Here is a day in the life of Micah (3) and Amelia (15 months) from Amelia's perspective.
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| Micah's New "Room" |
I wake up and it's dark in my crib so I pull myself up to my knees, grab the crib bars, and holler. After a few minutes, Micah stirs in his toddler bed in the adjoining walk-in-closet, and I get excited when I see his star light click on. "Amelia, it's 7 o'clock! My star light turned on!" announces Micah. I stop hollering and rock back and forth excitedly "talking"as fast as I can when my mom comes in and turns on the big light. I have so much to say and I rapidly sign "milk". I gulp it down while she changes my diaper and dresses me. If I wasn't so busy drinking, I would give some input on what clothes I would like to wear, shaking my head vigorously if I don't agree or hugging them close if I concur. I pat my head to remind her to fix my hair, but sometimes I have trouble remembering to sit still for her to do it. Meanwhile, Micah sloooowly takes his pajamas off, goes to the bathroom, and picks out his clothes. He likes Mom to lay out each clothing item "just so" on the floor so he will know how to put them on, but I like to crawl over the top of them and pick them up. Micah begs Mom to play with us for a few minutes then she puts up the baby gate and (gasp) leaves the room for us to do playtime while we listen to a silly recording her and Dad made!! This is my least favorite part of the day! She dares to leave my sight! I am tempted to continuing playing duplos or Mr. Octopus with Micah, but I head for the doorway to rattle the gate and remind Mom I'm still here. Mom says Micah and I used to play together quietly for half an hour during playtime, but these days Mom can only tolerate a few minutes of my yelling.
I am desperate to eat breakfast. Micah sets the table while Mom cooks something. Sometimes, Micah "makes" breakfast by himself by setting the table with cold cereal and milk. My favorite breakfast is oatmeal with coconut oil and raisins. Occasionally, I like eggs, but I try to throw my parents off by remaining unpredictable with my food choices. Micah prefers breakfast burritos or pancakes. The highlight of the meal for both of us is our gummy vitamins. I stay pretty quiet once I start eating. If they forget, I always am the first to remind the family to hold hands and pray. My Dad and Micah take turns answering catechism questions that Mom asks. Sometimes, they turn it into a contest. They both like to win a little too much.
It usually takes me twice as long to finish my breakfast as the rest of the family. By the time I'm done, Mom has usually cleaned up breakfast and started a load of laundry. After breakfast, Micah is supposed to put away the clean silverware from the dishwasher. That takes a long time most days. My Daddy kisses me goodbye when he leaves for work. My mom is finishing up making her grocery list so Micah is looking at books on the couch. I dig through our living room toy drawer.
Mom and Micah have a morning chore they do together that varies depending on the day of the week. I try to help too. Today there is vacuuming going on. I recently outgrew my fear of the vacuum!
Mom says it is time for a nap for me. I have really been protesting this morning nap since Christmas. Too many new toys to explore! I rest quietly in my crib for 25 minutes then decide enough is enough and cry until Mom gets me. She sets me in the living room with my new plastic tea set to play while she finishes having special time with Micah. Apparently, while I nap, they do activities together that I would not appreciate, like reading books with too many words, puzzles with too many pieces, and crafts with too many parts. Today they are playing Uno and Candy Land. Candy Land is my favorite because I get to play with two game pieces, the directions, and the box while they play. I'm not supposed to touch the board.
After special time is over, sometimes we do a workout. Mom rolls out the mini-trampoline from the garage for Micah to burn energy and we all watch her phone for workout video. Micah's favorite is using the Sworkit Kids app. I like to watch the screen and laugh at Mom but don't do much working out. My favorite part of exercise time is when the app tells them to "take a thirty-second break", because then Mom picks me up and we play tag with Micah around the house. Today, we don't do a workout because it is Wednesday, and Mom gets to go to the gym by herself after we are in bed.
