day in the life

I always like when other bloggers write "day in the life" type posts. Would that be interesting to you guys? Here's one for today.

I woke up at 6:30 this morning, got all ready and had breakfast. It's rare, but sometimes I have time to get ready for the day before Celia wakes up and it's really nice. At 7:15 Celia and Chris were still sleeping (Pita skipped her nap yesterday and she was really sleeping in), so I went and woke them both up. Celia and I went downstairs and she played for a while. She watched Caillou (part of her typical morning routine) and I made her some egg, toast and blueberries for breakfast.

Her hair has gotten VERY curly with the summer heat!

While Celia was eating, a crew came to finish installing soffits in the attic and Chris left for work. Then Pita and I played with her Little People, Calico Critters and their little houses and cars for a while. This is her new favorite thing to do- she's so imaginative. After that, I wanted to have some fun activities to fill up our morning so we made cookies. We tried peanut butter thumbprints from The Vegan Table and they turned out great. And as always, vegan baking is perfect for little kids because you don't have to worry about them eating the raw dough.

In fact, the little monkey snuck so much cookie dough that she wasn't even hungry for a cookie when they were ready! While the cookies baked, I cleaned up the kitchen and Celia wanted to "clean" the floor with her little spray bottle.

 

We read books, had a snack, and headed out to the playground and the library. But first I had to wrangle the little monster to put sunscreen on her and get her clothes changed. She was busy asserting her 2-year-old independence, ignoring my requests for her to get dressed and choosing to hang on the deck with China instead.

They are such pals. China's 15 years old this summer and I worry about what will happen when he's no longer around.

We finally did get dressed and in the car. Celia loves the playground and can do all kinds of things (like go down the big kid slides) that give me minor heart attacks. Unfortunately, it was a really hot day and all the slides and equipment were too hot from the sun. Celia didn't want to go on them because they were too hot. We sat in the shade for a few minutes, and then went to check out our new town's library. Oh boy. I thought we might be getting a library upgrade with our move, but the library here is literally one room. I was so disappointed. I'm not sure it's even worth using, except that we can get inter-library loans. The librarian was very nice though, and she gave Celia a turtle activity to bring home because we had just missed a story and craft time.

We got home right before lunch and Celia colored her turtle while I got things ready.

I've been excited to try a few new things now that I'm headed back to my vegan diet. I got some tempeh bacon and wanted to try a vegan version of a BLT. It was fantastic. To be honest, most veg imitations of animal products are pretty gross to me and I just stay away from them. But this really was just as good as the real thing- and healthy too!

After lunch we read some books and then Celia had her nap. I cleaned a toilet, scrubbed all the downstairs floors except for the family room (they get dirty so fast in the summer!), started a washer load of cleaning rags, and took some pictures of the trees we've had marked to cut down in the yard. I made a random attempt to get my wedding ring to fit on my finger (pregnancy and hot weather- don't think I'll be wearing it again for a while) and sat down to start this post. Oh, and I saved a chipmunk's life. China was trying to kill the poor thing on the deck- yuck! We can't stop him from hunting, but I'm not fond of deck-top carcass clean-up.

After Pita's nap I wanted to set up her room with some toys so she can play in there. She always loved playing in her old room. We went through her books and put them on her shelves, and picked out some toys to keep in her room. Hopefully she will start playing in there independently now, like she used to before we moved. She quickly made a big mess of her little alcove, playing away.

Celia had a snack and played with her Little People, Chris got home from work a little earlier than usual, and I revamped some leftover pasta and beans with some extra olive oil, lemon, garlic and spinach for dinner. After dinner, Chris played with Celia and told her stories while I cleaned up the kitchen. Then he took her out for ice cream. I stayed behind and watered plants outside, picked up the house, wiped down the kitchen table and surfaces in the family room, and washed my face and got in my pajamas. I even turned down the bed. I am such a dork...

By the time Chris and Pita got home, it was past time to start her bedtime routine. We always read books while she has a snack, and I put her to bed.

So, that was my day. How was yours? Do you see similarities? It's always neat to see how, no matter where you live or what other differences there are, mothers everywhere seem to experience a lot of the same things, perform the same daily routines, (deal with the same drama from their toddlers :D), etc.