I’ve been sitting on this blog entry for awhile now, but I got to experience what it was like to be a single parent for a week or so. Susan took a trip to Thailand and I wrote down how my time with the kids went.
Friday Night
I can’t recall anything in particular, must have been a decent night. Henry didn’t really eat much for dinner.
Saturday Morning
Kids were slow getting up and it took a long time to eat their breakfast. Ollie was mad when I made him get dressed without finishing his cereal (and Gatorade). Henry said his stomach hurt and didn’t want to go to swim class. We were 5 minutes late to class, luckily the other student was late as well and the teacher wasn’t in the pool yet. The kids had an awesome class – Ollie went full under on his own and Henry looked like he was having fun despite not feeling well. We “had” to get a treat after swim class – VG’s was having a sale on lobsters and I tried selling the kids on that as a treat, neither kid was buying. I found a rainbow Jell-o recipe and the kids were pretty excited about that (so much for lobster). We stopped into Wal-mart to get much needed coke and supplies for the rainbow Jell-o.
Saturday Afternoon
Had lunch, attempted to get Ollie to take a nap, that wasn’t happening. Henry also didn’t want to stay in his room for quiet time. Figured it was a good time to start making the rainbow Jell-o. It takes about three hours plus needs to sit overnight. Ollie was a big help and was excited until we got to the yellow/orange layers.
Saturday Night
On the way home from swimming, we decided on going to a pizza place for dinner. Henry’s tummy was not happy and I tried to get him ready, but he ended up puking in the hallway. Ollie was upset we couldn’t go out and Henry was upset he threw up. After cleaning up the mess, I took Ollie downstairs to “help” order the pizza for delivery. Henry went to bed early with a bucket by his bed. Ollie went to bed without problems. I must have caught what Henry had… my stomach was not happy, took a dose of Pepto-Bismal.
Sunday Morning
Kids were up early and did not want to get dressed. Henry ate some cereal and said he was feeling a little bit better. I pulled the Jell-o out around 9 am and it came out awesome, both kids ate a slice.
Sunday Afternoon
We had left over pizza for lunch, everyone ate good. My stomach was still feeling queasy, took some tums. Ollie “took a nap” for about 15 minutes and decided he was done. The kids played nicely in Henry’s room for the first half of the Lions game. Watching the second half was a struggle, but we made it through. We went to the Halloween store to find window decals because the ones from last year were broken/weren’t sticking. They had some robotronics set up, Henry liked the dancing pumpkin guy and Ollie jumped when the spider moved. After pressing the button in the candy bowl the scarecrow was holding, Henry jumped. Then they both jumped when Ollie activated the spider again, it was pretty funny. Afterwards we went to the grocery store. I haven’t had both of the kids with me in a long time… probably for good reason, it was majorly stressing.
Sunday Night
We had dinner and Ollie had more Jell-o. After dinner I reviewed Henry’s work sheets and then it was bath time. It was a bit of a struggle, but the kids got cleaned and ready for bed.
Monday Morning
Kids were up in the family room in the dark… not sure what they were doing. Henry wanted to eat breakfast at home and wouldn’t get dressed. Got the garbage out and Ollie was ready to go and Henry was still in PJs. I got Ollie loaded up in the truck and Henry was STILL getting dressed. I heard the bus pull up as Henry was getting into the truck. We had to run through the grass to catch the bus, Henry cried because his feet got wet…
Monday Night
Kids went to bed decently well.
Tuesday Morning
Took the day off, dropped Ollie off at Kimmy’s, got a donut from the bakery (…not the donut place). Took a look at Henry’s worksheets and did some homework before school. We didn’t have any problems getting on the bus today even though it was a little early. I finally got to mow the grass, it was still wet and looked pretty bad, but at least it was mowed.
Tuesday Afternoon
Got Ollie from daycare and picked Henry up at the door to get haircuts. Ollie was bummed they didn’t have green, but was okay about getting orange color in his hair.
