Day in the Life - 17 Months

I'm reminded every day that Emmett is in a period of rapid growth - both physically and mentally. He's building up his words (bye bye, up and reese aka rice are current favorites) and getting a little too good at running and climbing ;)  Today is a good example of what happens we have go off-script. Luckily it doesn't happen often, but it really challenges me as a parent to remain flexible in a different way. I have no problem letting him "lead" me on toddler hikes or find his own way to play inside - I encourage it! - but I usually have a pretty good idea of how the day will go, and today is an example of outside forces that sometimes don't let me have my way.

6:15 a.m. - I hear Emmett, along with a massive thunderstorm! It's all up to me to grab him because Luke is sick, womp womp, and because Luke got up with him at 5:20 yesterday (luckily with the help of his mom who was in town to babysit Tuesday night) so it's definitely my turn. He's in a great mood so we go downstairs to play. I make coffee and get breakfast prepped. Emmett loves standing on his stool (my improvised learning tower) and watching me scramble eggs while munching on strawberries.

7:00 a.m. - We wake up dad then I turn on bread to toast and scramble eggs. We all sit down to eat at 7:15. I bought a different kind of yogurt - Strauss European style yogurt, and it's a little runnier than the Greek yogurt we usually get. Emmett doesn't seem to mind though and loves dunking his Chex in it and eating it with a spoon. He's not interested in toast or eggs though - glad he ate 4 strawberries during breakfast prep! Luke and I enjoy cranberry walnut toast, scrambled eggs, fruit, coffee and an Emergen-C cocktail (Emercen-C, OJ and water).

7:35 a.m. - We're done with breakfast. I clear the table while Emmett plays and Luke mouthbreathes while watching him, but that doesn't last long. E is anxious to go outside. It has stopped storming and is just lightly raining, so while Luke heads upstairs to shower/rest, E and I don rainboots and jackets. I was crossing my fingers that a Hike It Baby hike my friend Donna posted was going to happen, but she had to cancel due to the storms. We were going to the Woodland Faerie trails at the Zilker Botanical Gardens, and I was pumped to see Emmett toddling around. Hoping we can try again for next week!

8:00 a.m. - Time for a toddler walk. Emmett loves his Oakiwear rainboots and has fun looking for puddles. I end up having to pick him up several times since when we get on a busier road in our neighborhood, he keeps depending to get into the puddles in the street. A little stressful, but he loves when I hold him and pop open our big, colorful umbrella with border collies on it. I ordered it a few years ago after seeing it in Real Simple magazine and always love an excuse to use it!

8:48 a.m. - Back home! E enjoys dragging the watering can around noisily in the driveway for a few minutes, then we come to check on dad. It's my turn to shower and neti pot (my allergies are out of control since the mold count is high. I sound like a man and feel super run down, not great on a rainy day with a sick dada at home). Luke lets me have 20 minutes to rest in peace in bed while Emmett plays with his toys downstairs and visits his sand table in the back yard.

9:50 a.m. - Emmett and I head to Gymboree. We froze our membership this spring due to all the hiking, but since it's hot and steamy, we're back in full force. We've been hitting open gym almost every afternoon after his nap, and I'm thrilled that they're making the classes unlimited for the summer (it's usually 1/week). It's a BIG class due to the rain/open enrollment week, but that's fine by us. We have fun singing songs, climbing ramps, playing peek-a-boo, catching bubbles and doing parachute time. I can tell he's getting tired because he starts laying down on a map, and when class is over he's trying to push the door open and go outside, so no staying afterwards for a few minutes of play.

11:05 a.m. - We head home, and unfortunately he falls asleep for the last 3 minutes - a super weird nap time. I contemplate making him a quick bottle and putting him down for a super early nap (he usually naps around 1/1:30 due to a 15-20 minute catnap in the stroller, but he didn't catnap today due to no stroller nap). However, I show him watermelon and he perks up, so we sit down to a early lunch instead.

