Every Day with Eli: March 31

Not a lot of formal "school" happened at our house today.

First, Eli didn't sleep last night. He was up screaming from 12:00 until nearly 3:00 this morning. Neither Chris nor I could console him, and that left me exhausted. Luckily, he slept in until nearly 7:30 this morning, but even that wasn't enough to make up for all of the missed sleep last night.

Then, it was a preschool day, so I had to get everyone dressed, fed, and loaded into the van to take Daisy to preschool.

Once we got home from dropping Daisy off, Caleb and I put on our running gear, loaded the younger two in the BOB, and took off on Training Run #4. Today's run was much better than our last run, but still not good. We always run out 15 minutes, then turn around and run back home. with the goal of finishing our run in 30 minutes. Today we made it farther during those 15 minutes, and finished our run in 32 minutes, which means we ran faster. But we are still definitely not fast. I think the thing that is mostly holding us back is Caleb's grumpiness and lack of effort. He was fine during our first run, but has consistently been so whiny and wimpy during ever successive run that today I finally asked him point-blank if he still wanted to do the 5k, or if he wanted to stop.

He then informed me that he really wants to run the 5k; he just doesn't want to have to train for it.

Ha! I know the feeling, kiddo. Training stinks. If only we could magically be good at everything without ever having to work for it.

I am still optimistic that this endeavor will be a powerful lesson for him on the importance of working toward a goal, and that it will be a great chance for him to develop his perseverance.

We finished our run, and I set Caleb and Lily in front of the TV while I put Eli down for his morning nap. He was asleep by 10:45, but I had to wake him up at 11:20 to go to Daisy's preschool for a special science event. They invited all of the families to come see how they learn science, and there was no way we were going to miss it, so Eli only got a 35-minute nap. I'd feel bad for him, but I was still bitter about all the sleep I missed last night, too.

The kids had so much fun in Daisy's classroom!

Just as it was time for us to leave preschool to eat lunch in the van before Speech Club, a giant peal of thunder shook the building. Then the skies opened up, and a torrential downpour swamped everything. We waited as long as we could for it to let up, but finally we just had to run for it.

We got soaked.

Funnily enough, by the time we got to the school 10 minutes later, the sun was shining, the skies were blue, and birds were singing. And we were soaked. Whatever.

We got home in time for me to stuff my face with lunch (I always remember the kids' lunches, but never remember something for myself!) and then put the little ones down for naps. Meanwhile, Caleb read another Magic Treehouse book. He loves them! By the time all three little ones were down for naps, my lack of sleep last night was catching up with me, and I persuaded Caleb to bring his book (he had just started his third Magic Treehouse book of the day) into bed and snuggle with me. I was surprised and delighted when he not only agreed, but he offered to read his book out loud to me! Of course, I fell asleep within minutes, but still. We spent about an hour in bed, and I got a nice snooze while he finished his book.

Then it was time to make dinner and everyone woke up and the evening chaos began. Caleb had Cub Scouts after dinner, so I was on my own with the little ones. We folded laundry, and I decided to document how they like to "help" me with the laundry.

Jumping in the pile of clean laundry is their favorite thing ever.

I don't know why ~~Daisy~~ Queen Elsa is screaming, but I'm keeping the picture so you can see that even Eli likes to get in on the laundry pile action.

Speaking of "action", here are some action shots of Daisy's laundry-leaping skills.

This one is my favorite.

Then I had to actually get to work folding the laundry, and - unbeknownst to me - Daisy grabbed my camera. These are her shots:

This is a pretty accurate picture of me these days. Dark circles under my eyes, wild hair, and a crazy look in my eye. I suppose even that is worth documenting for posterity.