Tuesday Night
Lots of crying about Macaroni and Cheese with hamburger (a favorite of mine), but both kids ate and liked it (eventually). Bed time wasn’t too bad, Henry finished another sheet on his homework. I woke up in the middle of the night with stomach pains and nauseous… did not have any Pepto-Bismal to help.
Wednesday Morning
Kids got dressed in a reasonable time, we made it out to the bus with a minute to spare.
Wednesday Afternoon
Stomach started to feel better.
Wednesday Night
Kids were actually excited about leftovers. Henry finished up his homework and the kids took a bath without too much troubles. Ollie jumped back in after I took him out because he wanted Henry to get out first, then decided to plop on the ground.
Thursday Morning
Kids were up and dressed with plenty of time for the bus. Had time to gel and spike Henry’s hair for school pictures.
Thursday Afternoon
Stomach issues were gone.
Thursday Night
Took a nap while the kids watched Smurf’s Lost Village (again), bed time wasn’t too bad.
Friday Morning
Had to get both kids out of bed, Henry looked cold, but didn’t want to add a second blanket… he didn’t want to get sweaty. There was a substitute bus driver today and asked if Henry was on her route…. um, yes?
Friday Night
Went to McDonald’s in Frankenmuth, kids burnt some energy in the play area and didn’t want to go when I said it was time.
Saturday Morning
Kids were up and ate breakfast, made it to swim class 5 minutes early. They were the only ones in class and got their completion certificates today… Ollie is all about going under water.
Saturday Afternoon
Ollie took a good nap, somehow bumped his lip on Henry’s bed while playing. It was bleeding a little bit on the inside and he *needed* popsicles.
Saturday Night
Kids were good, let me take a nap while they watched tv.
Sunday Morning
Kids were up early and excited to go to the corn maze. After finishing breakfast, they got dressed and put their shoes on… told them they weren’t open until after nap/quiet time.
Sunday Afternoon
Went to the corn maze and they were not joking when they said it was muddy. First mud hole we hit, Henry’s shoe came off and he falls over… a few seconds later Ollie topples over. I asked if they wanted to turn around, but they said no. I ended up carrying both of them through all the muddy parts. Most of it wasn’t too bad, but there was one bad spot I slipped while carrying them. We ended up on the ground in the corn, but everyone was okay. We somehow managed to finish the maze in time to watch the last pig races and duck race of the day. Ollie was talking about seeing the races all day, glad we made it. 🙂
Sunday Night
Got home late, put dinner in the oven, bathed the kids. Ate dinner and a quick story before bed. Once in bed, I cleaned up everyone’s shoes and clothes.
Monday Morning
Kids shoes were a little damp, I hit them up with the heat gun to finish drying them… mine were still soaked.
Monday Afternoon
Decided to put my shoes in front of the heating duct to finish drying out.
Monday Night
Ollie was a grouch, not sure if it was from being up late the night before, but man was he not in a good mood. At least they went to bed pretty good.
Tuesday Morning
My shoes finally dried out, Ollie was in a much better mood.
Tuesday Afternoon
It was a quiet day at the office, officemate was out!
Tuesday Night
Emergency run to Wal-mart just before bed to get milk for Henry’s lunch. Decided it was getting cold enough to pull out some hats and mittens for the kids.
Wednesday Morning
Ollie wouldn’t wear any of the winter gear I pulled out, cried his red hat wouldn’t fit him. Another emergency run to Wal-mart on the way to daycare to get a new hat and new mittens.
Wednesday Afternoon
Wasted an hour of my day watching a webinar that didn’t apply to our company.
Wednesday Night
Kids were excited to pick mom up from the train station (although they kept asking about going to the airport). On the way, Henry was like wow it’s dark outside, is it almost midnight? Uh nope, 8:30. Ollie was excited to see his mom, ran over and gave her a big hug. Henry was cold and tired and wanted to go to bed… he passed out in the truck on the way home.