Lilly playing with my Mardi Gras pearls on our porch
It's Saturday, Jesse James weekend here in Northfield; the town's invaded by people relishing on fair food, kids enjoying rides at the amusement park that's been set up, we can still hear the rowdy sounds from the rodeo, lots of stuff going on. I was looking forward to my first yoga class back at Heartwork this morning, but alas, they had closed for the festivities. Fortunately, I ran into a good friend and former colleague and we teamed up for a walk instead, through mosquito ridden prairie landscape. Then Leighton and Lilly met up with me and we went to the local "Used a bit shoppe" where we got Lilly some new toys (a work station table she loves to work at in the kitchen when I cook, a piano/xylophone, and a thing to pull or push on, like a lawn mower, with a sound), all for six bucks.
Lilly's been down with a cold since we got back, the climate change, maybe, combined with a reduced immune system after three days of traveling. She had a rough night last night, teething again, I think. After a long nap this afternoon, she had lots of parmasan (!) and pasta for supper. -- I think her tummy hurts a bit now... It feels full and hard! In any case, after she finally fell asleep, Leighton and I got to watch a movie on my laptop, out here on the porch (Australia, with Nicole Kidman). I enjoyed the movie, it's very Baz Luhrmann. And I love hanging on our porch. In the pic. above you can see Lilly playing out here with some Mardi Gras pearls the other day, stuff I found packed away in the basement. We're getting things out for a garage sale.
I'm so amazed at how girly Lilly can behave, draping herself with pearls, playing dress-up. Where did she get that from???? I haven't worn jewelery in ages. She's also quite the tomboy though, beating herself up right and left, front and back (I'm not going into detail here: enough to say she hit her head badly enough at the airport in Athens for the ambulance to arrive and transport us to the nearest doctor. She's fine now, though. But everyday she seems to manage to attain another bruise or wound).
What else? We've had a good first workweek. After labor day last Monday (Sept. 7), Leighton and I have taken turns working either in the morning or the afternoon. I have MWF before lunch to work, and Tu & Th afternoon. Leighton has MWF afternoon and Tu & Th morning. I've been going over to the library at Carleton college or Northfield city library for my work times. I like walking along Cannon river downtown to get to either place.
We've also been busy running errands. I went with Lilly to Trader Joe's on Thursday to stock up on yummy inexpensive foods and drinks, and Leighton went to Target and Best Buy yesterday to get us a new digital camera. We've also gotten ourselves a video camera to capture all those countless precious moments with Lilly ...
2 comments:
Welcome "home"!
Don't worry too much about the bumps. The "one-bump-a-day" phase will end. At two, C. only gets a bump or bruise twice a week now ;-)
I'm glad you guys are trying the "shared parenting" approach. It's working great for us. My one piece of advice to maximize the amount of work that you can do during your "work slot" would be to try and do ALL the routine household tasks with Lilly while you're caring for her rather than without her (when, yes, they are temptingly quicker to do).
I found that if I did the dishes and laundry and showered, etc. while watching C., they took longer to do, although he enjoys helping me with all of them (or playing while I do them). But I got WAY more work done when it was time to work.
That's my unsolicited, pushy scheduling advice ;-) Hope you're adjusting to the "new" house.
Have American attitudes changed in the year you were away?
Tara
Thanks, Tara! And I can proudly report back that I'm very strict about dedicated those morning or afternoon hours when I'm not with Lilly working (with the occasional email or google search when I'm feeling totally stuck, lost or defeated). I'm really enjoying doing errands, house chores, cooking etc. with her around, it does take longer, as you say, but she can have such a good time with it! (I find only if I try to hurry does she whine). It's just that this way I get sooo little time for: reading a novel, the paper, friends' blogs, reading and responding to email, and exercise. After dinner, it's more playtime, then a bath, and then putting Lilly down for sleep can take anywhere from 10 minutes (LUCKY!) to a good hour (like today). Leaving me very tired and with just an hour or two to do something for myself (tonight I got to shower, which I didn't get around to earlier today, or yesterday, now this). I'll get to go to yoga Sat. morning and a walk with my friend and neighbor Dee Thursdays after supper.
About the American attitudes, I'm going to have to do some more observing and reflecting before I respond to that one.
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