The day began with CF rushing to try to make it to a seminar that she needed for her CPD points. It was held at the new trade and convention centre in downtown Vancouver. At the last moment, I figured that she would never make it on time so I quickly packed up R and drove her down with R. CF would be gone from 8am to 5pm so I would have R all day and A for a few hours after her Chinese school. After dropping CF off, R and I went home.
At home, I fed R some leftover foods, but he only had a couple of spoonfuls as CF had fed him some bread in the car on the way. In the mad rush to get ready this morning, everything was haphazard so I spent a few moments cleaning myself up and getting things ready to go. The first thing I decided to do was to take R to McGill Library where they was a "Man in the Moon" session. This was basically like the "Mother Goose" sessions where they sing songs, nursery rhymes, and tell stories. The session went from 10:15 until 11am. These sessions were intended for male caregivers (dads, granddads, etc.) but one strange woman came in with her twins. It was kind of strange and disruptive, but whatever... R did not cry, nor did he seem happy or sad while we were doing the songs. I guess he was just tired as that time was kind of his bedtime. I did not really get much out of it having gone to a few Mother Goose sessions, but I did participate. After the "Man in the Moon," I browsed some of the books for sale and bought a bunch for R for about $4. Then it was off to Lougheed Mall. R had fallen asleep on the way to the mall so I let him sleep for as long as he would sleep. But he woke up about 1 hour later.
I took R to McDonald's in Walmart for a grilled cheese happy meal. He ate the whole sandwich which kind of surprised me. I did not know he could eat the whole thing. He also ate a couple of fries, had a few spoons of yoghurt, and drank about 2/3 of the apple juice. He was quite good to sit in the highchair too. I was even able to scarf down a big mac and a free coffee myself. After eating, we browsed around the Walmart looking at the Christmas stuff - there were lots of animatronic toys that would sing and dance. R really enjoyed watching them. Then it was off to the toy section. R spent a bit of time trying out lots of the toddler toys. But then I realized that he had stopped and was pooping. Then came the mad rush to get him to a change table. I had a diaper in my pocket as I was prepared for this, but I did not really want to change a poopy diaper. Anyways, there was no change table at the washroom in Walmart near the toys nor was there a change table on the second floor of the mall. I then raced to the food court where I finally found a family washroom to change R. He would not lie down and I don't blame him as the change table was basically the bathroom counter (made of marble) and it was kind of wet. So there he stood while I changed him and tried to wipe as much poop as I could off his bum. On the walk back to Walmart, we grabbed a sample of Orange Julius. R had taken my sample and drank it all up. Oh well... none for daddy. When we got back to Walmart, we were able to look through the entire toy section. R had a good time exploring I think.
A and her grandmother came at around 2pm. But the grandmother had a big bag of food for R. As I could not take the bag and the two kids, I had to drop it off on the car first while the GM watched the kids. After storing the bag, I took the opportunity to make a quick bathroom stop. The GM left as I got back since I think the grandfather was in a rush to go (meet a friend?). I took the kids to look at a Christmas store that was selling ornaments and nicknacks. We also went into a few other gift stores until we found the children's play area just outside of the Bay on the second floor. A was climbing on top of all of the toys and having fun. I don't think R has ever been to this play area as he was quick apprehensive about going in and playing. I think we must have been there for about 20-30 minutes. After that, the kids wanted to sit on some of the ride on machines. To be on the safe side, I decided to take the kids to the family room washroom in the family lounge just outside of the Bay on the second floor to wash hands. Lucky for me, A decided that she had to pee (staving off a pee emergency on the way home). Afterwards, we went back to the car and headed home.
At home, I fed the kids some leftover mac and cheese. They actually ate quite a bit for a snack at around 3:30. Then it was bath time. I wanted to wash up R as I was not sure if I did a good cleaning job on his bum (it turns out that he had a small secondary poop in the new diaper - like a wet quarter teaspoon) so he was kind of stinky. Both kids were cooperative and I was able to get the kids washed including washing hair. The only hiccup was that A had decided that she was really cold and said that she could not get dressed. She eventually realized that her little tricks at manipulating people to do things for her do not really work with me. So she did get dressed and managed to put on a sweatshirt by herself to keep herself warm. R got changed well. It was almost 5pm and there was a spam of emails from CF trying to confirm that I would pick her up. I did not want her to get wet in the rain so I suggested that we meet in Metrotown instead of Brentwood where she had originally suggested. It would also work out better since Metrotown would be open later and has more restaurant choices. But this would be in vain since both kids fell asleep in the car on the way. So I told CF that we would be best to head home but pick up hot dogs and milk on the way. We decided that she could quickly go into Costco to buy stuff. However, there was some stupid cashier there that screwed up so bad that she charged CF 7 times for 1 single item. Strangely enough, she tried to justify her mistake. It took much longer than I expected for CF to finish the grocery shopping. Anyways, while this was happening, A had woken up and was suddenly hysterical and woke up R. I was able to calm R down by holding his hand and shushing him. When A finally calmed down, she did not seem to acknowledge that she was all hysterical and crying. I'm not sure what goes on in that head of hers. CF thinks that A must have just woke up after a dream and was in an unfamiliar place (i.e. the parking lot of Costco).
When we got home, CF went to nurse R while A was suddenly crying. We turned on the TV for her while I went to the car to unload the groceries. When I asked A why she was crying later, she said that she wanted mommy. I told her that mommy would be right down after feeding R, but that was not good enough for her. I think she was just tired. Anyways, CF made the kids dinner (R had a rice dish that the GM had made) and A had some tortellini that CF had whipped up. But A was not eating and was again suddenly crying. She called the GM and said that no one was feeding her. So, strangely enough, the GM decides to come over to our house to feed the 4 year old who was entirely capable of feeding herself (as she does when she and I are alone - like in the mornings when we get ready for school). I wish everyone would stop feeding her and let her feed herself. A is a smart kid - she manipulates people very well - but she should really do more things for herself and learn to get faster at doing things herself. Anyways, bedtime routine for A and she was out like a light.
R, on the other hand, had lots of difficulty getting to sleep. He only had a total of about 2 hours with the two naps that he had during the day. But he did not want to sleep. It took a couple of threats in the crib and a few minutes of me holding him before he realized that he was not going to win and should just nurse with mommy. He finally decides to sleep around 11pm. At 1:30am, he was up crying again.
I miss a good nights' sleep...
All in all, I generally had a good day with the kids. They were better behaved than I thought they would be especially in the mall (A was good to always stay within a couple of feet to me and would hold my hand at other times). It was nice to spend the time with R. I don't remember the last time that I had the two kids to myself.
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