toddle me this.
You’d think being home most of the time playing with a little kid would be fun. And sometimes it is, but mostly it’s boring and lonely and you find yourself saying “if I have to change one more poopy diaper or clean up one more squashed and smooshed lunch off the floor, I will die. I will cease to exist. there will be a babygoo-stained pile of clothes where cjm once stood.”
Then your toddler takes a break from his very important task of pulling every single baby wipe out of the container to come over and give you a hug. Then you think “okay, maybe I can do this a bit longer…” Then two minutes later your precious sweetheart is flailing all over the floor like death’s last call because you gave him the blue block when he wanted the green one.
It’s back and forth like this all day long. Joy and aggravation, sweetness and impatience, laughter and frustration.
Sometimes I think maybe RG would be better off in a daycare-type setting, where he’s around other little kids and other adults. He’d receive more stimulation than I could ever possibly give him, plus he’d have to learn new ways of coping. I have a friend who’s child is in daycare and he’s learning all sorts of cool things, like sleeping on a mat, plus his teacher talks spanish to him. I want that!
Right now I’m pretty much at RG’s beck and call. I find this to be rewarding for us both, but also limiting and in fact pure insanity. I don’t really want it to be this way, but now we’re here and it’s hard to change things. It isn’t so bad, just a little taxing. Not that I have anything better to do, but still.
I am still breastfeeding, for which I am very happy. On most days. It gets particularly irksome when RG decides that nothing in the world will satisfy him but my breast. And not just one, mind you. I have to pull them both out so he can pop back and forth between them like some sort of carnival game. He tends to do this when he feels I’m not giving him enough attention, but it’s still kind of annoying. It makes me laugh and he’s awfully cute, but I’m not super excited to sit/lay there for 15 mins exposed to the world while Mr. Boob Man has his fill. It’s gotten worse in the past week or so, maybe he’s about to take off on some sort of developmental leap (like talking maybe) and needs my rack for comfort. Or maybe he’s just bored. Who knows. Whatever the reason, I want my two ladies back. I’ll probably hold out for a few more months, then we’ll start thinking about weaning.
I think the preceding paragraph contains more information than most people could ever wish to know about me and/or my breasts. oh well. my site, my choice of topics.
10K update: training for this race is very hard. I cry nightly.
Still breastfeeding? How long is that going on?
The only thing about daycare I can say that is the possibly positive is that every other kid hell be dealing with will be raised in day care, because their mothers must go and work.
Yes, the 10K training is hard. I am still kind of expecting the whole running thing to get easy, but so far it hasn’t. Sure I can go further and stuff, but the phrase “this sucks” still repeats through my mind while I am doing it. I guess it wouldn’t be “working out” if it didn’t hurt a little. The idea of running 3 miles on Saturday fills me with dread.
Umm, daycare. I don’t know if this makes me a bad person, but I think I’d be bored if I were a stay at home mom. I think it is harder than working. Sometimes I feel guilty about that.
And Christa, you are like the best mother I know! You are totally selfless when it comes to Ry. Very impressive!!!
re: 10K – do you ever ask yourself “when I am going to get in the Zone” – you always hear that, where the hell is this zone?
there are pros and cons to every situation, christa. although ben is sleeping on a mat and hearing spanish every so often, he also gets sick ALOT and has been bitten twice. in addition, daycare costs $900 a month, and i only get to see ben for 3 hours a day. i suppose that there’s a happy medium of a part-time job and part-time daycare, but i haven’t figured out how to make that happen…dang mortgage payment!!
breastfeeding will go on for as long as I can muster. My original goal when I first had him was to make it to 1 yr. We made it there. So the goal became 18 months. And now that time is almost upon us, so I’ve upped it to 2 years. In most cultures outside of the the US, moms breastfeed their babies till age 2, 3 and even older. I suppose as long as we’re done by the time kindergarten comes along (or a 2nd baby), then we’re good. If I were working full-time, I probably wouldn’t still be nursing, but I’m home most of the time, so why not? It certainly isn’t hurting him and considering half his genes come from someone other than me, I figure all the help RG can get in the brain department is a good thing (cause breastmilk helps with brain development, etc, etc blah blah).
as far as this zone goes, if you find it gina let me know where it is, cause I’d like to visit. but I am in awe of your 3 miles, I really am. someday I’ll get there. someday.
and thanks for the mommy compliment. I appreciate it!
