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Week 176: Crafts, Chores, and Grinds June 11, 2007
It's summer, which means hot weather and, for Samantha, summer school. She's not going because she flunked some remedial subject in preschool, but rather because Geralyn enjoys having time to engage in such luxuries as purchasing groceries and doing laundry. Otherwise we'd just be sitting around in dirty clothes not eating. Sam also greatly enjoys going to school, though, so it's a win-win. One thing that's different about this summer school session is that every day they seem to have a different craft activity, which Sam enjoys showing to me when I get home each night. I think they need a bit more variety, though. I have so far been presented with a pencil holder made from a toilet roll tube, a squirrel made from a toilet roll tube, and a plain toilet roll tube made from a toilet roll tube. I have them all in the living room if you want to see them.
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Even with three years between them and Mandy unable to speak a single sentence in English, I'm starting to see major differences between my kids. Mandy is definitely not Sammy Part II. For instance, we got another example of how weirdly mellow a baby Mandy is this weekend. Geralyn and I dropped Sam off at the grandparents while she, Mandy, and I drove out to The Farm to do some work on the place. While Geralyn sorted through the contents of the house (a process periodically punctuated by questions like "I don't even know what this is, should I throw it away?" to which the answer was always "Yes,") I was out on the deck obliterating the ancient paint on its surface with the help of a gas powered machine rented to me by a man with only two fingers.
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The whole time Mandy just sat there in her bouncie seat and watched us, apart from the occasional nap and polite request to be fed. The WHOLE WEEKEND. She has such a low need for attention that it borders on bizarre, but if you do get down next to her and interact with her, she almost explodes with excitement and good cheer. In many ways, she is the perfect person --undemanding and unassuming when I'm otherwise preoccupied, but charming and effervescent when I get a moment for her. You, the rest of the world, should take notes on this and learn something.
When the big picture is examined, however, things aren't quite so easy all the time. It's not hard to find stories about how parenting (or "parentship" as I like to call it) is hard and tiring. Sometimes they talk about sleep deprivation brought about by nocturnal wailing, sometimes they talk about just trying to keep pace with energetic toddlers. That's probably often true, but my experience has been a little different. For me this whole parentship thing has tired me out through a LONG and UNCEASING grind. It's not staying up all night, it's months of almost getting a full night's sleep because you stay up later to have more time to yourself and because the kids get up at 6:00 a.m. seven days a week. It's not having every second of your free time dominated by your resident toddler, it's being able to fight and scrimp for just enough so that you have to make hard choices about how to spend it.
Like I said, it's a long, hard grind. But somehow I'm still enjoying it. I guess I wouldn't have that much fun stuff to take pictures of if I were just lying in bed or in front of the TV. And it'll probably be over before I know it.
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File under:
Parenting
Tags: Amanda, Parenting, Samantha
Comments
Posted by Todd on June 13, 2007 10:08 AM:
6 AM? Man you're luck that you get to sleep in!
Now that Henry is tall enough to reach to door knob he's usually in our room between 5:30 and 5:45. He will, blessedly, occasionally sleep in until 6:30 but it is a rare event.
Totally agree with you that months of 5 or 6 hours of sleep really do wear you down. I've often remarked to Marla that motherhood (mothership?) must bestow some magical sleep-reduction abilities. She seems to be able to function on 4-5 hours of sleep much better than I can.
We occasionally swap sleeping in on the weekends. Maybe you should try that? On Saturday I'll sleep 'til 8 or 9 and then on Sunday it will be her turn. Those little breaks make all the difference in the world.
Posted by Jamie on June 13, 2007 1:55 PM:
If Sam tries to get up before 6:00 (and she has a few times) we tell her it's still night time and send her back to bed. This perplexes her in the summer when it's light outside by that time, but you gotta draw the line somewhere.
We may try the sleep swapping thing. It's kind of unfair at the moment since Ger has to feed Mandy, but once that's over it might just work. Of course, my problem is that even after I wake up just a little I want to get up, because I'm thinking about all the stuff I could be doing.
Posted by shawn on June 13, 2007 3:03 PM:
Even if you were awake, if you took turns dealing with the kids while the other person "hid" from them and surfed the internet or read the paper or a book in bed, it would still be some down time.
Posted by shawn on June 13, 2007 3:04 PM:
Even if you were awake, if you took turns dealing with the kids while the other person "hid" from them and surfed the internet or read the paper or a book in bed, it would still be some down time.
Posted by shawn on June 13, 2007 3:05 PM:
Even if you were awake, if you took turns dealing with the kids while the other person "hid" from them and surfed the internet or read the paper or a book in bed, it would still be some down time.
Posted by Jamie on June 13, 2007 3:31 PM:
Hat trick!
Posted by bethany on June 14, 2007 6:08 AM:
Reading such stories about Mandy give me hope that when we have a second child someday, s/he will be mellow and undemanding. I can't really imagine such a baby, but apparently your younger daughter is living proof that they do exist. :-)