It’s the last week of summer vacation.  We had a better summer than we did last year, mostly because we had better routines and rules than we did last year.  A “no iPads, laptops or candy until after lunch” policy solved most problems.  With both girls being one year older, at their ages, it really made a difference.  They were able to do more for themselves, and even if that did create new and different dynamics it meant less grunt work for me and better communication between all of us.  It also helped that I managed to get enough sleep most nights, so I was better rested and ready for each day than I was last summer. And, my wife had a lot of vacation days over the summer.  So, there was always the feeling that help was on its way. Weekends went better, with the two of us home with the girls. 

Audio started out the last summer vacation as a three-year-old.  There’s quite a difference between that girl and the five-year-old that lives with us today.  There’s still some similarities, too.  In a way that hinted that she already knew the answer, she’d ask for the iPad, the laptop and/or candy most mornings.  But, it was easy to tell her “No, we never do that until the afternoon.” and have her accept the answer.  Dee Dee never asks for anything, herself.  She knows that Audio will ask, or gets her to ask, and then reacts accordingly to my response.  She either indulges in whatever form of instant gratification Audio had requested, or she acts like she wasn’t listening, glad that she wasn’t the one who got rejected, and can go on being “the good kid.” 

Audio woke up before 7AM most days.  I woke up Dee Dee at 9AM most days.  Sometimes I let her sleep until 10AM if she’d had a rough night.  We tried to get them into bed at the same time that we did during the school year.  But, they have created a new game where they come out of their room and tell us that they can’t sleep, we return them to their beds, they come tell us that they can’t sleep again, we return them, they force this volley until my wife or I let them know that we really don’t appreciate the game and they go back to bed crying.  Then, my wife or I go up and talk to them for a while about how parents need sleep, too.  Eventually, we all fall asleep.  Then, after an hour or so, Audio wakes up and climbs into what both girls refer to as, “the big bed” with my wife and me.  This game is not new and predates Audio in our house. 

We got out of the house at least twice every week, other than the one week there were heat advisories, or Canadian fires, or ozone issues.  My wife had a lot of vacation days over the summer which we spent doing family things.  We went to parks, playgrounds, nature centers, restaurants, and four different kinds of museums.  We took them to grocery stores and even ate out a couple times.  We ran into people we knew on our outings, which was nice because neither girl had any play dates over the summer.   

For a while, there were too many birthday parties, including Audio’s.  Her party was a repeat of Dee Dee’s party, with a few corrections.  It went well and nobody got hurt, other than one kid who got kick-punched by another kid.  The way Audio acts out what happened, it’s a surprise that the aggressor didn’t end up falling on his head.  Anyway, other than that kid who got kick-punched, nobody got hurt and it looked like some people may have even had a good time. Audio said that she did. 

Dee Dee starts school next Tuesday with the first through fifth graders and Audio starts on Thursday with the kindergarten and pre-k kids.  I guess they think that the older kids need a head start.  Both girls are excited to get back to school and both are upset that summer is ending.  It may not help that I have been discussing this huge, rapidly approaching, unavoidable change in their routine on a regular basis.  But, we’ll be on to the next thing before we know it.  My wife took next week off from work so she can be home during the girls’ first week back to school.  Then, after that, it’ll be pretty quiet around our house.