A Normal Day

This week Mommy has been thinking about how amazingly different a typical day is for us now than it was the last time she wrote about it almost ten months ago. So, here is an update!

On a usual day, Mommy nurses Aidan and then gets up at 5AM so she can grab a shower, eat some yogurt, and walk to the Starbucks on 181st street with her laptop to start work on her dissertation at 6AM. At home, Aidan wakes up about 6AM (usually just after Mommy leaves), plays in bed for a few minutes, then on the floor for a few minutes, and then runs out of the door to find his toys. Daddy sleepily plays with him in the living room for up to an hour before he wakes all the way up, and then they have a shower, and then breakfast (usually fruit, cheerios and milk). After breakfast, Aidan finds his shoes and tries to put them on to let Daddy know that it's time for an adventure!

Long adventures mean going on the subway to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, Central Park in midtown Manhattan, or Innwood Park at the northern tip of Manhattan. Right now, Daddy's favorite playground is Heckscher Playground in the south end of Central Park - it has a large playstructure which is essentially an aquaduct with 1 inch deep flowing water for babies to splash through, slides going off the edge, and tunnels to climb through, as well as an entire playground built on a giant sandbox, and wonderful swings and slides. Short adventures usually start on the blacktop behind the elementary school next to our apartment, where Aidan chases balls around and pushes his crocodile push-toy all over the place without crashing into anything. After he gets some energy out it's on to either Javits playground to play with some of Aidan's friends (Nate, Dillon, and Mousissa are regulars) or to the play group at the Collegiate Church where there are tons of kids and things to do (pools, arts and crafts, live guitar and sing-a-longs, sometimes even a water slide!). By 11am or so Aidan's getting pretty tired so it's time to go home and either pass out or have some lunch before passing out. On Monday Aidan couldn't make up his mind on this last option, so he passed out in his high chair after eating lunch (Daddy had to wash his hands while he was sleeping!)!

Mommy packs up her laptop and comes home around 11:30AM when she and Daddy usually have lunch together before Daddy heads off to work. Aidan usually wakes up from his nap around 1PM, and then he has a snack or lunch (usually of leftovers from yesterday's dinner). After lunch, Aidan helps Mommy do laundry or tidy the house for a while, but quickly tells Mommy that he is ready to play outside again by finding his shoes and trying to put them on his feet. At that point, we go outside to run around on the blacktop or in a nearby park for a little while, but make sure that we are at Dolphin Park when it opens at 3:30PM sharp. Mommy loves Dolphin Park because it is a small area reserved for babies where Aidan isn't tempted to play basketball with the high school boys, and where big kids don't run over Aidan! Aidan loves it because there is a sprinkler that comes out of a dolphin statue, a small sandpit, and a play-structure with a slide, steps to walk up and down (Aidan's favorite thing recently - he even hung from the monkey bars while Daddy closely spotted him on Thursday!), and monkey bars that Aidan loves to "tag" with Mommy's help. We play at Dolphin Park until 4:30 or 5:00PM with Aidan's friends (Jack, Bruno, Dillon, and Huck are regulars, and everyone wants to take a turn at Aidan's crocadile push-toy!). When Aidan is ready to leave, he climbs up Mommy's legs and suctions on like an opihi, at which point we take the stroller back home to make dinner. We have dinner at 5:30PM, and Aidan eats the same thing Mommy does, just cut up a bit more - he particularly likes pasta, broccolli, rice, chicken, and almost any fruit. After dinner, Aidan plays with his toys while Mommy finishes eating and does the dishes. Then it's bath time, and then bedtime! Aidan usually nurses to sleep around 7:00PM. Mommy finishes up a few things after he goes to bed, but passes out early (~9PM), and Daddy often climbs into bed after getting back from work after 10PM.

On Saturdays, Mommy and Daddy have decided to work half-days. This Saturday we were all able to sleep in in the morning (Mommy woke up with Aidan a few hours after she normally gets up, and then kept him with her for the morning routine so Daddy could get a few hours extra too). Then, Daddy took Aidan on a walk while Mommy had some work time, until Aidan's nap. After the nap, Mommy took Aidan to play outside while Daddy worked. But then we all had dinner together!

Mommy and Daddy have decided to take Sundays totally and completely off, which is a wonderful experience! Today, we all slept in a bit, ate a breakfast of scrambled eggs and strawberries, and then took the subway to Coney Island! None of us had ever been to Coney Island before, and it was fun: we went swimming in the ocean, played in the sand (Aidan loved having his toes buried), walked through the carnival rides (Aidan isn't quite tall enough to ride yet!), and ate fish & chips, chicken-fingers, and hot dogs at Nathan's Original hot dog stand. It was so wonderful to have fun and relax there together! Aidan took a short nap on Mommy on the subway back, but then woke up. So, we stopped by Heckscher Playground where Daddy introduced Mommy to the amazing park that he had been telling her about for a while. (It was amazing!) After soaking ourselves in the sprinklers, playing in the sand, and going on Aidan's second carousel ride, we finished our subway ride home, made dinner, and put Aidan to bed.

Mommy and Daddy love our new routines, and we think Aidan does too. Mommy is getting light-years more work done on her dissertation than ever before, Daddy can use his flex time to get his work done while seeing Aidan more, and we all get to relax with each other on weekends (unlike when weekends were Mommy's only work time). It is really wonderful!