MARTY MADNESS – DAY 5/7

Day Five – Easter Sunday

My parents are coming over for dinner – my kids do not really like traditional dinners like turkey, chicken or ham .. so we decide on lasagna and Caesar salad. Yum.

12:03am Rosie wakes in a panic saying “daddy, daddy, daddy” she seems out of it. She had a bad dream. It’s takes me a bit to snap her awake so I can talk to her and help calm her down. Give her a big hug, accompany her to the bathroom, drink of water and a completely off key round of you are my sunshine and she’s back asleep.

2:17am Harvey wakes – his diaper leaked again. Go through the usually routine. New bedding. New pajamas. I guess laundry in the morning again. I think my wife is right (don’t tell her), we need to drop his bedtime bottle, if we want him to sleep dry.

7:06am-9:14pm Harvey wakes first, he seems confused by the Easter baskets. The cats left them alone. Surprisingly. While I’m making coffee, Rosie ninjas down the steps and digs in with delight and smiles ear to ear. By the time I realize what’s happening, she has the ears on, her princess underwear in her hands and is on the hunt of the jelly bean eggs the Easter Bunny hid. We empty out the baskets, find the eggs, take multiple adorable pictures in their bunny ears. Great start to the morning! It’s nice out, time to suit up and hit the park!

9:23am-11am It’s beautiful out! We stay at the park as long as we can. The only thing that  will stop us now is the impending storm or lunch time. They played perfectly together at the park, Rosie was great with the other kids, even picked dandelions for all of them and handed them out like the little garden fairy she is.

The kids miss their mom so much – I’m wearing thin on them. Just 2 more sleeps until she is back. It will be good to see her. Really good. They need her. So do I.

They do a great job on the grilled cheese I made for lunch – probably because I promised them more jelly beans if they had a good lunch.

12:27pm-2:13pm Harvey is down but it took longer than usual. Rosie is going stir crazy – wants to bounce around the house… I need her to be quiet for about 10 minutes to ensure that he goes down. Will be messy if he doesn’t. She’s not listening. She is stubborn sometimes. And I’m tired. Not the best combination. I do love who she is becoming. Every day more and more of her true personality comes through. She will do wonders in her life and I’m already proud of how great she is up to now. The future is bright for her. She will be smarter and better then I ever was… this excites me. After all, isn’t that what we want all our kids to be? For the student to surpass the teacher.

She wants to play “you’re the zoo keeper and I’m you’re lost kitty” I have never heard of this one… yep it’s exactly what you think it is. Love her imagination. She comes up with full back stories, character development and the emotion of all the animals in the zoo. Cool to watch it unfold.

2:20pm-5pm My parents will be here at 230 – they arrive just as the after nap chaos begins.

This is hard for me to explain. It’s not that my kids dislike my parents, because they do love them. They just do not see them as much as Averil’s mom. They are used to playing with her like we do. Chasing. Lifting. On the ground. They seem to be different with them versus Averil’s parents. My folks are more hands off due to medical issues and mobility. When Averil’s parents are here, her mom is knee deep in the action with the kids, rolling, playing, dancing, chasing … you get my point. My mom has to remain seated on the couch, by necessity due to her back. My step father, the only true father I remember (past 27 years of my life) is also hobbled a bit, but gets down on the ground at interacts. My kids seem to respond to him the most. He is a great guy. They bring 2 giant kinder eggs for the kids for Easter. They are as big as Harvey’s head. No joke. Clearly a 2 year old needs that much chocolate. But it was a nice gesture. Wasn’t it? For me. It’s delicious.

5pm-6:55pm My mom makes her “famous” crock pot lasagna – where all the ingredients are dumped in a slow cooker for 4 hours and voilà a home cooked meal. But I shouldn’t joke … its a pretty damn good tasting lasagna. One of the better I’ve tried. My kids devour it – Harvey has 2 helpings. “That’s funny Frank never asks for a second cup at home …”

Rosie, god bless her, is in full swing princess mode. The worst she has behaved all week. I truly believe it has a direct correlation to not to be able to interact with my mom like she does with Averil’s. I don’t think she can process it and why I had to keep telling her to slow down and listen to grandma as much as I had to. I was getting worked up a bit with her, she had a break on the steps, I went to her and she said “I’m a kid, I just want to play.” I agreed, she is a kid, and she does want to play – but it’s important to listen the first time when someone speaks and that everything can’t be hers the second she wants it to be. I think I won that one, she seemed to get it.

We get our rubber boots on around 6pm and head outside for a last bit of fresh air. My parents say goodnight. And the kids are back to how they were behaving all week. Interesting. I let them work up a sweat, should have done a bath – tomorrow.

7:01pm Same routine as always. Pajamas. Teeth brushed. Bottle. Stories. Harvey giving me the gears – but I expected that. Again. Rosie was perfect. Both down by 738pm – I’m sure one will wake soon.

Need to start googling – have to get groceries and bus schedule for the morning – not sure what’s open or when it’s running. But i believe that most things were closed today.

8:24pm-10:30pm Harvey wakes – it’s like he sets his alarm or something. He starts making noise when I leave, but I keep going, he has to fall asleep on his own. I can hear Rosie snoring as I come out of his room.

I watch Maze Runner 2 – it’s pretty good. Averil calls at 1030pm great to hear her voice. We talk for 23 minutes and 14 seconds. Can’t wait to see her.

11:25pm Rosie wakes has a bad dream – she can’t explain what she was dreaming about. Give her a big hug, she asks if mommy is home. Just a couple more sleeps I say. I pop on Snowpiercer – people at work say it’s ridiculously bad. Let’s find out. It’s bad. Really bad. I can’t finish it.