Summer time routine

Our summer routine last year went something like this: we woke up at 4:30 am because Jack liked to torture us, Spencer left for work around 8 am, Jack and I hung out in our depressing, empty apartment with millions of garbage bags full of our stuff laying around (the garbage bags because of the bed bugs and the apartment hang out because I did not have a car), I watched the clock a lot, I tried to get Jack to eat food a lot, and we went swimming at our apartment complex every day between Jack's morning and afternoon nap. (Once I got into the pool with Jack, I would have a competition with myself to see how long I could go without looking down at my watch. My record was 33 minutes!) Then we'd go back to our apartment, have a bath, hang out again, watch the clock again, and Spencer would get home at 9 pm because he was taking night classes Monday through Thursday. It was the longest summer of my life and things got a millions times better in the fall when we got a second car and when the bed bugs went away and when I made more friends and when the weather cooled down and when Spencer only had one night class a week. (If you guys are sick of me complaining about last summer and talking about bed bugs, you better stop reading this blog because I am beginning to think that one of my subconscious goals for this blog is to mention it as many times as I possibly can.)

Part of the reason I got a job this spring was because I was nervous about the upcoming summer. Most of my friends take month long exodus' to zion (Utah) during these miserable months or go on other vacations, which stinks because I am definitely a people person and there is just not that much to do by myself with a baby in the heat. 

Our summer routine this year is a lot different than last summer and I am very happy about that: Jack wakes us up at 6 am, we all leave for work at 7:30 am, Jack and I work/play at the Child Center until 1 pm, we come home and Jack takes a nap in the afternoon, Spencer comes home from work around 5 pm and depending on the day, we either all go running together (won't last much longer in this heat) or I leave Spencer and Jack at home while I go back to work to teach swimming lessons. Jack goes to bed around 7:30 pm and once he's asleep, Spencer and I work on planning our church's summer youth conference and/or have a LOST party. 

Here is a list of what Jack does at the child center with some flip phone pictures to go with it:

• He runs on the turf outside.

• He blows bubbles on the turf outside

• He plays with balls on the turf outside. (sometimes he takes a break to stretch his legs)

• He pretends to play computer games in the Mac lab.

• He climbs up the jungle gym then cries when he can't get down.

• He plays on the padded furniture. 

• He reads books in the story corner.

• He hits kids in this house because he knows I can't see what he's doing in there.

• He watches "wooey" aka Woody aka Toy Story 3 while he plays on the train table or shoots hoops. (I find it ironic that the child center shows Toy Story 3 on almost every day. If you don't remember Toy Story 3, it is the one where the toys get sent to the awful daycare and all of the crazy children almost destroy all of the toys)

• I may have made the child center sound too good to be true (which it kind of is) but Jack also cries and clings to my leg about 20-40 percent of the time we are there, depending on how many screaming children are at the child center that day. I would like to believe that 18 month-olds cry 20-40 percent of their days no matter where they are??? No flip phone picture for this one.