Day 3 – Hungry and Tired

It was nearly 10:00 on Tuesday morning before the first toddler awoke. Monday had been a late night for everyone, and Isabel was the first one up. She watched Fiona sleep for a few minutes before deciding to play SimShape on the Wabbit Tablet.

Sonya woke up next and took a shower before getting started on breakfast. She made a large batch of pancakes and ate her meal while watching the cooking channel.

Meanwhile, Fiona and Isaac woke up to use the potty. Then they both sat down on the floor and played SimShape. Isabel watched Isaac play. She seemed to be learning along with Isaac, simply by watching him.

Isabel and Isaac were hungry, so they each grabbed a plate of pancakes and sat with Sonya on the sofa, watching the cooking channel along with her. Isabel finished her meal and then went back to the bedroom to play.

When Sonya got up to take out the trash, she shut off the TV. Annie and Fiona had joined Isaac on the sofa. Isaac babbled something to Fiona, who wasn’t happy about being interrupted while she had her food. She was famished, but once she had a couple of bites, she was a happy little girl again.

When Sonya came back inside, Isaac pointed at the TV and babbled. She said, “You want me to turn on the TV, Isaac?” He just shrugged his shoulders like he wasn’t sure how it got turned off in the first place.

Jesse had woken up and reminded both Isabel and Wyatt to use the potty, not their diapers. When Isabel was finished, Jesse showed her some basic needs flashcards.

After a few minutes, Isabel decided she was done learning. She got up and crossed her arms, staring Jesse down. “OK,” Jesse chuckled. “I guess we’re done for now.”

Samuel had a potty accident, which made him sad. Sonya lifted him up over her head and made him soar through the air. “Samuel, I didn’t know you could fly!” He giggled in response.

Then Sonya gave him a piggyback ride, extending her arms and saying, “Look! Mommy has wings like a bird. Hold on tight and we’ll fly around the room!” By the end of their play session, Samuel’s mood had definitely improved.

Since Isabel hadn’t been all that receptive to his flashcard attempts, Jesse gave it a try with Samuel after getting him dressed. At first, Samuel looked skeptical because he wasn’t sure what Jesse was talking about.

They sat down on the floor and Jesse began working with Samuel while Sonya carried on a scintillating conversation with Fiona.

Fiona went back to playing with her blocks and Jesse showed Samuel the next flashcard in the deck.

At this point, Jesse was a little confused himself. Was this a picture of broccoli or just a really short tree? He decided on broccoli and carried on.

Fiona was cranky because she was overtired, so Sonya put her to bed.

She made fruit salad because she was getting hungry and figured the kids must be as well. She grabbed a bowl and left the rest on the counter for the family to eat when they were ready.

Isaac was having fun with Wyatt and seemed to be keeping him spellbound with whatever he was babbling about.

Samuel was tuckered out and crawled into bed. Jesse read him a story until he fell asleep.

Then Jesse joined Isabel in eating a bowl of fruit salad before she went to bed. Sonya was in bed by about 12:30.

Isaac and Wyatt were the last toddlers to fall asleep. Isaac was exhausted and went straight to bed, while Wyatt got a story from Jesse at 2:30.

By the time Wyatt fell asleep, Jesse really had to go and barely made it to the bathroom in time.

Never one to leave the house a mess, Jesse took out the trash and did all the dishes before calling it a night.

At 4 AM, Annie, Fiona and Samuel woke up hungry. They each grabbed a bowl of fruit salad and ate it. Annie and Samuel went back to sleep.

Fiona needed to use the potty. She was kind enough to stink up the room for her siblings before toddling off to bed.

At 6:15, Wyatt also woke up because he was hungry. He ate some fruit salad, used the potty and went back to sleep.

While it was still a late night for Jesse, at least neither he nor Sonya was awoken by crying toddlers in the middle of the night. It was a welcome relief to get a decent night’s sleep for a change.

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Let’s see how we’re doing with skill building.

The toddlers:

Without any adult intervention, four of our six toddlers have made it to level 3 of the movement skill. I’ll be highlighting any skill that reaches that level because it results in the ‘Happy Toddler’ reward trait.

Annie and Fiona gained a level in all five skills. Isabel and Isaac gained a level in four skills, while Samuel’s gains were concentrated in three areas. Wyatt, our wild toddler, gained two levels in movement skill while picking up a level in each of the other four skills.

The parents:

Sonya gained two new skills — charisma and comedy — in addition to posting gains in cooking (+2) and parenting (+1) skills.

Jesse also picked up the comedy skill, while gaining parenting skill (+2).

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