Was that Supermom?

Or is She? I thought I was having a Supermom day yesterday… started work early, before Norah got up, had her at daycare in time to dial into my 8:00 am meeting, ploughed thru a pile of stuff all morning, cleaned the bathroom at lunch (worked from home, obviously), and left at 4:15 to walk over and get Norah. When we got home, we had a nice time watering the plants and playing in the yard… and then it all started to go downhill... I think my first mistake was thinking we could stop over and play with Jack for 15 minutes, and still be able to go home and have a sane dinner time. Naturally, by the time we got home, Norah was really hungry and VERY difficult to deal with. She was throwing tantrums left, right and center, and absolutely refused to sit in either her highchair or on her booster seat. I could tell she was hungry, as she was following me around the kitchen, licking her lips (when she wasn’t crying, that is) In the end, I let her eat her dinner while sitting on my lap… I felt like I had given in to some extent, but between a long day and a head cold, it’s all I had in me. Bath time and bed time was equally exhausting, and Norah even refused to hold my hand when we said her prayers – thankfully she relented and she even wanted an extra prayer.

We’re really fortunate to have great neighbors, who like us well enough, but adore Norah. The problem is that we have a pretty hectic schedule between when we get home in the evening, and when we get to bed. Actually, I am sure everyone does, so really the problem is that all our schedules are not aligned! The only time we have to play outside is immediately upon getting home – but we don’t have a lot of time, since Norah also needs dinner, bath, and snuggles before 7:00. The neighbors get home earlier and are just emerging for some evening social time just when we’re ready to pack it in, having already had dinner. It’s tough, but I think I need to be a bit more disciplined about heading in for dinner on time, for my sanity. Supermom learns something new again!

In another parenting mis-step, I went in to see what the fuss was about when Norah was making a racket about 45 minutes after I put her down. I hardly ever do this, but she seemed as though she was upset, and not just stirring in her sleep. I intended to just rub her back, but she jumped up when she saw me come in, so I picked her up. She immediately nuzzled into my shoulder with a sigh of relief, so I sat in the rocker with her for a few minutes. She rewarded me with something like the sweetest kiss, though since she's getting bigger and stronger, it came off more like a headbutt... but whatevever! The important part was that after a 5 minute snuggle, she was down for the count. Whew!