2012 December Daily :: 3 :: oops. taro.

Today was a Monday.

Hubs had the toast out of the oven before I was even out of bed. When he came to our room, I said, “I slept all night, but I feel like I only slept 5 minutes.” He said he felt that way all the time.

Meanwhile, Selah started calling out from her crib, “I hungry! I hungry!”

For breakfast we had toast with raspberry jam. There was a tiff because Sianna was allowed to cut the butter while Schäfer was allowed to spread it.

Clothes were dawned. Teeth were brushed. Shoes were tied. Backpacks were nabbed. Bike helmets were grabbed.

Selah and I went upstairs to clean. She always wants to go to school with Schäfer and Sianna. But then after about 3 minutes, she is happy to have Mommy all to herself for the next 4 hours. I cleaned the upstairs while she played with toys. Then, when she was all done with every box of toys she said, “Color! Color!” So we went downstairs and she colored while I cleaned downstairs.

About 10:00 we headed to the market. Selah carried her own bag. She took a potato, but I had her put it back and then I gave her a potato from our bag. Selah gets lots of compliments while we are in the market. She’s very kind and gives the people a hearty “Ayi hao!” (hi auntie!) She loves to watch the chickens and she can get away with putting just about anything in her bag so I have to keep my eye on her.

Just as we were leaving the market, I saw some yams so I grabbed three nice sized ones to cook up for lunch with the baked potates. While the potatoes were in the oven, Selah wanted more time with me so we sat and read The Little Drummer Boy 15 times in a row. Sometimes it’s hard to sit and read when there are so many household chores to do, but that is the gift of pregnancy. Sometimes sitting is just about all I can do.

When I got the potatoes out of the oven, I realized I had made a mistake. The yams I purchased were actually taro. They were covered in dirt so it was hard to tell, I suppose.

The kids were troopers and ate the taro like it was the best thing ever. Selah included.

By the end of the meal, Schäfer’s teeth, mouth and hands were purple. I told Hubs I should serve this on Halloween.

Before Hubs ate anything he asked, “Did you wash the skin?” To which I replied, “What kind of question is that? Of course I washed the skin!” Then Hubs said, “Well on Friday you didn’t know what day it was. On Sunday you didn’t know what time it was. So I’m just asking if you remembered to wash the potatoes.” Valid point.

Hubs helped me get Selah snuggled into her “cave” for afternoon rest. I cleaned a little then got Schäfer started on home school.

I always have him start with coloring. He doesn’t really like to color, but I think it’s good for him to do a little handwork to strengthen his muscles before he starts learning to write. Then, we do math (easy) since he’s already doing addition and subtraction in Chinese kindergarten.

Next is phonics which he loves to spell the words out. He asked if he could not read Cat in the Hat today because he wanted to read all of his Christmas books and his favorite chapters from “10 and 20″. I said if he could get through his phonics work with diligence, then we would pause on The Cat in the Hat. He was delighted.

After home school, I woke the girls. We ran downstairs to pick up a package (which was a new horn for the motorcycle) then returned to afternoon snack which consisted of oatmeal cookies and mandarin oranges. Then, it was time to pack for the restaurant:

coloring book
crayons
portable high chair
bibs
water

We walked to the restaurant and met our friends around 5:30. I found a vapur bottle in a toy store next to the restaurant. Supper was good. Selah had fun mixing and occasionally tasting the hot sauces. Every once in a while, she would come to me and ask for water.

Hubs had to go back to work, but before he left he told me that tomorrow we would be visiting a farm for a couple of days. This news was rather sudden and unexpected, but I am very excited. We haven’t told Schäfer yet, but earlier today I did mention that when we have an opportunity to go to the farm, the cows will need milking at 8am and 8pm. He was so excited. He can’t wait to get to work.

Hubs went back to work while I walked the kids home, brushed teeth, got everyone into pajamas, one diaper refreshed, Birthday countdown sticker applied and the Christmas book opened. Tonight was Selah’s turn.

Schäfer was a big help to little Selah.

She immediately loved The Snowman.

The kids went to sleep listening to The Living Room Session: Christmas. (piano music)

Hubs came home while I was cleaning cloth diapers. We have a big day tomorrow, but we were both so tired it was hard to do too much prep tonight.

Sianna was upset because she could not have more music. Poor baby. I think she was just exhausted and could not get herself to calm down. I went to her room and talked her through our entire day. Then, she chose another lovie and was off to dreamland.

Looking so forward to our adventure tomorrow.

The kids have no clue.

Love that.

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