- get the kids registered for school
- find the best place to buy gluten-free food
- put up window treatments
- oversee the completion of a basement remodel
- get Stow signed up for Early Intervention
- figure out the trash schedule
- unpack my books
- make a new, heavier weighted vest
You may remember the old vest: not bad for a tricked-out backyard safari vest from Wal-mart. The black part is an adjustable ankle weight sewed to the outside of the vest for added weight and balance. This vest certainly did the trick for a couple of years, but it's oh so second grade.
Now that Sky's in third grade, he's too cool (actually, too self-conscious) for all that kid stuff. Plus, the old vest was too small and not heavy enough.
So this is a Gander Mountain youth tackle vest (being worn by an extremely unwilling model) with the weights from an adjustable ankle weight in all of the pockets. The best part? Ren figured out how the sew the ankle weight pouch into the back of the vest, so you can't see it. - find another spine specialist who wants to do yet another spine surgery on Ren
- do approximately 60 loads of laundry
- take one child to the ER due to a head injury (Q: What do you get when a kindergartner wields a real-life stethoscope like nunchucks? A: Lots and lots of blood--think Dan Akroyd's Julia Childs skit from SNL.)
- explain the whole Santa thing to Sky who promised not to tell but seems incapable of keeping such fascinating news to himself
I have not managed to do any of the following:
- find a pediatrician
- figure out therapies for Sky
- find a gymnastics class, swim class, dance class or piano teacher
- figure out our new health insurance
- get through a single night without being awakened by one or more of my children
- get the light in our bedroom to work with any consistency
- teach Sky how to mow the lawn effectively
Top graphic: what Sky's mowing looked like before I figured out he was just connecting the dots, going from one giant weed to another. Bottom graphic: what it looked like after I told him to overlap his wheel tracks. Who knew a kid with such great spatial reasoning could be so bad at pushing a mower? - kick my nacho cheese habit
- workout
- post consistently to my blog
Please don't take this as a criticism, because it is truly just curiosity, but what was Ren doing while you were doing all this? I only ask because almost everything you've mentioned is a job that would fall to me if we were in the same post-move situation--my husband is the working parent and almost all family and house logistics end up in my domain as the stay-home parent. Sounds like you have a very full plate. :(
ReplyDeleteAh, yes. Well, a lot of these I's were actually we's, though in some cases, the tasks fall to me either because I have a hard time letting them go (school/doctor-related stuff), I have a better understanding of the system in the US (therapy-related stuff) or better command of the language skills necessary to negotiate (finding docs for him/insurance). And, unfortunately, now that Ren's back is so bad, I am having to pick up where he is not able to do things. Even with his physical limitations, though, he still takes care of Stow all day, gets the older two off the bus and cracking on their homework, cooks (when he can stand to stand for that long), takes care of all cleaning and yard and house stuff that does not require a) heavy lifting or b) pushing a mower.
DeleteThat said, in my experience, and in the experiences of many working mom/SAHD families I know, the roles are not nearly as clearly defined as they seem to be when the roles are reversed.
Our roles are pretty much divided along traditional lines--it would be interesting to see how things shook out if they reversed for some reason. I have a feeling that the roles wouldn't switch 100%, for sure. As with you, there are some things I would have a hard time giving up, and there are almost certainly other things that I would end up still doing because I care about them and my husband doesn't! I thought you'd come to the conclusion that Ren's back was as good as it's going to get...is he going through with another surgery??
DeleteBack is getting worse, so surgery unavoidable it seems.
DeleteHmm, maybe "typical" boy is over-riding superb spatial reasoning skills on this one! My parents asked my sister once to mow the lawn, and the results looked much like Sky's first attempt. She did it quite on purpose. Yeah, she was in law school at the time.
ReplyDeleteGo you! We have been in our home for 14 years and I don't have window treatments put up; half the ones that are there are left from the previous owners. I also know I couldn't do 60 loads of laundry in a month.
ReplyDeleteYou've gotten a lot accomplished, so I hope you take time to celebrate that when the "yet to do" list looks overwhelming.