The Schedule

I've had conversations with both my mom and Mermis about this.

Mermis told me about how sad she was when Jeff went off to kindergarten and she no longer knew all the little details of his day.

My mom told me how hard it was when she realized that her kids were grown up and she was no longer intimately acquainted with all of our ways.  All of our little sad and happy moments were no longer hers for the sharing.

I think they both told me to savor these years when I'm the most important person in Annie and Meg's world, this fleeting time when I know all the minutia of their days.

So I thought I would post the ridiculously long list of instructions I left for my parents when they kept the girls last week.  I told myself I wrote this not because I didn't believe my parents perfectly capable of taking care of Annie and Meg without my instructions, they did, after all, raise three children to adulthood, (two of whom turned out perfectly normal) but because Annie and Meg are most pleasant when they are kept to their routine.

I'm afraid the truth of course is that I am a complete and total control freak.

Someday I'm sure I'll read this and have a good laugh at myself.

The Girls' Schedule:

5:45-6am - meg usually wakes up and jeff takes her downstairs and gets her some milk and they watch tv or she plays on the itouch

7-7:30 - annie wakes up and usually likes to get dressed right away.  she needs to wear leggings under her dress on school days. and they watch the end of sesame street and curious george on PBS

breakfast - annie has been having oatmeal (made with milk) and sugar free syrup, meg usually just eats a bunch of fruit (strawberries, blueberries, grapes...) sometimes she will eat a scrambled egg with shredded cheese

pack annie's lunch in the four sectioned container - pirate booty, cheese cubes, fruit, and then either left over pizza, leftover plain pasta with parmesan cheese, or half a pb and honey sandwhich cut small, also a sippy cup of water with a half a packet of crystal light "pure" in it. i put the lady bug ice pack in her lunch box to keep it cold.

8:35 - leave to take annie to school, she is in ms. m's class, the last one on the right at the end of the hall, code to get in the door is ****, school starts at 9am

11am - meg's lunch, she likes leftover pasta, mac and cheese, cheese quesadilla, or a scrambled egg with shredded cheese (sometimes she'll eat two eggs, but you have to feed them to her)

12:45 - leave to pick annie up from school.  i have to work to keep meg awake in the car, if she falls asleep for even 5 minutes she won't nap. i try to get annie around 1:10, so she has time to finish her lunch. her backpack, lunch box, coat and any papers to take home should be in her crate outside the door.

1:45 ish - meg down for her nap, i give her a cup of milk while i read her three books and then let her take it in her crib with her for her nap (i know she acts sleepy before this, but i really try to hold her off because i need her to wait until after we pick annie up from school.)

2-3:15 - annie has "room time", i give her her "water juice" and just let her play in her room, i don't make her lay down

3:30-4:30 - annie watches "word girl" and "wild kratz" on PBS, meg usually wakes up sometime between 3:30 to 4:30, annie likes to have a snack, usually cheese toast and pirate booty and fruit

4:30-5:30 - we go outside to ride bikes and check the mail, if it is too cold or rainy, they like to paint or color or do a craft or take a bath

6p - dinner (but they will eat earlier, i'm sure dad probably likes to eat earlier than 6), they like cucumbers, mac and cheese and broc, pasta (no sauce for annie, just parmesan cheese), pizza, stir fry, black beans and avocado and cheese, french toast, cheese quesadillas, i usually take meg's clothes off of her before dinner so she doesn't stain them

6:30- 6:45 - start reading books, brushing teeth, put on pull up/new diaper and pajamas, meg likes to have socks put on and we also rub that amlactin lotion on her upper arms and upper thighs, annie gets "water juice" while we are reading books, and then whatever she doesn't finish we dump out and refill with plain water for her to have in her bed with her.

7p - meg is in her crib asleep (we give her a cup of milk to have in there), annie usually plays quietly in her room until 7:30 or 7:45, she likes for us to leave a stack of books to read on her bed for when she is done playing

if meg wakes up at night, jeff goes in.  he doesn't pick her up, but tells her it's still night time and time to go to sleep.  she usually will lay back down and let you cover her up with a blanket and tell you "night night".  sometimes she needs a milk refill, she'll usually be holding the empty cup if that's the case.

Annie's Valentine's party at school is on Tuesday. I will take the napkins I signed up to bring and the Valentine's she made up to school before we leave so you don't have to worry about it.

i will bring the little white table for them to use.  i'm nervous about meg falling from those stools at your kitchen table.  she has fallen twice from our chairs onto the carpet.

we will bring annie's bike and helmet and the stroller for meg.

food wise we will bring: cubed and shredded cheese, the eggs we use, pirate booty, the crystal light we use for annie's "water juice", whole milk, the organic mac and cheese brand we use, some fruit
any other food you want us to bring?

anything else you don't want us to forget to bring? i guess you guys can always come over to the house and pick up anything we forget.