Day 1: Orientation

Today I survived Day One. A day marked with rice crispies being knocked off the table, water spilled all over the table, and two random diaper blow-outs.

Welcome to the life of a Stay at Home Papa.

Thankfully for me, I had a complete schedule written out for my first day. It was busy, it was structured, and no room for mistakes. But I got through it and enjoyed every minute with Action Jackson. The day was good, but will I survive another?

It started off with breakfast which was pretty uneventful except that I forgot to do all of the things I learned while Lindsey was here, like put Jackson’s bib on. Once I got it back on he thanked me by dumping his cereal all over the ground. Fail #1

Up next on the schedule was “Physical Activity”. Uncle Jordan got us a kid’s basketball net, so we practiced our dunks. Jackson’s pretty good at throwing the ball, but catching not so much. He got the idea sometimes and would catch, but he really just thought it was funny to keep his hands by his side and get hit instead. We then played on his new giraffe bike for a bit, and then did a little chasing around the house. After that I smelled something – a dirty diaper. Fail #2

But hey that’s not my fault. That one is on him. I was actually surprised. He rarely goes in his diaper as he’s basically potty trained. But I don’t think he is feeling too well as he’s got a cold right now. Anyway, I cleaned up the mess much to my delight and we took a shower and got out of our pajamas. Next up on the docket – learning time.

Lindsey had very specific things outlined during this part of the day. But I diverted a little bit. His stinky diaper was smelling up the bathroom at this point, so I decided all of the trash in the house needed to go out. So for learning time I showed Jackson how we take the trash to the dumpster around the corner from our apartment. It was pretty cold, and I had a lot to carry, so I decided to drive to the dumpster. He was probably confused by his five minute ride in his car seat, but he’s 2. He just goes with the flow. After we got back we counted to ten with some videos I found, did some A,B,C action and worked on his fine motor skills. I also had him work on some flashcards. After that and a little bit of Magna-Doodle it was..

Lunch time! This kid eats a lot. Fail #3 – He spilled his water all over the table soaking everything in sight. Moving on.

I successfully rocked Jackson for a bit in his room and he voluntarily went to his toddler bed and fell asleep. Victory! He slept for two hours, which for him is good. We’ve been having issues with naps some days, but he did great today. I relaxed, got some things done around the house and paid the bills.

After his nap I realized he went #2 in his diaper again! Jackson! Fail #4. So I gave him a little talking to, and off we went to revisit some of the things we practiced at learning time. Around 4 or so I put on Sesame Street that I DVR’d earlier in the day. This is all I let him watch today, besides Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Although in the mornings he gets real excited when we forget to turn off the news and Jerry Springer comes on.

Soon after my wife came home and saved the day. I made it through Day 1 and haven’t quit yet. Let’s see how tomorrow goes!