When Sylvia wants me to pick her up, she instructs me to "carry" her. This is true whether she wants to actually be carried (like when we're on a walk) or just picked up to see something or be placed in her chair at the table. Most mornings she insists I carry her to preschool. As she's getting taller and heavier, this task is getting harder and I've been putting her down and making her walk more of the distance. This morning carrying her was particularly tough since, in addition to her lunch I also had to carry a package of diapers to her school. We tried a few combinations--me carrying everything, Sylvia carrying the diapers--and finally she agreed she would walk and I would carry the diapers and lunch. As long as I also carried her hand.
I haven't blogged a lot lately. This weekend I had grand aspirations, but Saturday we went to the beach and to the aquarium, and Sunday was packed with church and a work party. Oh, and I was tired in between. Very, very tired. Yesterday was even worse--Sylvia's been mildly ill for the last week-ish and Monday morning, at about 3, she woke up and came in to my bed (which is normal) and then coughed and cried for the next hour. Derrick got fed up and slept in the living room, leaving me to deal with a sick, exhausted kid. After such a miserable night, and because her cough wasn't any better, we kept her home, which meant I also stayed at home.
Three straight days with my daughter is more than I'm used to. More than I was mentally and emotionally prepared for. All I wanted to do was take a nap (since I had a headache from sleep deprivation) and all she wanted to do was play. Do you see the train wreck coming? By bedtime I was done and just handed Sylvia over to Derrick, instructing him to put her to bed. Which he did, and she was just fine. In fact, probably better than fine since Sylvia listens better to her dad than she does to me. I'm too nice. Weekends make me so grateful to have good quality day care for Sylvia. I'm a much happier mom when she spends at least a few hours at school and she gets a social outlet, which I suspect is very good for my extroverted child.
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I know exactly what you mean about having great daycare and getting a break from the small ones. I think it makes me a better mom because I am more able to be patient and I make sure the time I spend with the kids during the week is quality time. Over the weekend while there is more quantity of time spent together I don't always think it is the best for quality.
ReplyDeleteTotally with you on the daycare. We definitely get along better when we get a break from one another. Gareth's also asking to be carried a lot lately. Except he's reverting to the "uh uh uh" pre-speaking type stuff to ask for it, which just sounds whiny and obnoxious at this age. So we always make him ask properly. :) Or he'll say, "I'm tired!" and start to flop over, so you have to catch him and will be more likely to carry him. Luckily sometimes he'll be content with me "carrying" his hand. I hope you get some good sleep soon!
ReplyDeleteMy response kind of makes me wonder what women did before day care. I realize jobs were probably quite different at the time, but did they leave kids with relatives? Were kids just allowed to roam on their own pretty early? I guess older kids in the family would have helped, too, but what would you do about those first couple of kids?
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