Okay, fine here’s one.
Jonathan what a little booboo!!!
yes, lots of negatives to daycare. aidan was sick constantly! he has been bitten and scratched, and he has learned to bite and scratch and hit. $900 a month! my god! aidan is slumming it at the $340 daycare.
gina, you must not live in portland, oregon. the $900 a month is middle-range, too! the cheapest i could find was about $750 while the most expensive was well over $1,000. hm…what did i do with $900 a month before the baby??? *sigh*
$340 a month… my god, I wish. You guys should try a nanny, it’s ~$2000. In Los Angeles $340 would hire you a crack dealer to get high with your baby, and worst of all the crack wouldn’t even be included in the price. Things aren’t cheap our here is all I’m saying.
Ok – so, sounds like everyone should move to Hicksville, Virginia.
The “nice” daycare is about $110 per week. wow.
I live in paradise.
haha!
Cute baby!
Gina…thats horrible poor Aiden.
Jonathan, that baby is pure gorgeousness. I love her. I love her I love her. can I have her please?
but please tell me you aren’t seriously playing a nanny $2000 are you? please. please PLEASE.
(I tend to repeat things that I feel strongly about)
also: it would cost me more to go to work and pay for daycare than just stay home. how sad.
Does Gordon even have a job. Reality check..the recession is over.
Tonya, let me tell you, there is no happy medium between part time work and staying at home, and you could live your life in frustration trying to find a part time job that will pay you enough to make paying for part time daycare (which here in Arizona doesn’t even really exist in the “good” preschools because there are waiting lists for full time, and hey, why waste our time and space on part time?) and actually make some actual money. Personally, I found it to be very rewarding to stay home for the first three years (and live dirt poor) and send the kid to day care a three years old when it can be called them more nice sounding “preschool” and also when most of the kids have outgrown the biting and are all past the potty training. But that’s just me. And I guess as far as cost, we are somewhere in the middle here in AZ, I pay 150 per week for a “good” preschool. Also, Tonya, I want to live in Portland! There do not seem to be many jobs there……I’ve been looking.
The ridiculous thing about living in Los Angeles is that between Robin & I, we make a fucking fortune, but I imagine our financial status at the end of the day is not too different from most of America, because the cost of living here is insane. Yes, $2K/month for a nanny, yes $5.5K/month for a tiny little house, etc. I’m winning the HGTV Dream Home sweepstakes and moving to Asheville NC. Little Em is going to be raised a Tarheel, like Michael Jordan & James Worthy.
Everything is relative. A moderate paying job in Chicago is 80k a year. In Fargo SD 40k is a high paying job. In San Francisco I wouldnt even dream of moving there unless I made at least 125k.
http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costofliving/costofliving.html
Cost of living calculator
Jonathan I tried to post a comment about your pugs but the comment section said I needed to be signed in. I see no sign in thingee.
Yes – I have it good cost of living wise in Virginia. I can buy a decent little house for less than 100K. It really isn’t all that bad! I lived in Los Angeles most of my life, and I’ve gotten used to the change. (with the help of prescription meds :)
Despite the daycare mishaps every now and then, Aidan likes it. The biting thing was a phase, the hitting we’re working on, but he talks a whole bunch and is very social.
Jonathan, Asheville is so nice! I love it there (about 5 hours drive from here) I saw the Shins there last April. When you win your dreamhouse, I would like to visit. Thanks!
No sweat, I unlocked the comments section. Was worried about comment spam, but I guess I’ll just delete it if it shows up.
Gina, my sister Debby lives in Virginia Beach. She used to live in Cortland? in the 70’s near
Asheville. Very remote mountain type thing, very rustic.
Today she is married to a PHD in special education . He works at Regency Univ.
See his award winning website: http://www.regent.edu/acad/schedu/uselesseaters/
She does family counseling and works for the city of VB working with homeless, substance abusers and trains social workers.
Jonathan do you think Gordon is a “Useless Eater” ??
This whole comments portion of this blog has me COMPLETELY confused! I’m gonna go back to my spreadsheets now.
Yes Tif go to your Spreadsheets… go to them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!