Good morning, sunshine! My favorite time of the morning is when I can sit in my big window and watch the sun come up. Sometimes it’s accompanied by a kid or two but today I was alone. It was a great way to start the day.
Up next: get the kids off to school and daycare. Today was easier than usual, thankfully. Sometimes getting 4 kids out of the house, fed, and decently put together is a challenge. It’s nice that the older kids are becoming more independent and the elementary school kid is following their routine with minimal nudging.
Work: Today is a heavy thinking day. My position change last year meant moving away from task-oriented days to month or year long projects with few deliverables. I like looking at a list and seeing all of the items marked off. Now much of my day is spent researching, drawing connections to other pieces of information, and sometimes staring into the void hoping the “answer” presents itself. Those things are difficult to put on a checklist. So I turn the background music on and start reviewing yesterday’s research notes. I truly love this part of my job, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that the shift hasn’t been difficult.
Mid-day interruption: Kid’s school. I have a kid who is supposed to graduate in a few months and the assistant principal just left a cryptic message that “information has surfaced that could keep him from graduating and he’d like to discuss it in person.” Perfect. Just what every parent wants to hear 11 weeks before the end of the school year.
Afterwork: The fun begins. Nights are almost always filled with chaos. With four kids in 4 different phases of life, it takes a full-time house manager to keep things under control. Since I can’t afford a full-time house manager, and honestly would rather pay for a full-time housekeeper, I do the best I can. Lets review the calendar for the evening events:
Kid 1 – off to work at 3:30, see you at 9, dinner will be in the fridge for you to reheat
Kid 2 – it’s their free night from extracurriculars, thank goodness. Tonight I need them to fill in a 1.5 hour gap in a parent being home tonight with the toddler.
Kid 3 – Girl Scout Cookie Booth – let’s grab the cases of cookies from the foyer, the signs, get bundled up, and head out to the warmer-than-usual February cold to sell some cookies. Hopefully we catch the attention of the folks who haven’t purchased a Valentine’s Day gift and they realize that everyone loves cookies!
Kid 4 – pick up from daycare, cook his preferred meal of chicken nuggets, and play his favorite game “bad-it-ball” (basketball) until it’s time to get to bed.
Dinner: fast-food. I planned on a nice soup, but when I didn’t get home until 7pm, I decided it was going to be fast-food. Soup tomorrow.
Bedtime: the finale. The toddler didn’t want bedtime and slammed his door shut the best a toddler could. Sadly, kid 3’s toe got in the way of the door making contact with the door frame. Chaos ensued. Kid 3 screaming in pain, realizing there’s blood, and managing to scream at a new volume…kid 4 patting her head and apologizing…kid 2 attempting to be helpful in cleaning and bandaging kid 3, but actually amplifying kid 3’s emotions.
Just another Tuesday, honestly.
Oh, the toddler asked to give me a kiss and said “luv you” at bedtime and the events from the rest of the day were quickly forgotten.