A Typical Day

Being a stay-at-home Mommy is by far the most rewarding and most exhausting "job" I've ever had! Here's a fairly typical day for us...

We had a nice relaxing morning, mostly 'cause it was once again a cold, cold morning. At 9:30 we headed out to one of our favorite places... our amazing bakery. We try not to go too often, as there's nothing there with less than 1000 calories per bite. So, when we do go, it's a special treat. We saw some friends, and Maia delighted in devouring her half of our sticky bun. After I chugged my decaf latte in hopes of perking up a bit, we headed off to our next stop... Tuesday morning playgroup at our local art museum.

We have a wonderful, and impressively organized, parents' group in our area. They coordinate playgroups for toddlers and babies, parents' nights out, new meals for new families. Each Tuesday there is a playgroup that meets at rotating locations throughout our area. In fair weather it's usually at a playground. When it's freezing and dreary, we meet at museums, the YMCA, the bakery, and occasionally some brave person's home. Today was at the local art museum. It's really an amazing museum, with some incredible permanent collections, and usually delightful exhibits that come and go. (A favorite was an exhibit all about tea pots. They were hilarious, and beautiful, but the best were hilarious.) And they have a wonderful kids room. It has tons to explore, and is a wonderful place to spend a few hours. Here are a few photos of Maia enjoying its many offerings:

After playgroup, we headed home. We had a quick lunch and then it was back to playtime. I'm sure most will think this is ridiculous, but over the course of a year, I read Pride and Prejudice to Maia in its entirety. She loved having me read to her, and I loved sharing one of my favorite books with her. And one result is that whenever we play with blocks, we have a tendency to build Pemberley:

After ensuring Darcy and Elizabeth will have a safe, warm home for many years to come, we headed outside to let Gritty get some fresh air and do some more training. Maia loves running around the yard, and has recently added a new skill to her runs... she gallops! We've been working on it at Little Gym, and she seems to have taken to it. It's delightful to watch her bounding around the yard, shouting "Here I go a-galloping" at full volume. Hopefully our neighbors find it delightful as well!

She also got the opportunity to try out her own dog training skills...

We headed inside shortly thereafter, and began what is truly an epic struggle... nap time. At 2 and a 1/2, Maia is pretty darn opinionated. (We're shocked and have no idea where she gets it!) She's also a wee bit stubborn. (Again, shocked!) And in the last month or two, she's decided she no longer wants to take a nap. The problem is that she desperately needs a nap. At about 12:30 or 1, I'll begin talking about nap time. She'll steadfastly refuse. Eventually I'll get her up to her room, where I'll spend anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour trying to get her to lie down in bed and just relax for a bit, and then trying to keep her in the bed. At some point, at least 3 out of 7 days, and out of sheer exhaustion, I'll give up and we'll go on to another activity. By 4, however, her eyes are droopy and she's quick to become upset if something doesn't go as she expected... and then she starts begging to take a nap. On these days without a nap she goes to bed very early, very easily, and very quickly. But it can make for a long afternoon.

Today was a no-nap day, and so we broke out the play-doh. We made butterflies and frogs and castles, all the while guarding the doh from Gritty. After all, if he'll eat paper, play-doh has got be pretty appetizing!

We followed play-doh time with making dinner, eating dinner, cleaning up from dinner, and finally a bath. Then it was into jammies, snuggling with some books, and off to dreamland...