Instead, we sit down at the little table for a snack. My favorite snack is raisins or honey nut cheerios. Micah's favorite snack is yogurt. Afterwards, I carefully take all the crayons out of their container while Micah paints with watercolors. I get bored of this quickly and sign "all done", but not before I manage to color some red marker on my face. I almost fall out of my chair. I like to walk while my parents hold my hands, but I can't do it on my own yet. Everyone says I'll be a later walker like Micah and my Mom both were.
It's lunchtime. I play with the pretend kitchen, placing the bendy man figurine in and out of the oven, while my Mom gets the food ready. I whine a few times to let her know I'm ready, and pull out the Tupperware box to do some "sorting". I like plain food for lunch and carefully peel apart my sandwiches or wraps first to make sure Mom hasn't snuck anything terrible in, like meat or hummus or avocado. Some days, my Dad gets to come home from work for lunch with us. Most Mondays we meet him at the middle school to eat lunch with the kids there, and most Tuesdays we meet him at the high school to each lunch there, after we go to story-time at the library. My parents say Micah and I make pretty good advertising for the church youth group. I'm not as much of a draw as I used to be though, so it's good my Mom is about to have another baby.
After lunch, we bundle up and go outside for a little snow playtime. We don't have sidewalks near us and the roads are covered in snow and ice so we don't go on many walks anymore. I don't really like the snow but my brother does. He even goes down the snowy slide at the park sometimes. He also squirts colored water out of a bottle to make designs in the snow in our yard. For a while, he chose yellow every time, so now Mom doesn't give him a choice and mixes up purple or green.
Back inside, we each get to pick a book or two for Mom to read to us before naptime. I still prefer books with real pictures but occasionally I'll sit still for
The Very Hungry Caterpillar or
Goodnight Moon. My favorite books are the sign language board books from the library. Micah's favorite book right now is
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
Micah and I both take an afternoon nap. Most days, my Mom does too. After nap, we eat a snack and sort laundry. I like to give my clothes big hugs and wrap them around my neck. After that, we play until dinner time. Micah plays alot with his Knexs he got for Christmas. I like to play with the pieces too. I give them hugs and stuff them between my neck and my shoulder. Sometimes my Mom finds them in my clothes later.
Most of the time, I like to play with my brother. Sometimes I dump out puzzles for him to put together. Other times I play the piano while Micah plays the metronome. I'm getting better at finding ways to occupy myself while my Mom cooks, but I just want to see what's going on. My Dad gets home for dinner and I love to meet him at the door. Sometimes I sit in front of the door and block it without meaning to and then he can't get in. Oops. I get excited to see him. We have dinner together as a family just about every night. In the evenings after the rest of my family cleans up the meal, we usually have a little time to play before bedtime. Micah and I like it when we play games together as a family, like Twister. I crawl around the special mat and Micah stretches really far. Other nights, we take a bath. And some nights, I'm just exhausted and whine until someone asks me if I want to go to bed, to which I respond by giving them a big hug. I ask frequently throughout the day to brush my teeth and hair, and always at bedtime. After we are all ready for bed, my Dad reads us a Bible story. I listen for a few seconds, then fold my hands to try to hurry everyone along to the praying. They don't seem to listen to my signal until the story is over. Usually, Micah and I go to bed at 7. I don't mind, my dolly stays in my crib now, and I get excited each time we are reunited. I don't like to miss anything, so after my parents lay me down, I usually crawl over to the side of the crib to watch them say goodnight to Micah. Then they remind me to lay down again. Goodnight!
Regardless, daily moments are deeply meaningful to me. As I've wondered why, I've realized that motherhood is mostly little actions strung together. Picking up the same toys, washing the same dishes, reading the same books. If only the vacations and weekends and big projects "count", then most of my day is of little value. I'm so thankful that faithfulness in the little things holds value and beauty. God sees and is there in EVERYTHING. The big. The small. And even the moments no one else will ever see or even know about. 
