A Typical Day

Gabby and I are staying busy these days. I thought I'd share a typical day in our life. My alarm goes off about 6am and I usually wake to find Gabby has ended up in my bed. She sleeps like a rock and doesn't twitch as I crawl over her and start getting ready. I wait until the last possible moment to get Gabby up as she is not a morning person.

Gabby now has opinions about what she wears. She typically rejects whatever outfit I pick out and we spend a few minutes "discussing" what she should wear. She wins the battle and typically ends up in some unique combination which compels me to issue the disclaimer: "She dressed herself" to everyone we see.

I drop Gabby off at her preschool at 7:50 on my prompt days. I often have to do her hair there since she's usually still too angry about being clothed before we leave the house. She asks every morning if she can go to school 'nakey'.

My work is really close to Gabby's school and I start my day at 8am. I'm still enjoying my job and starting to get more interesting claims to handle. There's a Super Target within walking distance so I can get grocery shopping in on my breaks typically. The day usually goes by fairly quickly and I head out at 4:30 to get Gabbers.

Gabby is always so excited to see me and show off her artwork of the day. She has a hard time leaving some of it behind if it's not ready to come home with her. Before we even get in the car, she asks if we can go to Wendy's for "red chicken nuggets." She calls them that because they come in a red box. If we do stop for red chicken nuggets, Gabby helps me order saying, "Excuse me, I would like 5 red chicken nuggets, please!" She gets upset if ever she gets a yellow box, so is very clear about the color preference.

We get home a little after 5 and eat dinner. If I cook, Gabby likes to sit on the counter and assist me. We both like a little alone time to unwind from our people-filled day. Gabby prefers to to watch a show and insists that I go away. Usually by 6, Gabby is ready to play. Lately, we've been making masks. We've made bunny, butterfly, tiger, and elephant masks. Tonight was the elephant mask. I make them from scratch under Gabby's direction. She'll then spend some time being that animal. I have to pretend to be an animal,too, only I don't get a cool mask. We play dress up, hide-n-seek, color pictures, read stories, etc, whatever Gabby comes up with. Gabby likes to play computer games so she'll do that some evenings and is getting pretty good and it gives me a chance to get other things done.

She's better about taking baths without David, but she does have to have purple water. We use color bath tabs and it's purple water every night. She hates getting washed, but enjoys playing after that's out of the way. She has some new Wonder Pet bath toys that she's

Bedtime is still a battle, but getting better. I either read stories of Gabby's choosing or we tell stories about Farmer Jed. Farmer Jed has animals with identity crisis's and trouble picking roses without getting pricked by a thorn. Gabby usually ends up finishing the stories and they're quite fascinating. We say prayers and I have to lay with Gabby until she's close to sleeping and I can sneak away. I usually read my own book during this time.

I'm a bit of a night owl so I'll be up for a couple of hours doing the things I enjoy such as blogging while listening to Rush as I'm doing now (I am a Rush 24/7 member so I can still get my Rush-fix every day). Of course I cram in the other stuff like cleaning, laundry, and paying bills where I can. We're busy, but happy and the days are flying by far too quickly.

This is my favorite mask that I've made so far. For some reason, she looks more like a bank robber to me than an elephant. She's insisting on wearing it to school tomorrow to show off for her friends. She wore the tiger mask on Monday. She's gotta be the coolest kid there, what with coming in homemade masks, mismatched clothes, and crazy hair. She sure does make me laugh!