid was happy to sit on my lap while we did pre-nap milk and read a book. Karl was home long enough in the morning for me to shower and prep some food. That was critical. Henry only napped for an hour and a half so I wouldn't have had much time to get dinner ready. As it was, I had a giant batch of chili in the slow cooker ready to go. It was more food than one adult and one toddler could humanly eat, so we invited some friends over for dinner (hooray for adult company, such as it is with four children under age 3). Henry was tolerably quiet while I nursed Ingrid at 7:00, and instead of putting her in bed, I put her down in her swing. That bought us about 35 minutes of sleeping baby -- just enough time to bathe Henry, get him in pajamas, and read a respectable number of stories before Ingrid woke up pissed off that she was being rocked by a machine instead of a parent. But by 9:00 I had two children fed and sleeping in their own beds.
Mommy FTW!
Awesome job Shelby! Also impressed by the phrase "Henry only napped for an hour and a half..." since that's a nice, long nap in my world :)
ReplyDeleteReally looking forward to seeing you and the kiddos (and Karl) for Christmas this year!