6:00 David wakes me to nurse. By some miracle, he only woke me once in the night. I'm still tired though. We nurse. He poops. We change. We smile at each other in the office. I wiggle his tummy and he smiles some more, that great toothless grin. I try to nurse him back to sleep in the rocking chair. He is uninterested.

7:00 Rose tiptoes into the office naked. She announces that today (unlike yesterday), she managed to open her shade, turn off her little light, pick out her clothes, and make it to the potty without having an accident. There was no emergency today I am informed. She gets dressed.

It's a low key morning: Rose has no trouble deciding what she wants for breakfast (chocolate chip muffin); John and I both get showers, though during his David sits in his bathroom seat and plays peek-a-boo around the curtain, during mine he yells; Rose and I agree that I will color two Thumbalina pictures and then read the story; David does not destroy his outfit by poop, pee, drool, or spit-up.

9:30 Everyone arrives for our party. Next year, I'm planning to throw a big dance. This year I just have the family and a couple friends. This adds up to six children under five. It is lovely. The children play together in interesting combinations: Rose encourages Esther to crawl into her room and investigate her books; Ariana and Maggie, both two, share necklaces from the dress up box; Rose and Miriam eat lots of chocolate waffles and then disappear upstairs. Oh yes, our wonderful friend Ellie, bounces David to sleep and wears him the whole time.

12:30 I nurse David to sleep in the rocking chair while reading Rose The Boxcar Children. Rose then decides she wants lunch after all. John feeds her while I wish I were asleep but am afraid to move. Rose goes to rest time, David goes to John, I go to lunch. I manage to lie on the couch for a few minutes and feel a bit rested.

1:30 I get a birthday phone call and get to discuss literature with my friend Jed, yippee!

2:30 John is starting to feel under the weather, so I take the kids on an adventure. We drive to the gluten-free bakery to get a cake substitute for the party we are going to tomorrow. We then hit the wonderful independent toy store for a birthday gift for tomorrow. Between picking out gifts, trips to the potty, nursing David, and playing with the train set, we somehow manage to spend an hour at the toy store, but I'm not stressed. Rose is listening to me very well, no whining. David is now asleep before we get in the car again. I get my errand done.

4:00 We go to the park. I get to sit in the shade with David and watch Rose practice on the rings. She wants to swing all the way across but is afraid to let go. I suggest we practice dropping, so she does. This involves some landing on her tushy, but it goes reasonably well. One thing I love about our neighborhood is knowing our neighbors. So, we are pleased to see Nola arrive with her grandparents. It's a little stressful getting Rose to leave, but the feet dragging and whining are pretty minimal.

5:00 John is still sick but takes David while I play on the computer and help Rose dress her dolls.

5:30 We eat leftovers and chat with the grandparents on the phone.

6:30 Rose and John make chocolate pudding while I start David's bedtime ritual. It's not going particularly well. He loves his bath, but no matter how early I start, he always starts screaming like he needs to be asleep right now before I make it through the soothing massage and story.

7:00 I pass David off to John and take Rose over to visit with the neighbors in their garden. Rose tastes some of their lettuce and decides she likes it. This is a really big deal. I promise we can plant lettuce in our garden.

7:30 I start Rose's bedtime routine. She starts exhausted child resistance techniques. I have been trying to convince her not to stomp on bugs. For every piece of clothing she takes off, I suggest something other than a bug she could stomp on outside: nut shells, dead leaves, pebbles, puddles. . . This game gets her jammies on as well. John has prepared her snack plate. I marshal her through snack, teeth, stories. John does his stories and songs. Then I'm back for my stories. And let me tell you this is a much faster routine than we used to do.

8:15 John and I eat popcorn and watch Law and Order. It's a really good one.

9:15 David can't quite stay asleep. He's been in one of our arms this whole time and I've renursed him once. I nurse him again.

9:30 John transfers David to the crib next to our bed and I finally get to write.

10:00 Bedtime