1:00 a.m. David’s calling. John takes the gig. David is reasonably good at sleeping through the night, but since he got sick, he’s had a lot of trouble going to sleep and staying asleep. John gets him back down.

2:00 a.m. Rose needs her covers fixed. Usually, I do the Rose wake-ups and John does David, but John got this one. Rose said just yesterday that she wants to make a chart about not bothering us in the middle of the night except for emergencies. At which point, she started making a long list of possible emergencies. Obviously, we have not started the chart yet.

2:45 a.m. David again. John says later that he never even heard this one. David insists on nursing and from the way he’s staring at me wide-eyed and playing with the moles on my face, it’s clear he isn’t going back to sleep soon. I cut off the nursing, snuggle, and tell him if lies quietly, I will sleep next to him on the floor. I sleep fitfully until 4:15 when I can sneak out.

6:00 a.m. David’s up for the morning. We nurse and he drags it out, so we don’t get downstairs until 6:25.

6:30 a.m. David and I are in the middle of negotiating---

I need to make the oatmeal.
Up now!
I can’t hold you while I make the oatmeal.
Up, Mommy, Mommy, Up!
I’ll pick you up after I put the oatmeal in the microwave.

when Rose walks into the kitchen. This is bad news. Rose isn’t supposed to get out of bed until 7:00 and she usually sleeps until 7:45. She is grumpy. I manage to get all three of us fed and Rose’s lunch made. I’m just admiring her artwork, taking her pens away from David, and finding David his own pens to use when John comes down.

7:20 I go take my nap, but I make the big mistake of checking my email first. My next door neighbors are moving and want to rent their place. Instead of sleeping I imagine my sister’s family moving next door. Later my sister tells me there’s no way that house would work for them which I knew, but. . .

8:10 John gets me up. I shower, dress, and offer to do drop off at school with both kids while John makes David’s birthday dinner.

8:30 Rose has a mini temper tantrum leaving the house.

8:40 Rose has a major temper tantrum walking to school. I knew Rose would have adjustment problems going back to school. But knowing a storm is coming and standing in the middle of it are two different things. Logic and negotiation don’t work when she’s this far gone.

R: Those guys are ahead of us. We can’t catch up.
D: Let’s see.
R: You’re walking too fast. I can’t walk that fast. Don’t talk to me in that voice.

I finally make some progress with distraction—I wish a fairy would come and bop me on the nose. I don’t try to hustle her. I figure being tardy is her problem.

8:55 We never do catch up with the rest of the gang, but we make it to school before the bell rings. I’m feeling angry at Rose for being such a pill, embarrassed that she did so in front of my sister and our neighbor Becca, and exhausted from managing the behavior.

9:00 Walking home, David objects to being in the stroller. He refused to wear his hat or his waterproof blanket, so he’s probably wet and cold. I don’t think he’s put the cause and effect together. I’ve got a lose/lose. If I force him to wear enough clothes, I may not actually be able to keep them on him and we’ve had a huge fight. If I don’t, he’s cold and has to be carried.

9:30 We have a lovely visit at Addie’s house. She gives him his birthday present. David, Addie, and Ariana all play with Addie’s new Christmas toys. I chat with Becca. Everyone is very relaxed (warm) and happy.

10:30 My sister makes special birthday cocoa for David and Ariana. I offer to take Ariana balloon shopping with me and David. Unfortunately, while David’s mood has perked up, Ariana’s has dropped. I am now putting all that parenting energy—do I give into this whine if she repeats it in a nice voice? do I distract her with piñatas? do I put my foot down? do I offer food?—into her.

11:30 David plays with the entire bouquet of balloons while I start lunch. He is having a very good time. We change his poopy diaper with only minimal resistance. Lunch goes well for awhile and then he dumps his milk and peas on the floor. But, after the clean-up he plays with the dolls while I read my psycho-killer murder mystery and eat hot soup uninterrupted.

12:00 He wants to pee on the potty. Well, ok. For some reason, this involves stripping down to his socks. I try to explain that I keep my shirt on when I pee, but whatever. He pees on the potty! We both sing to him. David has been sitting on the potty occasionally for months. I have no idea if he’s ready to start the big push to underpants.

12:30 He nurses to sleep. We’ll wean eventually. Neither of us is in a big hurry. In the meantime, I’m extremely grateful for a quick surefire naptime lead in. I write for half an hour then take a nap.

2:15 The good news—he wakes up in time for us to do pick-up at school. The bad news—1.5 hours is not enough. The good news—he’s in a good mood and doesn’t seem to notice when I put a pair of pants over the long underwear he has on. The bad news—when I try the same trick with a second coat, he suddenly realizes about the green sweatpants and throws a fit.

2:30 We get in the car, out of the car, into the stroller, and on the road to school smoothly, maybe because Ariana is also in stroller.

3:05 Pick-up goes really well. Rose is in a dandy mood. My sister takes the big girls off to swim lessons, and I take David and Ariana back to our house to start the birthday festivities. Um, first David gets furious at me because he wants to hold his present and fights so hard getting into the car seat that I’m not sure I’m physically capable of winning this one. I do. He recovers immediately which is one of the sweet things about David. I, on the other hand, am blitzed.

3:45 Luckily my mom has already arrived because Ariana and I are trains. (That’s in-house speak for complete wrecks). As each guest arrives, my mood gets better and better. Our ratio gets up to 8 adults for 5 kids which is enough for me to cook the kids’ food and set the table without having anyone whine at me or cling to me.

5:30 John has made a fabulous dinner. If he would resurrect his blog, he could tell you about the chicken gremolota and deep chocolate cupcakes. There continues to be a lot of kid management to do, but mine seems limited to holding David on my lap. We open Christmas crackers as our party favor which is a huge hit with everyone—they’ve got great prizes in them. David loves all his birthday presents and seems at just the right pitch—happy without being hyper. We let him ride his new tricycle around the house, with his new helmet on of course.

7:00 John and mom do clean-up. Rose watches television. David plays with his new bath penny whistle and his new boat that squirts. I follow the psycho killer through another killing spree. Everything is very peaceful. And amazingly it stays that way. David goes to sleep smoothly for the first time in weeks. I do a load of laundry, take out the garbage, unload the dishwasher, take out the yard waste, clean out the car, shake out the tablecloth. (Everyone thinks I don’t do anything around the house, so I had to get this list in.) Then John and I watch t.v. I set up Rose’s play date for tomorrow and write.

10:00 Bed. It was a pretty hard day, but David with his cake and presents was really fun.