Wednesday, July 13, 2005

It's 2 am...Do You Know Where Your Child Is?

We do.
She's in her play area babbling contentedly at the cats and banging her keys against the floor.
That's where she's been since 12:30.
Again.

I had hoped a nice visit playing with Auntie Meg would wear her out, and it did... for 45 minutes. However, if she follows last night's pattern she'll go to sleep somewhere around 3, and not wake up until after 9 am. Which at least enables one of us to get 6 hours of sleep in a row.

The really funny thing about this is that just 2 months ago, I routinely stayed up until 2 or 3 and then didn't wake up until after nine, and I wasn't tired at all!! Maybe that's because my days consisted of leisurely running a few errands, painting the Disney Princesses on Tenley's closet and then having a nice little snooze until Jeff got home around 6ish and we began the "what do you want for dinner?" negotiations. Now my days involve trying to find activities to entertain someone barely 2 feet tall and with a vocabulary consisting only of grunts. At 10 months she doesn't have a long attention span; so my limited repertoire of peek-a-boo, itsy-bitsy-spider, patty cake and this little piggy is going to have to grow. My only respite comes when Sesame Street is on because like all children, she is riveted by Elmo. When she takes her minimal naps I load bottles, boil water to have on hand for bottles, and do dishes. If I'm lucky I can squeeze in an e-mail... generally to another more experienced parent for suggestions of other activities or advice on how to get her on a decent schedule. By the time she's finally in bed I no longer have the energy to paint my toes, download music, watch "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law" or whatever it was I used to do until 3.

Well, I've now used up my 15 minutes of Tenley entertaining herself, so It's time for me to climb back into her corral and begin banging stacking cups together until it bores her to sleep. Then maybe I can sleep. I hope.

2 comments:

Kelly said...

It is funny, I feel like we know you-we check for updates every day!
I just wanted to tell you that after our adoption of our Joey-I went through a little depression (not serious, just some of the joy slightly faded) while I was transitioning from a no chilren family to having to care for every need of another little person (and not being able to leave the house without a HUGE amount of equipment!) That feeling of "my life, as I know it, is OVER" will go away and once again be replaced by that excited feeling that you knew! I suppose some people just fall into parenting without this feeling but I know I did not. I can't wait to add a 2nd little person to our lives so obviously, we got over it!
Hang in there!

Kelly and Gerry of Wisconsin (previously of Fullerton, Ca!)

Anonymous said...

Welcome to parenthood! You are pretty inventive and creative so I have no doubts you will be just fine! It is so funny to read what all of us parents have been through in the past. Hilarious. Try tupperware bowls and plastic serving spoons on the kitchen floor. That used to be good for 30 minutes or so if you made funny faces when the noises got louder. Also, adding rice (no pun intended) to one of the bowls for her to scoop and try to pick up off the smooth floor made for fun play time as well and added some nice eye hand coordination practice too. Good luck and enjoy this beautiful gift that will teach you more about yourself than anything else in life. Love, Kristin and Jerome