Sunday resulted in a bit of a breakdown for me. It had been
a really long week, made worse by the fact that the Magical Non Sleeping Baby reappeared,
and wanted to party for four hours in the middle of the night, and by party I
mean scream her fool head off for four unrelenting hours. Night terrors, you
know.
I’m also a person who needs some alone time, and If I can’t
have that, I at least need quiet nonsocial time, and unfortunately, when your
husband’s twin sister comes in town and she lives far away, you get lots of
socializing, too much time with said sister in law and mother in law and an
over-stimulated toddler who won’t go to sleep or nap or anything. That being
said, they are fantastic, and they wanted Lis all the time. That meant I
actually was around Lis less this weekend than I usually am, which in some bizarre
way, only aggravated the situation, because the times where she was with me,
she was a hellion. Basically, I ended up feeling like a terrible parent for
being relieved that Monday was coming and with it, daycare, and when I had the
stupidity to open my mouth and say so, Vor promptly reminded me that Lis had
spent lots of time with her grandma and her auntie that weekend, so why was I
feeling that way, exactly?
Tears, I tell you.
There were lots of them, served with several side dishes of hurt
feelings and anger.
Anyways, Monday was supposed to be FANTASTIC. I took the day
off from work, I had a massage, a manicure, a pedicure, and a hair cut all
lined up, compliments of my husband and a Christmas gifts. I was so excited.
So, of course Lis gets sent home from daycare in the
morning, sick. SO much for that day. Sick babies are delightful too—when they’re
not snuggling your with their cute sweaty bodies, they are howling in your ears
with anger and frustration. I feel awful when she’s sick, so they day was
nothing I expected.
We all know what
happens when a kid is sent home sick from daycare, right? RIGHT? Yes, that
means Lis is out today too, though she seems fantastic today, all babbling and
chatty and taking things (5 blankets, 6 stuffed animals, a large metal mixing
bowl, all of her bibs and washcloths, and a scarf) into the closet and making a
nest. Surprisingly, she’s been very intent on playing by herself, with limited
need for my participation and approval, which is fantastic, since I really need
to get work done.
The work? Well, that would be a social media presentation,
detailing the various ways and networks and apps and actions your child can get
themselves into all kinds of bizarre situations and trouble. Lest you think that the correct answer is to
withdraw from the world into a location that has no kind of wireless or cell
service or anything at all (especially given my above noted tendency to need
alone time), the answer is actually more engagement. Lots of talking, lots of
checking, signing up for all the crazy things kids are doing yourself, and so
on [I actually have lots to say on this, so a later post will have to do].
While Lis was napping, I was typing up the conclusion
section about being engaged, etc., and I thought about the difference between
this weekend and yesterday and today. Lis was bouncing around all weekend,
spending lots of time with her grandma, and other family, and her auntie, as she should, since she
doesn’t get to see Vor’s sister that often. But when we’re around all that
family, although we are all busy socializing with each other and Lis with them,
I kind of lose track of Lis. Lis and I operate much better when we are in tune,
and spending lots of time together. When other people are there and she is interacting
more with them, I seem to go off frequency from her, and then I have problems
of frustration, resentment, etc.As much as I love and need the (generally) once
a week breaks that Mama Vor provides in the form of a quick overnight (late
evening drop off, early morning pick up), extended time like this past week
doesn’t work well for our family right now.
It’s partly that, and it’s partly the fact that Lis is
pretty high intensity for people other than us to handle right now that resulted
in this decision: We are not leaving Lis for a few days and going to NYC. Instead,
Vor and I will go down to Brown County (very pretty, mountains [sort of]) by ourselves for a night and rent a
cabin, and Lis will arrive the next morning with Grams, and then the three of
us will spend the rest of the long weekend together, just being social,
quietly, together.