Kids woke us up around 7:00 a.m. I was still sleepy and fell right back off, so apparently Carole got them their breakfasts. They watched PBS kids shows and Carole did computer stuff. I got up around 8:30, I think, and after some breakfast played with the kids for an hour or so. Alexander gave me a token four or five “good guys” to go up against his battalion-size force of odds-and-ends figures. It ended up being more of a show I put on with a little stuffed bear of his than anything else. Carole napped with Christina while this was going on; I napped in the rocker chair for a while and let the kids play on their own. Then she woke up and decided she wanted to get groceries and have that taken care of. She did, and I stayed with the kids while they took a bath.

Dave picked them up close to 1:00. Carole and I ate lunch, I worked on Above and Beyond for a while, she . . . did other stuff, and then we talked more about what to look for at Ikea to solve our storage problems. It was 2:30 before we finally left. First we picked up the breast pump again from Wendy, got some apples from Whole Foods, and then went to Ikea. We were there for around 2.5 hours, which put the shopping trip at about $181 per hour. That got us two stair-step bin cupboards, one tall bookshelf to put between them, a coffee table, and all the bins for the above. Really not too bad for $453.

Headed for Mom and Dad’s after that to do some watering while they’re in Florida, got back home around 8:45, and after talking script stuff for a while and feeding Christina, we got the stuff out of the CRV (borrowed Dad’s for the trip) and built the coffee table. Might need a little customizing to use it exactly the way we want to be able, but we’ll see. Tomorrow will be the playroom stuff. Thank god. It’s about time. It’s amazing how cluttered a house occupied by two generally fastidious people can be, but not necessarily surprising: Fastidiousness takes time and money. Hence. . .

As we were building the coffee table, Christina started getting fussy sitting in her swing, so Carole opted for the floor playmat with the musical animals that hang down. She’s been enjoying it more lately since she’s been more agile, and she’s now crossed another milestone: Tonight she just reached up and grabbed them. No swinging her hands around like a mad conjurer and randomly hooking one with stray fingers—she actually reached up and took one in her hands and pulled down on it, setting the music going. She vibrated. Go baby.

So I guess our decision to start going to bed earlier will go into effect tomorrow.