A typical weeknight

I'm starting this post at 1:30 AM. I'm sure my writing suffers quite a bit from these late night, sleep-deprived sessions, but when you have a couple of kids, including a baby, you just have to grab the free, quiet time when you can. Because work is also pretty busy for me these days, my general pattern during weeknights is:

• Come home in time for dinner (thank you, thank you, thank you Sheila for feeding us! I don't say that nearly enough), which may or may not include little Susanna. Depending on the day she's had, she may be down for the night at that point. That reminds me, that phrase of "putting the baby down" for the night. Where did that come from? Tim, my brother-in-law, had this joke about that phrase. I'm sure I'm about to mangle it, but it goes something like this: One parent says "Can you put the baby down?" The other parent says "Sure", then turns to the baby and yells "You're fat, you're bald, you sleep too much, ..." Ummm, I guess you had to be there.
• Roel typically greets me with "Did you bring me home anything from work?" I really shouldn't complain that he doesn't say something like "Daddy's home!" and then runs and jumps into my arms. It's really all my fault. I brought home a big chocolate chip cookie one day, and suddenly the precedent is set, and he *never* seems to forget stuff like that (though, conveniently, he seems to forget stuff like washing his hands after eating meals without the utensils, which he's also forgotten how to use). And actually, to be fair to Roel, I do occasionally still get the big hug, and there's no better transition from the work day to home life.
• Interestingly, as we sit down to dinner, we often have to tell Roel to put his pants back on. I'm never sure what events transpired immediately before my coming home that would cause Roel to go pantless, and while I do have some theories, frankly, at that point, I'm just too tired to ask.
• We eat dinner together, which hopefully includes Susanna, who by now is sort of squawking between bites because she's so darn tired. I'll ask Roel "How was school today?", and he'll answer with a decidedly unenthusiastic "Good." And that's it for that conversation. He refuses to give any details beyond that. Not sure why that is exactly. Maybe he thinks I just won't understand, or maybe it's because I can never describe my work day to his satisfaction. I mean, I'm a software engineer, and I seem to have trouble describing what I do on an every day basis to Roel, to my mother, and to most people outside of Silicon Valley, for that matter.
• Sheila and I try very hard to have an adult conversation, with varying degrees of success. It depends on how chatty, or moody, Roel is that night. Sometimes he gets engrossed in his food, and Sheila and I can actually have a sustained conversation. But there are definitely time when he tries to monopolize the dinner conversation. I suppose we should try to enjoy those times. I imagine there will be phases during childhood and adolescence when Roel won't want to speak to us at all.
• After dinner, Sheila will put Susanna down, and I'll give Roel a bath and get him ready for bed. He usually gets a couple of bedtime stories, brushes his teeth, flosses, empties his bladder, and then it's off to bed. I'm waiting for him to notice that I don't floss nearly as regularly as he does. It will likely lead to some kind of "do as I say, not as I do" conversation, which is really a lame and hopeless argument, so I better think of another plan before it happens. I suppose I could actually floss everyday, but why start now? (Sheila is gonna kill me for that.)
• Our latest bedtime tradition is I that I then tell him a story (not read one from a book). Tonight it was about a little girl who loved flowers, found a seed on the floor during a visit to the Conservatory of Flowers, went home to plant it, it grew and ended up being corn, which the family grilled and ate, and it was the best corn they had ever had. Sorry, that was the best I could do tonight -- did I mention how tired I've been lately?
• Inevitably, I'll then fall asleep with him, wake up a few hours later, and emerge from his room. If Sheila is still awake, we can actually spend some time together and talk (though, not surprisingly, a lot of time the talk centers around the kids). Often, however, she'll be asleep, and I have some quiet time to get some work done. Or write a blog entry. :)
  

I actually intended this post to be about the night of my company's Christmas party. But, I think that's all I have the energy for. I'll save that topic for the next time.