Interrupted

My Life Thus Far
2009-03-09 04:28:35 (UTC)

A Better Effort

I wish I'd gotten more sleep last night. For reasons I'm
not sure of, I wasn't able to fall asleep until almost
4am. The past few days I've been terribly off-schedule and
I need to get back on track. I made the mistake of telling
the kids that I'd take them swimming today and as a
result, they woke me up bright and early (7am). Even
though open swim doesn't start until 1:30pm. There was no
going back to sleep or even laying in bed for another
hour. I just had to get up. I can function under many
circumstances, but 3 hours of sleep is rough. Thankfully
the physical excursion tired them all out and everybody
was asleep by 7pm. It's a little after 9pm now and I
guarantee I won't be up at 4am tonight.

Both Kiki and Keenan had never been in a pool before. The
past few Summers I've taken Annie and Kiki to Bainbridge
Island regularly, but the water is cold even on the
hottest days, so Kiki never set foot into the water more
than a couple of inches. So, she was a little apprehensive
about jumping right in. I put on her little water wings
and guided her in, but it still took her a good 45 minutes
to venture beyond the steps. Once in, she took to it right
away and was floating under her own power in no time. Her
ample little booty serving as a much better flotation
device than the little wings on her arms.

Keenan wasn't crazy about any of it at first. He didn't
cry, but he made his displeasure known by repeatedly
flailing his arms and plaintively whining "mama mama". He
didn't like the somewhat cold water, he didn't like all
the people and he definitely didn't like getting splashed
in the face by rambunctious kids jumping in next to him.
He was safely ensconced in his little baby boat, which
only let his legs dangle in the water. After a few minutes
of acclimation he was fine, though. He floated quietly,
taking in his surroundings and occasionally babbling to
himself. I don't think I've ever seen a more mellow child.

I hadn't seen Annie swim in awhile, but it was apparent
that the 7 days she spent at Summer camp last year really
improved her swimming abilities. She wasn't the least bit
afraid and was doing all sorts or acrobatics. Being the
social butterfly that she is, she immediately found a
handful of kids she knew from school or the neighborhood
and I barely saw 10 minutes of her the entire 2 hours we
were there.

When we got home, we were all tired. I anticipated an
early night, so I made dinner around 5pm. Chicken stir-
fry. Nothing fancy. The girls mostly ate the chicken,
cauliflower, broccoli and rice. I ate the carrots, snow
peas what little rice they left me. I felt in the mood for
something light and fresh and the girls were too tired and
hungry to complain. I'll admit, I've been giving them too
much "kid" food lately. Pizza, chicken nuggets, corn dogs.
I'm lucky to have children that will eat most vegetables.
I don't want to undo my good fortune by being lazy. Even
if Snookums isn't here to cook for, the kids still need
good meals. I made a vow to myself that from now on I'd
put forth a better effort. Besides, I need to eat
something other than shredded wheat, trail mix and spinach
ravioli Lean Cuisines once in awhile, too.

Tomorrow I'm enrolling Kiki in the YMCA preschool. It's
from 12:15-3:15 Monday-Friday, so I'll be working out
during then. I would have rather worked out in the morning
to leave more of the day free, but I suppose if I need to
do anything I can accomplish it in the morning. I feel
it's important that Kiki have time with other children her
age. She spends too much time alone with me and with her
developmental delays (which I think are pretty much a
thing of the past) it couldn't hurt to get a jump-start on
the Kindergarten curriculum. I have a feeling things won't
come as easily for her as they have Annie. Ciao.




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