The Special Moments of a Typical Day

As my wife has now forced asked me to write some posts for this blog, I figured I’d start with a look at my typical day.

5:30 AM – Alarm clock goes off, every day, no matter what. If I want to beat the traffic, I have to get an early jump on the day.

5:45 AM – Come out of the shower to find Ethan sitting in my bed waiting for me. Now, you might say “it isn’t possible for a 4-year-old to be up before 6 everyday and just sitting there patiently and quietly in the dark,” but I’m here to tell you that he does. We have tried everything to get him to sleep in, but he insists on getting up to see Daddy before work.

6:00ish AM – Attempt to get out the door, however get derailed daily by the menial tasks that Ethan insists on before I leave. First we have to find him a snack, then we have to get the iPad and set him up on the couch to watch a show. From there we have to do “a kiss, a hug and a high-five” before I’m allowed to leave. According to Ethan, high-fives are only for when you are leaving.

drive

7:00 AM – 3:00 PM – I’ve made the 45-minute commute to work and managed to stay awake (especially hard when it is winter and the whole ride is in the dark). Thanks to gChat, I am able to keep in touch with the goings-on at home. Between that, Facebook and Twitter, I can almost feel as though I’m involved in the day-to-day activities, just without having to hear all the screaming and crying. There are also days when we jump on Skype so that I can talk to the kids face-to-face or Ethan will want to call to tell me something.

Disclaimer!  While the schedule I just typed says I get done with work at 3:00, rarely do I actually leave at that point. Most days, it’s closer to 3:30 or 4:00 and then there’s the 45 minute to an hour commute home. There are also times when I have a late meeting or function that I have go to, so it pushes that closer to 6:30 or 7:00. None of that schedule flexibility would be possible without a wonderful support system at home. If I didn’t have a wife that could “roll with the punches,” it would certainly make things more difficult.

4:00 – 8:00 PM – I arrive home (finally) and can usually find the kids waiting at the door. Ben is usually at the door clapping and yelling something. Ethan is knocking him over trying to open the door and running outside, rain or shine, with no shoes on. We get to share a hug and then Ben usually tries to drag me into the kitchen to sneak a snack.

waiting for dad

We have dinner, take baths, fight over the iPad, have dessert and try to relax a little before bed. Luckily for us, bedtime at our house is a pretty simple process. We ask Ben if he is ready to go to sleep and he claps his hands and heads for the stairs. We lay him down in bed, he wines for a few minutes and goes to sleep. Ethan is now at the age when he wants to stay up longer and watch “grown up shows”, but it is pretty obvious when he is hitting a wall. I’m usually the one who takes him to bed and we have our usual routine.

First he goes to the bathroom, then he climbs into bed and asks for a drink of water. We turn on his music (Phineas & Ferb Christmas 365 days a year!) and I tuck him in. He gives me a hug and every night, without fail, he reminds me to “make sure you and Mommy come and check on me” and I respond with “we always come and check on you.” Somewhere in this routine is always an opportunity to make him laugh, which I always try and do at least once before he falls asleep.

So the whole point of this long, rambling post was to point out the special moments of each day. The 10-15 minutes that Ethan and I spend together each morning are some of the best minutes of the day. Those moments when you come home and see both kid’s faces in the door are priceless. Watching the rare occasion when the kids are playing nicely with each other brings a warm feeling. Being the last person they see/talk/laugh with each night brings a sense of completion and satisfaction to the day.

I’m trying my best to enjoy these moments because I know they will not last forever and once they’re gone, there’s no bringing them back.

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2 Comments

  1. In light of the events of Friday I think we all learned how quickly life can change. This is beautiful and even more beautiful that it is coming from a MAN.. We expect this from the mommas but sometimes we can forget there are dads who totally get it as well.

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