Whispers and Shouts: What Teddy and I Do All Day

Cal and Clark going to kindergarten means a lot of things, but one of the most important ones is that Teddy and I get a lot of quality time together. Until last week I had no idea how to function with only one child. Seriously. I've never been at home with only one before. It's different than with two or three. Some might say easier, and so far I agree. I only have to feed lunch to one, change the diapers of one, push a single stroller rather than a double stroller, carry one baby up the 35 stairs of our building, etc. I do find myself wishing Teddy had a little twin pal to play with, though. But he'll have to settle for dance parties with my Pandora stations and me for now.

We are settling into our little routine. After we play and I corral the boys to get them into some sort of presentable state, we walk them to school and then sometimes stay outside and keep walking or sometimes come inside to escape oppressive heat. We wave at all the same people on the way to school-- the neighborhood friends and friends-of-a-friend. Today we spent the lovely, cool morning walking to the library and Trader Joe's after dropping the boys off at school. I let Teddy walk around outside for awhile. Some mornings we've had a play date with some other little babies and their moms.

Then after the early morning fun there is nap time for Teddy, which means dishes, laundry, and maybe the beginning of dinner for me. Any phone calls to be made or writing projects to be hacked away at. The cleaning of the bathrooms and the taking out of the garbage and recycling. I turn Pandora on the TV and maybe I jam out while I Windex the sliding glass door. When Teddy wakes up we typically dance to a song I made up for him and then have lunch. He drinks from his bottle with his pinkie up. So cute. Then we have the afternoon. I love to read books with him. He has his favorites and he'll drag them around and hold them up to me to read, while grunting and smiling. He hides things in the cupboards like his firetruck I found by the almonds and the little watering can I found in the mixing bowls. He often pulls out a bag of rice cakes, and pulls it around like a blanket. He clearly misses the boys though, like I do. I find myself wondering what they're doing and Teddy usually goes over and pulls on the door an hour or so before it's time to go pick them up.

Then we do go and pick them up. We say hello to the same people, and we wait at the same doors for the boys to come through. Today I let Teddy get out of the stroller and so when he saw Cal and Clark coming through the doors, he started giggling and ran over to them. They hugged him and I had a mom moment.

The boys are now very much comfortable at school. They yell goodbye to their friends and teachers. Today Clark held up the whole kiss 'n ride line to stick his head in a classmate's car to remind him about the t-ball game tomorrow. They have to run back to high five another buddy.

And then we all come home and the boys finish their lunches or have a different snack while Teddy snacks also and we talk about the day and usually about some sort of hypothetical fighting situations (Who would win, Mom, a lion or a bear? A fork or a spoon if they were alive?). Other topics covered are usually sports, shark teeth and eating habits, food, and whatever make-believe situation they're involved in. Meanwhile, Teddy just revels in having his brothers home. He squeals while they wrestle and claps while they play catch.

The rest of the day is just normal stuff-- we go outside again if possible, eat dinner and hang out with Brian. Lots of wresting and elbows flying. I try to focus on Cal and Clark since I don't get to see them as much as usual. Some piano-practice on the new keyboard we bought for their piano lessons. Some bath time for Teddy, and the boys now shower. That's right. They shower. All Teddy does in the bathtub is stand up, turn on the faucet and tries to drink the water coming out as he squeals manically.

Then Brian and I send the kids to bed and fall asleep watching the Nationals win, cradling our wine glasses and secretly eating goldfish crackers or string cheese from the boys' school lunch stash.

And that is what Teddy and I do all day.