yesterday i actually got something i needed: a day without drama. the falling back into the routine we've been establishing helped. not having any more major issues crop up helped even more.
since kitten got her job, we've fallen into a bit of a pattern. i get up at 5:30 and get my kids off to school then tumble back into bed for about 3 hours. at around 9:30, i'm back up again, getting dressed and getting ready to take her to work. we leave anywhere from 10 to 10:30, depending on how late she's running. it's only a 10 minute round trip, so baby cat and i are home relatively quickly. since she's been fed already, she goes into her playpen to play with her blocks, talk to the cats, and watch tv disney (she's really funny with certain shows -- she gets up and dances and all kinds of interesting things...can be quite distracting, actually, lol). once she's settled, i get to work on my editing work or whatever i happen to need to be doing (some days there isn't any lilley work waiting, so i do other stuff i need to get done). around 11:45, i get lunch ready, change her diaper, settle her in her high chair, and we eat. between 12:15 and 12:30, she finally decides she'd done playing with what's left of her food, and we go upstairs where i rock her to sleep for her nap. she actually loves this and gets her pacy and blanket for me to wrap around her and stands and waits for me to wrap her up and cradle her. she falls asleep fairly quickly and i go back to work. anywhere from 2:00 to 2:30, she's up and i start shutting down the work stuff because taz will be home soon. once he's home, i'm off the comp to supervise him.
it's not only been the various stresses and dramas that have disturbed this pattern lately, but the holidays too. in fact, finals start today and the kids come home early, and starting next week is vacation, which means i'm going to have to reconfigure the schedule in some way. i need to get work done, but taz must be supervised or he'd stim, and froggy just isn't the one to prevent the stimming. this is why i need a laptop. i can sit with him and supervise and still get work done. the holidays have also interfered because of the cookie baking. usually when i work, not much interrupts me. the baking of the cookies changes that. i love baking our holiday treats, but, yea, it can be an intrusion.
but yesterday, there was none of that. we took kitten to work, came back, and settled in. baby cat was even more agreeable than usual. i ended up making a dent on an editing project and taking care of a few other little things. kids came home and settled into their usual tasks without much of a problem; froggy even did a few other things without the teenager drama. saxy even came home early and offered to make dinner.
the only wrinkles in the day were my headache, which ended up actually being fairly manageable, relatively speaking (in other words, the tylenol actually helped and did more than just take the edge off), and when the husband had to go back out on a call. kitten ended up finishing dinner. it ended up being quite late, but for once no one complained about it being late. kitten's soon to be ex even called and told he'd wired her child support and that it should be here in a few days (something about how the island banks do transfer to mainland banks; and kitten said she could believe it because island banks are screwy). and the two talked without argument. it sounded like he tried to start one, but she calmly explained what she meant and then said she had to go. i really am quite proud of her for that.
so yesterday was quiet, productive, and just what i needed. the routine helped a lot, i think, since both baby cat and i are fairly settled with it. routine always helps with youngsters, actually, since they know what to expect. it can even be a comfort to them. now, baby cat tends to be a flexible baby -- going to the store after dropping off mom doesn't phase her, but i think she likes the routine of things too (as witnessed by the whole pacy/blanket thing). all i know for sure is that i really needed and appreciated the time without all the stress and taking care of stuff i needed to take care of. i think we all need days that are quiet but productive -- days that just are. no stress, no new drama, no running around, but just going through the motions of everyday life. they may not provide complete down time, but they do give a person a small amount of recovery.
