Quick Hitters

I. Swimming

We took the boys swimming at the HC pool today. James vaguely remembered swimming there last year, and I'm not sure he's been in the water since then. Watching your two-year old who can't swim get excited about the pool is a little different than watching your three-year old who can't swim. When J told me that we maybe ought to consider paying for some swim lessons for James I immediately dismissed the thought. Why would we pay to have someone else teach James a skill he could learn in a few afternoons at my parent's pond? Well, for one thing, it turns out that we haven't been out to the ancestral pond terribly often this year. For another, J isn't particularly fond of pond-swimming as an activity either. I don't know if James would mind or not...he certainly loves "Papa's Pond" and is currently making a collection of sticks to either throw in or fish with (he knows which is stick is for which use) beneath his carseat. Whether or not we could get him into the pond to swim, there would still be the problem of actually teaching him to swim. I assumed that he would splash around in the shallows and eventually begin to float on his back and doggy paddle, or possibly be thrown bodily into deeper water by a loving and impatient parental figure without any promise of retrieval. None of these have happened, and he may need to learn swimming at a public pool. He did well at HC today, although Owen was clearly the braver of the two boys. Owen would kick his feet vigorously, careen off his parent toward the water, and then make excited splashes in the water with an expression of unbridled delight until he splashed himself in the face, at which point the expression would change into drenched and blinking shock, followed by a broad grin, and then more splashing. Even though James was a little more cautious, he still didn't want to leave once our time was up. He immediately asked when we could come back to the pool, and I told him maybe Friday.

As I put him down for his nap this afternoon, his last soft question as I closed his door was "Hey Daddy...when I wake up from my nap will it be Friday yet?"


