A Typical Week

Kent wakes us up at around 6:30 and we all get dressed and bump into each other trying to get breakfast ready. Matt has to be in his office at 7:30 in case students need extra help. He comes home at 3:30 to change clothes before running off to squash practice. At 5:30-ish, he comes home to shower and we eat dinner, then he preps for the next day's classes. Wednesday nights are his dorm duty nights, and Wednesdays are 1/2 days at school, so he's done with squash around 3 pm.

Meanwhile, Kent and I read books and play before his morning nap at 9 am. He still likes to read, though sometimes he prefers standing against the couch to look at books instead of sitting in my lap. As long as I have his attention, that's fine with me. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings for an hour, my new French friend Stephanie comes over while Kent sleeps. She and her family are new to the area and she wants to work on her English. She has a 6 and 3 year old boys who are the perfect little French kids. We get along well and laugh a lot over cultural differences. She's lending us some of her boys' French books. Next Sunday, we're invited over to their house for "le gouter" which is the afternoon snack.

Every other Wednesday, I go to a MOPS group in another town 30 minutes away. It's right during Kent's nap, so he'll just have to adapt. I've become friends with one other mom there, Jodi, and together we've had a couple of play dates at the park. Just today, I met another mom at the library who just moved here and is looking for other moms and activities for her kids. She has a 3 year old son and 2 year old TWINS. Yes, the boy was 14 months old when her TWINS were born. I can't even wrap my mind around this and she just laughs. It's a bit of a crazy laugh. I invited her to join our MOPS group since it's free babysitting :)

Starting next week on Tuesdays is the library's lapsit program for babies Kent's age. I cannot wait for this!!!! The librarian Rosemary is so so so wonderful and we have an enormous amount of coincidental connections. For example: she also lived in Orleans, France when she was little, her oldest son is in a music band who toured through the Black Forest in Germany, and her youngest son just moved to Grand Rapids. Crazy!

Between morning and afternoon nap is not ideal for leaving the house, but we still do it occasionally (if I can pack both of our lunches). But after 3 pm or so, it's safe to go out. We like stroller rides around campus, or to the post office or library, and we often end up at the gym where Kent can crawl around and flaunt his cuteness so every teenager girl goes aaawwwwww!! We like to watch Papa play, but mostly Kent likes all the stairs. Yesterday, out of nowhere and very suddenly, he crawled up 15 stairs at record speed. How did he learn that fast on the first try???

The cafeteria is a godsend and we love it (the food is 100 times better than at my last school). However, it's a bit of a crazy environment for Kent, mostly because of noise and the distraction of interesting people walking by all the time. There is exactly 1 high chair, so if it's being used, he has to eat in his stroller, which isn't so terrible, except that his view is everyone's lap. We usually go to the cafeteria on weekends and on Wednesdays because Matt's not so rushed between where he needs to be and when. It's working out so far, but I might dread the walk when the snow and freezing temperatures come along...