11:20 a.m. - Lunch is served! E chows down on 4 pieces of watermelon, some quinoa and grilled corn. Luke and I have salads with leftover grilled chile citrus chicken, corn, quinoa, mango, arugula and feta with a squeeze of lime and drizzle of olive oil.

11:35 a.m. - Emmett plays for a few minutes while I clean up from lunch (and breakfast too), then I change his diaper and we head upstairs for a bottle and nap.

12:15 p.m. - E is asleep. Even though I left him happily sitting up and playing in his crib, within 5 minutes he's snoozing. I climb in bed, set my alarm, and take a 1 hour nap myself. I wake up feeling rejuvinated, though still have allergy throat/voice. But an improvement! I warm up a second cup of coffee for the day and enjoy a leftover piece of homemade chocolate almond biscotti from the weekend (My sis and her family came to stay for Memorial Day. Her son Ben is a year older than Emmett, and they had a BALL playing together). I prep dinner, fold laundry, empty the dishwasher and work on this post.

2:58 p.m. - Emmett is awake. Since he's been going down later, I'm not used to him waking up at 3, but the weather is fine so I'm ready to deal. He's in a great mood (yay!) and we read a couple books upstairs, then we head downstairs and he hands Luke a couple books he wants him to read. We play inside and with the sand table again. He helps me pick our first bell pepper from the garden and tries to eat it ;)

3:40 p.m. - Time to hop in the stroller and head to the playground. It's BEAUTIFUL outside (mocking me with my allergies, I always get tempted to stay outside too long when I know I shouldn't...). I texted my neighborhood mom pals and Aubrie and her 11 month old son William meet us at the playground! E enjoys a graham cracker on the ride over and eats most of a pluot at the park. He has fun on the swing and playscape, but mostly running around the grounds.

5:08 p.m. - Oops, time got away from me! We head home and E and I share a few mini pretzels. I'm rocking my Garmin vivoactive on my shoe, since it doesn't count my steps accurately when I'm pushing the stroller. Works well!

6:10 p.m. - After I get home and warm up the food (thanks to Luke for chopping some kale and shredding the spaghetti!), it's time to eat. I'm bummed since I was supposed to go out for a girls dinner to celebrate my friend Karen's birthday, but Luke was feeling so crummy he didn't think he could handle dinner/evening shenanigans/bedtime by himself (which to his credit, this is the first time in E's life he's asked me to cancel plans). Oh well, my gal pals and I already got a makeup dinner on the calendar for a few weeks from now!
Emmett started on a watermelon appetizer. He's cutting some molars and was really hurting, so the cold fruit helped a bit. We enjoy spaghetti squash and vermicelli noodles tossed in a homemade coconut peanut sauce with carrots, kale and peanuts on top. E mostly enjoyed eating his sauce with a spoon, despite the bell pepper dippers I provided, and the vermicelli. Oh well...

6:30 p.m. - He's asking to go outside so we head out on a family walk so Benji can stretch his legs too. E has a blast running a lot of it.

7:05 p.m. - We get home and head up for tubby time. Then he rocks his evening bottle and we read some books. Then it's time to brush teeth (he actually does pretty well tonight and lets me brush them, and he actually drinks/spits some water). I read him his goodnight book and leave a happy boy in his crib!

7:45 p.m. - I finish cleaning up the kitchen from dinner and make some Throat Coat tea for me and Luke. Then, I finally pull the trigger on buying a Deuter Kid Comfort III hiking carrier. We've been sporting our current one for a year now, which we got used at a Fairytale Threads consignment sale. I've put tons of miles on it now and it's time for an upgrade. I can't wait for it to get here!! Then I work on this post.

8:45 p.m. - We watch the Mindy Project together. Man that show is so funny. I can definitely tell it's different now that it's a Hulu show, but I don't care. She's so funny :)

9:30 p.m. - We head upstairs to get ready for bed. It's been a long day of toddler entertaining when I wasn't 100% and I'm ready for bed.

10:00 p.m. - Lights out!