- My daughter is sleeping through the night. This is a milestone. And I’m not even talking about for her. Sure, she’s more content. And sleep begets sleep, so naps are more consistent too. We have an overwhelmingly happier family since we’ve all been sleeping. It feels like fresh air, like breathing again, like finding a gold mine.
- Speaking about gold, everything costs something. And the cost for a good night’s sleep in our home is $30 a container for formula. You pay for breastmilk too. Most breastfed babies wake up throughout the night, often until they are well past one. This doesn’t work for me. For us. Work, life & Nico’s energy level require entirely too much of me to be half-dead in the morning. And afternoon. And evening.
- Evenings have become really interesting here. Once the children are asleep, it’s Michael and I time. I’m still not used to it. I had an entire repertoire of activity, books and shows dedicated to entertaining me between 8 & 10. Then bed. Suddenly I have my husband back and I’m feeling a little odd about it. Like he’s infringing on my perfectly ordered (boring but predictable) agenda. I can’t image how military wives feel when their husband returns from war, after a few months or year + of single parenting. Seems impossible to adjust back to “normal.” Normal needs redefined.
- Days that I do not have a plan, are days I want to claw my eyes out by 5pm. But the crappy thing about raising kids in the city is that every activity requires an agenda and parental attention. There is no opening up the windows and doors and letting the kids come in and out from the back yard. Every outing requires a trip to the park or tickets to the museum or a pool pass or a walk/drive somewhere else to play. (Shoes, hats, sunscreen, double stroller, water and snacks packed for the kids. Sunglasses, keys, phone, bathroom trip and water bottle for me.) It’s starting to feel quite excessive. And yet I really do love my house and my neighbors. Everything costs something, and I’m not sure I’m yet willing to trade in relationships I’ve made here in the city for a fence and a yard and room to spread out. But I am darn sick of the 25 minute charade just to get out of the house for an hour or two, only to have to return because someone pooped their pants or needs to nap or wants something I forgot to trek along with us in our boat. (I mean, double stroller.)
- If we stay in this house, in the city, we need to finish our basement into a playroom, equipped with monkey bars and padded walls. Twenty-month old boys are NO JOKE! I can’t even begin to list the naughty, crazy, dangerous, insane things Nico has done, climbed, threw, jumped off of, spilled, sat on and ruined in the past month alone. I’m considering daycare chaos in the fall just so he has something to exhaust his energy and mischief.
Nico just dumped 20 oz of water on my phone.
2 comments:
Daycare is incredibly helpful for exhausting energy. After a couple days at home, Miles is bored, cranky, and starts misbehaving. He needs other kids his age, and a gym, and playground, and the stimulation of obeying other adults to wear him out. It's GOOD for him, it literally makes him happier. I am just not capable of giving him the environment he needs as an 18-month-old boy!
I'm starting to really believe that. That I can't keep up with his crazy boy demands. He gets so bored here. He needs space and different toys and play area that I'm just not set up for. So yeah Hilary, maybe Nico and Miles will be in the same class soon! ;)
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