II. J's Thoughts
1. When was Owen's last diaper change?
2. How many servings of fruits and vegetables has James had today?
3. Remember not to step on the second to last step of the stairs or the squeak will wake Owen up
4. If you just ignore all the facebook activity of you more active friends for more than a few days at a time they're going to assume something is wrong.
5. When can I get my flute in for a clean, oil, and adjust?
6. Need to respond to Pearce emails during naps today
7. Need to remind Roy my car needs an oil change
8. Take the chicken out of the freezer before lunch or it won't be thawed for dinner.
9. Everyone had dessert for lunch today, shouldn't be any sweets for dinner
10. Look up how many months old Owen needs to be before he can start eating cheese
11. Roy said he's out of white dress shirts, make sure a load of white laundry gets started
12. Remember that laundry will also need to be flipped during naps
13. Check to see if Roy emptied dehumidifier before leaving for rehearsal.
14. Has it been more than three days since I washed my hair? Could have time to wash and dry it during nap, but may have to give up something else
15. Make sure Owen doesn't sleep too late during morning nap or else he won't want to sleep for afternoon nap
16. Be sure to put letters out before lunchtime, or else they won't be remembered before the mail comes
17. Need to get milk at the grocery store
18. Need to leave an extra five minutes if taking my car, since we'll need to stop for gas as well
19. Remember to grab a pencil from the nightstand when going upstairs for the white laundry
20. Set aside some time for coffee this afternoon if you're going to still be awake to work out this evening
21. Make sure James helps clean up the mess of wood blocks before bed tonight since it's an extra long workout
22. Should nap be spent on a shower if I'm going to work out later? But won't have time to dry hair afterwards because Roy will probably want to get right to bed...
23. When was the last time Owen had a poopy diaper?
24. Did Roy remember to give Owen miralax in his bottle last night
25. Is Roy driving or carpooling to rehearsal today...will he be able to answer text questions?
26. Make sure that James practices some phonics words?
27. Make sure dishes get put away from dishwasher
28. Make sure dirty dishes get loaded into dishwasher so I can have counter space to make lunch
29. Make sure that I write down somewhere that I'm going to need to buy bread at the store
30. Remember to put the shopping list in my purse before I leave for the store with the boys
31. Remember to put sunscreen on both boys before we leave since it's supposed to be so scorching out today
32. Remember to grab sunglasses from the desk before trying to drive around out there
33. Check with Roy to make sure he doesn't need anything from Wegmans
34. Even though he says he doesn't, make sure he isn't about to run out of body wash or deodorant
35. Put down "clean bathroom" on the list of nap to-dos so it doesn't stress me out tonight after kids are in bed
36. Text Roy and ask where his drop-cloth from the tub project is supposed to go
37. Need an explanation for James as to why one of his roof slats was donated to make paint
38. Remember to help James look for his lost Lightning McQueen car
39. Is Owen making noise just because he's drowsing, or is he really getting up?
40. Remember to write back to texts from Mom, sisters, and friends while Owen is nursing
41. Make sure James has some quiet activity to do while Owen is nursing
42. If I give James iPad time now is he going to have too much for one day when I teach my lesson later?
44. Remember to text my student and make sure she knows not to come right at 4:15 today.
45. Remember to check calendar and see if Roy moved his Wednesday student
46. Remember we need more diapers for Owen...should this be a Wegmans trip or a BJs trip?
47. Calendar says Roy isn't teaching on Wednesday...text him to check anyway.
48. Write back to Diane's email once the boys are down and I can type it out on the computer
49. Check to see if Roy took the computer with him to rehearsal
50. Since it's here, make sure it's plugged in and charging so it won't have to do a whole boot-up once you turn it on
51. Make sure you turn printer on too if you're going to have to print off stuff for Pearce during nap
52. Text Roy and see if he knows what's up with this error message on printer
53. Check those potential BPO dates that Roy just sent against the calendar in the kitchen...will we need more childcare
54. Remember where you left the grocery list before you start packing up boys...kitchen? desk?
55. When was the last time James went potty?
56. Where is Steven Bear?
57. Try to get James to wear his sandals again, even though he's going to insist on sneakers
58. Leave Owen in a place where he can't get into anything to help James wipe himself
59. Put "more outlet covers" on grocery list
60. Remember to cancel Thursday student
61. Find a post-it note to jot down reminder about Thursday student
62. Check Owen's mouth to make sure there isn't any more of that crayon in there
63. Remind James about manners and not hitting Owen
64. Talk with Roy later about what to do when James pretends to be fighting
65. Keys? Phone? Wallet?
66. Remember to ask Roy again about getting battery in key fab replaced
67. Be on the look-out for steering wheel cart
68. Remember to get individual pack of sanitary wipes for cart
69. Look at the pretty cheesecakes. Could tonight be a cheesecake night instead of exercise night?
70. Are we out of apples again?
71. Not going to get diapers today. Remember to schedule a time to go to BJs later in the week.
72. Drat. Remember to schedule a time to go to the other Wegmans to pick up prescriptions.
73. Which is cheaper, 6 avocados for 4.99 but probably not all of them will be good, or 4 avocados for 3.49 but you know that the quality will be better in all 4?
74. Ignore other mother in cute jogging shorts with awesome double stroller. Do not covet, do not covet.
75. Need new bras...could possibly go to Target and leave kids with Roy tonight? But that means no working out
76. What's the best thing to do with a cartful of groceries and James while changing Owen's diaper in the restroom?
77. Remember you absolutely HAVE to stop and get gas on the way home now. Is it cheaper at Hatch Road or further down Empire?
78. Need to invite Hamways over for dinner
79. Need to remember to find childcare for Friday afternoon while Roy is at rehearsal
80. Remember to download podcasts so you don't have to listen to Life Is A Highway again
81. Be sure when you do Pearce work this afternoon that you cc in the guest pastor for this coming Sunday, even though he probably won't look at it
82. Ask Roy how much money is left on the Amazon gift card...
83. Make sure James doesn't end up carrying the grocery bag with the eggs
84. Keep Owen awake in backseat so he'll sleep during afternoon nap
85. Is the battery going in the garage door clicker as well?
86. Respond to Csehy availability survey while you've got laptop open this afternoon
87. Ugh. Roy bugging on about passport photos again.
88. Make sure that James has full sippy before going down for nap.
89. Try to suggest a story that isn't Curious George Lost and Found before nap
90. Be sure to remember to wash out James' lunch dishes before you start nap-work so that everything doesn't get stuck on them when it dries
91. Underneath Owen's high chair really needs to be swept out
92. This Excellus notice that came in the mail...is there any way this can be deciphered into English?
93. Why is James crying? Oh yes, he wanted his Yoshi stuffed animal in bed with him too.
94. Owen doesn't look sleepy. Could possibly work on Pearce stuff while he plays on floor?
95. Remember to move back end table so it doesn't clutter up living room after you've done work on laptop with Owen on the floor
96. Remember to move James' tangrams down to basement so Owen can't get into them once both boys are asleep
97. Remember to turn on Owen's fan, since you turned it off (trying to conserve electricity) when you put him down from nap
98. Remember to plug in phone and charge for a bit once you get downstairs
99. Does Roy know that something is growing in the gutter outside Owen's room?
100. Why is James making monkey sounds when he should be sleeping?