Fragmentation: a weekend cure

 

I'm sure you're familiar with this: Yesterday I found myself complaining loudly (to no one in particular) about how Shira has been waking up through the nights again, not napping or sleeping well, oh--and she had that fever the other day for fourteen hours, and then there was that time I was trying to take her temperature that day with the ear thermometer and she screamed murder, and then it finally dawned on me. Ear infection. Clearly becoming a parent doesn't automatically bless you with smarts, because it took me days to figure this out. This is how I found myself at a McDonald's eating fries and drinking chocolate milk with the girls last. Our family doctor sees urgent cases only through a walk-in clinic and this is how we ended up at the McDonald's next door, trying to kill time during the ninety-minute wait to see our doctor. We have ventured through those doors only a handful of times, but boy does it work. Not sure what Alyce is doing in that photo, but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with checking to make sure Shira didn't get more chocolate milk than her.

And now Friday. It feels like a lost week between the infections and the flu and multiple visits to the doctor, but it was a full week nonetheless. I was thinking today about how busy my days feel with Shira, even now that Alyce is in school full-time. I think one of the reasons I struggle so much with time is that I radically misjudge how my days are spent, or how I think they ought to be. Do you ever do that? Before the day actually gets started I think that Alyce goes to school with Matt and then I have an enormous day in front of me, filled with space for me to use (productively or not). Of course Shira needs a nap in there, and we both need lunch, but aside from these necessities there is all this space! Is it a mental disorder that prevents me from acknowledging all of the demands on my days? It isn't only the tough, annoying, makes me want to procrastinate kind of things that I avoid acknowledging, but the good stuff, too. I think I will name the disorder Fragmented Brain Amnesia. (Do you trademark these kinds of things? Probably not, it's a terrible name. I'll be accepting suggestions below.) Fragmented Brain Amnesia manifests itself when there are many different things on my plate. I expect that anyone can suffer from this disorder, in any job, but I can only speak to my experience as a parent who works from home while also running after the children.

Here are the symptoms:

Messy hair (from the running through of hands)

Glazed eyes (from all the running through my brain)

Constant snacking (from the 349 times a day I'm in the kitchen)

High shoulders (tense from missing deadlines and/or personal goals and expectations)

Goofy grin (usually experienced in the morning when I've forgotten, again, just how busy I'll find myself)

The Causes:

Life 

What to do next:

Review short and long-term goals

Make new lists

Actually look at list (mentioned above)

Settle with "made it through the day" instead of "perfection"

Laugh

Smother family in kisses

Watch some Sons of Anarchy (Season Four)

Enjoy a date night with husband while girls sleepover at their Nana's house

Have brunch with friends 

Go to a book festival

*These last six items are my therapeutic plans for the weekend. What are yours?

Scenes from my weekend (and some missing scenes)

 

This weekend was a good kind of busy. By Friday night the entire house was ready for exhausted, though my mum and stepfather did find the energy to pack for the holiday they were leaving for the next morning. Did you catch that? We have my mum's house all to ourselves for an entire week!* 

Don't even get me started on all the things that are going down this week in honour of our new found freedom. All I will say for now is that I kicked off their holiday by inviting eight friends over for dinner yesterday. It was the second meeting for our cookbook club, and I'll tell you all about it in a few days. I should at the very least offer you some photos from our amazing afternoon of cooking, eating, and talking with our mouths full, but I didn't get any photos! I was too busy ensuring there were enough forks for everyone and that I didn't burn the toasted baguettes again (I did, by the way, burn them). I'll give you the details soon, and maybe my friend Amanda will share a few photos with me to share with you here.

The rest of our weekend was made up of much smaller events, though just as important. Alyce and I started making her valentines for class next week (and no one is more surprised than me that I got this process started almost two weeks before the big day). There were baths, drawing sessions, and not enough naps. (Speaking of naps, I need this card.) But one of my favourite things about the weekend was taking Alyce to see her first 3D movie. There is nothing like sitting next to your favourite four year old, popcorn and smarties balanced on her lap, oversized glasses on her face, to brighten your day. She has seen Beauty and the Beast at least a dozen times at home, but this was special. My favourite part was watching her reach out her hands in front of her, trying to catch the images that flew in front of her face. No wait, my favourite part was listening to her belt out the songs mid-movie. I was prepared to make a scene if someone asked her to stop singing. No one did, obviously, because what kind of monster would step on the joy of a little girl singing about true love?

Hope your weekend was filled with events, big and small. Any suggestions for how we should celebrate our much emptier house?

*Don't get me wrong. We love them. But sometimes things feel just a bit crowded. You understand.

We're still around, just a little quiet.

New favourite shows include The Backyardigans, Toopy and Binoo, and Manon.

Package of dry beans + pots = Very Serious Fun

 

 

Shira would like you to know that she can do it herself, re: brushing her teeth.

While I can't say the same for Alyce and Shira, I've been feeling a bit quiet lately. I'm working a lot at my temp job, still not loving it,* and dealing with a few too many grown-up type responsibilities. There are a few changes happening around here (alas, not on the job front), and I'll be posting about these in the next couple of days. But the week has not been all bad, including the following:

-Indian food and birthday shopping for Alyce with mum

-A wonderful afternoon spent with a dear friend I haven't seen often enough these last few years

-An excellent case of the giggles

-We got a minivan. I KNOW! More on that later, too. In the meantime, I need to cover it with bumper stickers and racing stripes. 

Sleep tight. I hope it's the best of weeks!

*Just so we're clear: understatement of the millennium.

Are you all preparing for the weekend? I expect it will be beautiful (thank you, fall), and I'm celebrating with some apple picking on Sunday (and knocking something off my list at that). For this afternoon it's just me and Shira cleaning house. I've kicked Matt and Alyce out to the library and park so that I could wash the floors and bathrooms. I've got Shira set up in her high chair colouring while I scrub. Cleaning the floors makes me happy. The bathrooms? Not so much, but it needs to be done (especially when one's mum is coming over to baby-sit this weekend).

A few interesting things from the week:

A cookbook club. Mine is already in the works, thanks to some good friends who like to eat as much as I do.

A birthday celebration fit for a cat. Trust me, this is worth the crazy.

I'm still waiting (impatiently) for my copy of Design Sponge at Home.

Another blanket I would like to knit.

The zucchini bread I just made (it's still in the oven), though not for the first time. This one's a keeper.


Hope you have a delightful fall weekend! And for those of you on Canada's East coast, I hope the storm is kind to you.