Alice's 400th Day

by Don Murray, P.Eng. 2005-10-24 3-minute read

8:00 Alice is awake, talking to her soothers, rolling around in her crib, playing with Ocean Wonders (twinkle, twinkle little star…). 8:30 Daddy comes into her bedroom, Alice points to the spare soothers on her dresser. Four is not enough. Lots more rolling around in her crib, laughing and giggling. Daddy changes her into her daytime clothes. When Alice is told to put away her soother, she puts it in her crib, then waves goodbye to it. 8:45 Breakfast. Alice puts on her bib by herself, but Daddy does the snap behind her neck. Breakfast this morning is:

  • Mixed cereal 4tbsp, served with
  • apple sauce;
  • milk;
  • a dozen cheerios;
  • one cooked egg;
  • 1/4 pear.

9:15 Alice takes off her own socks, tries to put them back on again. Help Mommy pack up her gear for another Personal Thyme dinner party. Followed by playing, walking with Daddy. 9:45 Mommy leaves for work. 10:00 Daddy puts on some Mozart (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Symphony no. 40), we dance to that while we play with our Little People house. Read stories, try on Daddy’s ‘Got Root?’ hat. 11:00 After much yawning, have a nap. 12:00 Wake up, have lunch:

  • 3/4 jar baby food - about 100 ml - carrots;
  • some of the leftover casserole Daddy was having;
  • cheddar cheese;
  • milk;
  • pumpkin bran muffin;
  • 1/4 pear.

Practise squinting at daddy throughout lunch. 12:45 Alice brushes her teeth, then we go for walk to McKenzie Towne. Daddy decides to walk around the man-made pond. Turns out the path follows the fiord-like bank, making it much longer than it first appeared. This is more like a small lake than a pond. Alice is cheerful and chatty throughout, smiling at anyone else we met. Daddy walks very quickly so we can get home before dark. 2:30 Finally return home. Alice is very tired, and almost asleep in her stroller. Go for a nap. 2:45 Fully restored by her 15 minutes of quiet time in her crib with her soothers, Alice begins to play with her blanket, her Ocean Wonders, and jabber away to herself. Daddy admits the nap is not going to happen right now. 3:00 Snack time:

  • 3 tbsp plain Balkan style yogurt, served with
  • pureed blueberries;
  • milk;
  • cheerios, as always.

3:15 Play. Pet chase (and very nicely, I must add), play with toys, look at photo albums. Listen to Mozart (symphony no 41). Pull pillow onto floor, lay on top of it. Look at her books. 4:20 Alice is now tired and rubbing her eyes. Time for a nap. 4:40 Alice wakes up, plays Ocean Wonders. Just in time for Mommy to come home from work. Roll around on Mommy and Daddy’s bed, trying to stay away from the tickle monster – lots of giggling. Practice walking, watch a few minutes of a cartoon. 5:30 Supper time:

  • barley soup, served with
  • 3 crackers;
  • milk;
  • mandarin orange;
  • 1/4 of a pear;
  • more of the pumpkin bran muffin;
  • an arrowroot cookie.

6:15 Bath. Mommy’s turn to give Alice her bath, though Daddy helped by blowing bubbles. Alice was very good for her shampoo and rinse – she doesn’t like getting water in her eyes. 6:45 Crying, rubbing her eyes. Bedtime. As always, Daddy gave Alice her bedtime bottle. Tonight it was 200ml of 3.25% milk. With 50ml to go, Alice was almost completely out – her eyes were just little slits. At the end she closed her eyes, burped, and rubbed one eye with her little fist. While Daddy burped her and walked to the crib, Alice’s head was resting on his shoulder – too heavy to hold it up any longer. 7:00 Alice asleep, the end of her 400th day.