a rainy day in Houston

Helena has been very busy walking all over the place. She does this sort of sideways sidle, leftward leading thing, but she is getting pretty sure of herself. She has also started pointing her tiny little finger at things and, sometimes, making up tiny cute names for them that all sound something like "deh".

The Husband keeps making ominous pronouncements about the dog and her imminent exodus from our home. And yet she is still with us. The sign is still in the front yard. A trip to the vet revealed no microchip to identify her. The kids have not tired of her one little bit. She is an all around good dog. She is essentially an inside lap dog who is good-natured enough not to mind very much that we are keeping her outside. My only complaint is that in the jungle that is our back yard, her small piles of poo lie in wait for the kids' shoes. I've spent an inordinate amount of time trying to dig the stinkiness out of the one billion small crevices on the soles of Hudson's only shoes that actually fit him right now.

We generally stay home on Mondays. I thought I might document what we do when we stay home all day, because it is riveting:

7:30 am The big kids are awake and wandering around drinking their soy milk. I am having my coffee. The husband tends to the dog and leaves to go teach his 8 o'clock class.

7:35 am Hudson asks to "Watch sumfin" so I turn on "Jack's Big Music Show" for a few minutes while I get their breakfast ready. Harper is intrigued to find out that 'scat' is not just a word for animal poo, it is also a style of music.

7:50 We turn off the puppet scat session, Harper and Hudson sit down to eat, I go retrieve Helena, who has started her morning cricket chirps to let me know she is awake.

8 am Helena and I walk out to the trash to dispose of her morning diaper, which is always pungent. Then I feed her. I talk to Mrs. B on the phone for a few minutes.

8:15 am Time for more t.v. so I can go take a shower. It's "Toot and Puddle"--Toot is going to Mexico and I ask Harper what language they speak in Mexico. "Spanish," she answers. I also ask her what kind of butterfly Toot is going to see there. "Monarchs," she says breezily, thus convincing me that Noggin (or Nick Jr. or whatever they call themselves now) really IS preschool on t.v. Hudson decides he wants to get all of his Mountain Man Gear on.
Mountain Man for some reason feels pants are optional, but sunglasses are absolutely necessary.

8:30 am It pains me to do so, but I turn off the preschool on t.v. and ask the kids if they want to paint. They do. Preschool in my kitchen is much messier than preschool on t.v.
Helena sits in her highchair and has some breakfast while she watches the artists at work. Harper paints a cross and says she wants to give it to her Sunday school teachers. Then she completely covers her hands in red paint.

9:15 am Helena goes down for her morning nap.

9:20 am Both kids claim they are SO HUNGRY. I remind them they just finished breakfast an hour before, and that they can have a snack at 10. It has stopped raining so they decide to go outside to swing and play with the dog. I clean up the paint mess. I decide I need to mop the bathroom floors because they probably need to be mopped once a week. I have done it, I think, four times since we moved here. In July. I decide to wash the bathmats while I have them up.

10 am The kids wander in for their snack. I realize that the phone, internet, and t.v. are not working. I also realize that the back of the t.v. is so disgustingly dusty, I have a spasmodic sneezing episode just thinking about dusting it. The kids go back outside and after a few minutes, they knock on the door to tell me they don't know where the dog is. I go out to search and she is gone. We call and whistle--nothing. I open the back gate to go see if she is in the front yard and she is suddenly behind me, apparently having been hiding under the deck the whole time. She darts out the open gate and proceeds to wander around, ignoring my requests for her to Get Back In The Backyard NOW Sasha, for around 15 minutes. I have to walk halfway down the street (in pajama pants) to bring her back.

11 am Helena wakes up from her nap. Harper and Hudson come in and we read a couple of books. They really like this book "Kitten's First Full Moon" by Kevin Henkes that we got at the library last week. It has really simple charcoal illustrations and not much of a plot, but they have asked to read it every day. They think it's hilarious when Kitten tries to lick the moon and gets a firefly on his tongue. Henkes also wrote "Chrysanthemum" and "Owen" which we have also enjoyed.

12 pm Lunch.

12:30 Hudson goes down for his nap. Harper plays in her room. Helena and I play in there with her for a few minutes. I put the clean bathmats on the clean bathroom floors. I realize the bathtub is also really very disgusting and needs to be scrubbed. But not now.

1 pm Helena goes down for her afternoon nap. I eat my lunch. Harper goes back outside. I call the AT&T people and the lady tells me what to do to the modem. It still doesn't work. She is sending a guy to fix it.

1:30 pm This is usually when Harper and I work on reading, but she asks to go back outside and I let her so that I can have some Alone Time. I dust a little. And wish I had internet access. Then realize that if I HAD internet access, I probably wouldn't have dusted.

Okay, this is getting really boring. I'll sum up: wake up, play-doh, some puddle jumping, dog inside because of thunder, AT&T guy fixes everything, more puddle jumping, Harper tries giving the dog "consequences because he is nipping at my brother who I LOVE," I tell her dogs don't really get cause and effect, and that it is actually "whom I love," but commend her for her filial devotion, Daddy home, dinner, baths, a trip to Target for diapers...wow, this is scintillating. I took several pictures of the puddle jumping but I had the dog on her leash and I was holding Helena in the other arm so this is as good as it got: