Fatherhood: Day III, Romans 1:22

The day started out great! my daughter woke up early and I wasn't able to get her back down, but... no big deal. I just did what I would normally have done even if the QofH were home: Brought her to the playroom and fell asleep on the couch.

We were going to her library program and then to a local children's museum. I thought ahead. The night before I'd planned what I'd take for their lunches. That morning I gathered everything: food, drinks, diapers, wipes, sweatshirts, shoes, you name it: if I needed it, I had it.

I put the food in the cooler, I put the cooler on the floor. I put the diapers in the baby bag, I put the baby bag next to the cooler. I put the wipes next to the baby bag on the floor.

We head out to the library program and arrive on time! (For those of you who don't know our clan, this is incredibly shocking!) So there I am, one of perhaps two or three fathers with my two excellently behaved children singing and clapping. Wives looking at me like "I wish my husband would ..." I was the man.

We head to the museum. I'm thinking, "This day is going to be so easy. Library. Museum. Lunch. Museum. Home for naps. Dinner. Bed. Cake." (Not that I would have cake, but rather the day would be easy as cake.)

"...Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." (Romans 1:22 KJV)

Does anyone else know how hard it is to keep tabs on a 3 and 1 year old in a children's museum? At practically no time did they want to do the same thing at the same time (save the water table.) Lunch time rolls around and I'm so thankful because I'm beat. Full House doesn't want what I brought him for lunch. No problem I buy the reasonable lunch at the museum (Truthfully. Reasonable. $4.50 gets Easy Mac, juice box, Smartfood, and a scoop of ice cream with sprinkles!) Wild Card is cranky. Why is she cranky? Oh yes. Daddy forgot about her nap. It's already after noon. And Full House didn't nap yesterday so we are reaping those benefits as well.

Feed little Miss Cranky while Mister Complainy-pants waits impatiently for his Easy Mac to cool. Alright, time to start to rock little Miss Whinny to sleep. Oh, she needs a diaper change. I'll just grab the wipes that are still sitting on the kitchen floor! No problem. Children's museum equals lots of children, right? Not today! What was a blessing the entire morning (no waiting, no obnoxious other kids) suddenly exacerbates my problem. Sorry little girl: a napkin and a cup of water to the rescue.

Ok, she's sleeping in my arms. He's finished his lunch and has moved on to the ice cream. Now I get to devour my food and back to the museum.

Twenty minutes later for absolutely no reason she wakes with a crazy start. She calms down but will not go back to sleep. We enjoy the rest of our time at the museum.

Piling children into the car and Full House smells funny but refuses to let me change his diaper because he saw what I had to do for his sister. He also refuses to sit in his car seat because it's uncomfortable. You gotta make a choice, Buddy. He chooses to wait until we have wipes to get changed.

Home. Snack and nap for Full House but not for Wild Card. If I put her down at 3 she won't go to bed until after 9. I feed her at 5 and I wake him up at 6 for dinner. She's in bed by 7:30 which totally throws him off schedule. He seems to think I'm letting him stay up later than usual and practically begs to go to bed around 8.

Me? I figure I'll post my adventure after I relax for a few minutes and fall asleep on the couch around 9.

Half way through the day I was thinking that I was The Natural. Turns out I was more like The Rookie!

Now Daddy, what did we learn?