DC Life Lesson of the Day: Somethings Shouldn't Go Together

Just because you can do 2 things at once doesn't mean you should. For example, I like fish and I like ice cream, but I don't eat them at the same time. In this case, DC learned maybe one shouldn't try to poop and eat at the same time. The part where you push poop out with intense concentration is not so compatible with eating. I mean it's certainly possible to do both, but it mostly seemed frustrating for her. This is at least part of why adults don't take a snack with them to the toilet. (DC hygene lessons won't come until much later.) Oh the things you think about at 6:30 in the morning when you are up for the 3rd time in the night with your infant...

Pooped on at 6:35 am

The Baby Poop Face

Whenever DC wakes up in the night, I change her while she is eating her baba. I do it that way so I can put her right back to sleep. The system works really well UNLESS she poops. When I open the diaper I always prep myself emotionally for this possibility that way I can be pleased it the diaper is poop free. Poopy diapers in the night or early morning especially suck cause I am too tired to deal with them. (In a cloth diaper house, you have to rinse out the diaper after changing - something I hate doing in the middle of night when I just want to go back to sleep.) EVEN WORSE, this morning DC was still pooping. Something I didn't notice until it was happening all over me and the couch! It's hard to see the poop face when you are exhausted. The poop face is every parent's warning system not to take the diaper off yet. Bottom line: It sucks to get pooped on at 6:35 in the morning.

Housework is My Boulder

I might not be anyone's maid, but I have to be at home all day. The result is the desire to be in a cleaner dwelling. Sun & Moon has always had a desire to clean things; Me - not so much. I mean why bother? It will just get messy again. The problem is with 2 kids at home it gets sooooo messy that no one would want to live here. And thus my list of daily chores...

Those of you unfamiliar with Greek Mythology (basically you aren't an uber nerd) might not know the story of Sisyphus. Sisyphus (Sissy - fuss) was a king punished by the Greek Gods for being a huge a-hole. His punishment was to roll a huge boulder up a steep hill, but right before it would reach the top the huge boulder would roll back down. And then Sisyphus would have to start all over again. Camus would later write a book about the Myth of Sisyphus and humans futile search for the meaning of life. Sisyphean tasks are basically endless, unavailing (arguably futile) labor.

Welcome to my everyday. I do 3 loads of laundry. The first one is always diapers. We are a cloth diaper house. Cletus uses 6-8 diapers a day and 1 night diaper. DC is using 8-10 diapers a day. If I don't wash diapers everyday we will run out half way through the next day. Also, there will be a huge pile of diapers. Then I do 2 loads of clothes or towels. I do them to prevent a mountain from appearing, but there again in the morning is another hill of laundry. I wash the dishes. If I don't wash bottles DC won't have enough, so leaving them until the next day is simply not an option. Not matter how many dishes you wash, after dinner there's always more. And then there's general upkeep. Cletus throws his toys everywhere. On a positive note, he is learning to do chores and the 1st is picking up his own toys. There's floors to mop and vacuum. There's tubs & toilets to scrub (I really need to get to this soon). Home makers everywhere are now saying no shit and nodding there heads. This might be old news to you, but as the lazy husband like person around the house this list of tasks is blowing my mind.

It's Sisyphean I tell you. No matter how hard I push the boulder in the morning its at the bottom of the hill. Maddening.

Empathy Eyes

Every time I take my kids out in public the mother's look at me with the empathy in their eyes. Today at the doctor office, I had DC strapped to me and was holding Cletus' hand trying to live through the 25 minute wait in the office. And mother after mother had the knowing look in their eyes. The closer their children were in age the more their smile and eyes said as we passed each other, particularly when Cletus kept making a break for it to the elevators. Honestly as a butch lesbian, I have never felt such a bond with women I didn't know. It was weird.

Day 1 of Stay-At-Home Bear in the Books

And the race is off. Except there is no finish line in sight. And if I was really running it would be more like a swiftish walk.

The point is that the stay-at-home bear thing is really happening. And in a way even I didn't see coming, the university I work at screwed me a bit and now I only have 1 class instead of two. Can we say tighten that financial belt? I thought it was tight before, but now only oxygen shall get through.

Yesterday was the 1st day of the next 6 years of my life. If we continue to stay in Cali, there's no way we can both afford to work full-time. Preschool is a million dollars.

Given that I know virtually zilch about preschool and babies naturally, I decided to research my kids. The GB is a research nerd 1st and everything else 2nd. So I invested some research time by reading the actual baby books we already own and watching a day of Super Nanny. The results were interesting. The 1st result was a better sense of order and discipline in the house. I am in favor of both because I will be here all day. The 2nd result was fighting with Sun & Moon who did not seem to know where this new discipline came from which is ironic because I got the idea from her.

I have also developed a lesson plan for Cletus and DC based on what they should be learning at their age. I figure we will just repetitively do these things until they  master the skill and then we will move on to new things. For Cletus, everyday we will sing songs, read books, learn about 1 animal, and learn to help/do chores. After that there's a bunch of things we can add but they won't necessarily be daily: playing pretend, stacking, colors, music, shapes, art, motor skills (tumbling), going to the park. For DC, now 3 months, we have talking to her, standing on my hands, tummy time, & holding a rattle or ring. The 1st priority for DC is getting on a schedule so she sleeps better.

I am quite pleased with my nerdiness. I will work on Cletus' lesson plan because I want him ready for kindergarten when the time comes. Also, he will work on following directions as a new part of the house discipline. Super Nanny was really helpful when it came to the time out process and how to make it work effectively.

As far as day 1 went, it was great until 10 minutes before Sun & Moon got home. Right when it was time to show off my hard work and skill development, the house just seemed to explode with chaos. She walked in the door just in time to have no confidence that the day went well. :-( Hopefully, Day 2 will end better.

Stay-At-Home Bear --- for realz

Well through a series of limeny snickets, I will really be a stay-at-home bear. My work didn't reserve classes for me this semester. I may teach or I may not. Not good for the family budget, but Sun & Moon says it will be fine. And since she has the power of the purse, she would know best.

Mentally, I am gearing up to be home all the time. Whoooosa. I am terrified, like really afraid of these 2 little babies. God, I home I don't ruin them with bad parenting. There's no other way to say it. I haven't ever been a pre-school teacher before, but that's my new gig. I guess I better start prepping a lesson plan. Wish me luck.