Austin starts today at a new daycare - a very impressive place that my brother and sister-in-law were lucky (and very happy) to find on short notice. It's hard when you have kids to find a place you are comfortable leaving them for the majority of the day. I remember having to go through the hunt when Leirin was little. I remember again trying to find a place for all three of my kids that I could actually afford and feel good about leaving them there. I never went back to work. I'm sure now the situation is even more difficult than it was then, so I was really glad to see Terry so excited about the place she had found.
It's been three weeks since I started on short notice babysitting duty when the laday that ran Austin's last daycare decided to close, leaving them with only a few hours to line up a sitter or take vacation time from work. The timing wasn't the best. My house is overflowing with boxes packed into every inch of space I can find. It makes for good climbing for Austin, lots of stress for me. I've been sick too, and that's made it really hard some days when all I wanted to do was lay in bed and moan in congested misery. Our daily schedule has gone from...well, it's just gone. I did things as I got an opportunity and that was that. There were some days it would be a good 45 minutes from the time my brain first said "I need to go to the potty" until I actually got to go and even then I usually went with him standing beside me screaming because he thought I should have kept right on sitting on the couch watching Shrek or making him the umpty billionth bowl of oatmeal or grits he asked for with no intention of eating.
This morning he isn't coming and I'm going to miss that little poot. Though neither one of us has felt very good (he's had an ear and sinus infection) and there has been much whining and crying, it's been fun too. It's been 5 years since I hung out with an adventurous two year old, dancing to raffi songs with lots of hand motions and learning all the ways to coax him into giving me whatever dangerous thing he just pulled from under my couch before he pokes his eye out with it. With three kids above the age of seven in our house now, it's a long way from baby-proof and Austin is a master at finding the little sharp, highly choke-able things that my kids let slip through couch cushions.
There were moments I wish I had a high-chair or a play pen I could put him in just long enough for me to go pee. I was reminded just how asleep my arm could get after carrying a whiny baby around while I tried to get a teenie speck of cleaning done here and there and at the end of the day my arms felt just like my legs used to after I spent hours and hours rollerskating when I was a kid. But there were those moments when he'd walk over to me to give me a big wet open-mouthed kiss and say "Uhhv oooh" (Love you), or turn to me with a huge smile and give me his version of a thumbs-up (his index finger), or stumbling through the latest dance he'd learned with The Wiggles, and I'd have to fight a momentary pang of baby lust. Some things he would do were just cute enough to make me seriously consider telling my brother to stop the sitter search, I'm hooked. But I really don't have enough time to take on another daytime job. As it is I barely manage business paperwork, school and housework. I imagine if I tried to take another job, the condition of my house would probably never be any better than it is at this moment, and that's a depressing thought. I'm just not the mom I used to be, I guess. As I chased him around the house the last couple of weeks trying to remember what worked best for getting permanent marker off bare legs, I wondered how I ever managed to do it when I had two babies and a 5 year-old.
I can't remember. It must have been pure luck because I can't see myself as being that organized. I had managed it somehow, and I guess I did a pretty good job because none of my kids ever did any permanent damage. There was that one time that Emily drank a bottle of aftershave. And there was that other time she flushed $1200.00 down the toilet. And Jake has had countless x-rays on his tough little noggin because he seemed intent on cracking it open. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm glad the toddler years are over and done with and I'll just satisfy myself with the occasional stint of babysitting to get my toddler fix. I hope it won't be too long before I get to do it again, but for today I'm glad I'll finally get a chance to eat my lunch sitting down and I can be pretty sure I won't end the day with grits in my hair.
It's been three weeks since I started on short notice babysitting duty when the laday that ran Austin's last daycare decided to close, leaving them with only a few hours to line up a sitter or take vacation time from work. The timing wasn't the best. My house is overflowing with boxes packed into every inch of space I can find. It makes for good climbing for Austin, lots of stress for me. I've been sick too, and that's made it really hard some days when all I wanted to do was lay in bed and moan in congested misery. Our daily schedule has gone from...well, it's just gone. I did things as I got an opportunity and that was that. There were some days it would be a good 45 minutes from the time my brain first said "I need to go to the potty" until I actually got to go and even then I usually went with him standing beside me screaming because he thought I should have kept right on sitting on the couch watching Shrek or making him the umpty billionth bowl of oatmeal or grits he asked for with no intention of eating.
This morning he isn't coming and I'm going to miss that little poot. Though neither one of us has felt very good (he's had an ear and sinus infection) and there has been much whining and crying, it's been fun too. It's been 5 years since I hung out with an adventurous two year old, dancing to raffi songs with lots of hand motions and learning all the ways to coax him into giving me whatever dangerous thing he just pulled from under my couch before he pokes his eye out with it. With three kids above the age of seven in our house now, it's a long way from baby-proof and Austin is a master at finding the little sharp, highly choke-able things that my kids let slip through couch cushions.
There were moments I wish I had a high-chair or a play pen I could put him in just long enough for me to go pee. I was reminded just how asleep my arm could get after carrying a whiny baby around while I tried to get a teenie speck of cleaning done here and there and at the end of the day my arms felt just like my legs used to after I spent hours and hours rollerskating when I was a kid. But there were those moments when he'd walk over to me to give me a big wet open-mouthed kiss and say "Uhhv oooh" (Love you), or turn to me with a huge smile and give me his version of a thumbs-up (his index finger), or stumbling through the latest dance he'd learned with The Wiggles, and I'd have to fight a momentary pang of baby lust. Some things he would do were just cute enough to make me seriously consider telling my brother to stop the sitter search, I'm hooked. But I really don't have enough time to take on another daytime job. As it is I barely manage business paperwork, school and housework. I imagine if I tried to take another job, the condition of my house would probably never be any better than it is at this moment, and that's a depressing thought. I'm just not the mom I used to be, I guess. As I chased him around the house the last couple of weeks trying to remember what worked best for getting permanent marker off bare legs, I wondered how I ever managed to do it when I had two babies and a 5 year-old.
I can't remember. It must have been pure luck because I can't see myself as being that organized. I had managed it somehow, and I guess I did a pretty good job because none of my kids ever did any permanent damage. There was that one time that Emily drank a bottle of aftershave. And there was that other time she flushed $1200.00 down the toilet. And Jake has had countless x-rays on his tough little noggin because he seemed intent on cracking it open. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm glad the toddler years are over and done with and I'll just satisfy myself with the occasional stint of babysitting to get my toddler fix. I hope it won't be too long before I get to do it again, but for today I'm glad I'll finally get a chance to eat my lunch sitting down and I can be pretty sure I won't end the day with grits in my hair.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home