A stay at home weekday

Continuing the series of entries about what normal days are like, here's one about the days I have at home with Bridget.

The alarm goes off at 7.00, but we may not get Bridget up until as late as 7.45. She has some Mummy milk and then comes down for breakfast. After waving Daddy off to work, she helps Mummy with one or two things around the house and plays with her toys. On Tuesdays and Fridays we go out to our toddler group between about 9.45 and 11.45. On Mondays I try to find something to do to amuse her - going for a walk or visiting a friend - because she gets very bored if she has a whole day doing not very much.

Lunch is at 12.30 - all sorts of different kinds of main course, followed by either fruit or fromage frais. By lunchtime Bridget is getting very tired, but will perk up for a little while once she has food inside her. She will go down for a nap sometime around 1.30. The amount she sleeps varies hugely: it can be as little as 45 minutes or as much as 3 hours. Mummy likes the days when it's the longer amount because it lets her get much more done.

Tea is at 3 (or later if Bridget has slept for a long time) and then we'll usually go out for a walk. This tends to last for about an hour and is often just in the pushchair down the lane; if I'm feeling more adventurous and the weather is kind we get out the backpack and hike off along the river, which is especially fun when it's very full. By the time we're home Bridget is often beginning to get tired and has to have Mummy's full attention most of the time and lots of cuddles, so dinner is often prepared with her on one hip.

Bridget sits down for dinner at 5.30: again, all sorts of different options for main course, followed by fromage frais or fruit, depending on what has happened at lunchtime. After dinner we have time to play for about 45 minutes. Daddy comes home during playtime and gets greeted by a broad smile and, these days, a hug.

Bath, cup of futility, story, lullaby, prayers, bed and sleep follow. And that's it for the next twelve hours plus.

Posted by Hester at 08:21 PM | Comments (0)

A normal day

I thought it was about time for a new description of Bridget's average day. But she has various different kinds of normal day: nursery days (Wednesdays and Thursdays); weekdays with Mummy at home; and biparental weekend days, so we're eventually going to need three different descriptions. Here's one to be going on with.

A nursery day
The alarm goes off at 6.30, but we don't wake Bridget until 6.45. She has a small amount of milk from Mummy, then comes down for a dopey breakfast (and she's not the only one who's not bright-eyed and bushy-tailed). We leave the house at 7.35, and get to Stepping Stones in Okehampton at 7.45. We put Bridget down with a toy of some kind, and leave, and these days she doesn't cry. We then turn around and drive into Exeter, getting in at about 8.45.

At Stepping Stones, Bridget has whole worlds of fun of which we know little. We know she smiles a lot. We know she cuddles up to the staff a lot. We know she does masterpieces of artwork. We know she watches the giant snails being cleaned. We know she 'cruises' all the way around the walls. We know she eats well. And we know she tends to sleep for at most an hour during the day.

We drive back from Exeter, leaving close to 5.00 and getting to Stepping Stones at 5.45; Bridget smiles broadly and chatters as we drive her back home - although she tends to be very tired, and so a tad unstable. She also tends not to eat much dinner, having had a snack in the late afternoon. After a short play in the sitting room it's time for bath (6.45) and bed (7.05 ish). There's no evening breast-feed any more - it was replaced two weeks ago with the ceremony of the Cup of Futility: a cup of cow's milk offered to the goddess, which she haughtily disdains. Every time.

Bridget will then - except on very rare occasions - go quickly and quietly to sleep, and stay asleep all night.

Posted by Mike at 07:10 PM | Comments (1)