Day Thirty-Seven: New Books and a Haiku
A warm, sunny day today. It was a day of being on demand pretty much non-stop. I had a meeting at nine that I set an alarm for so I wouldn't miss it, but other than that, the kids needed my help with things from morning to night.
Jeremy had to go into town and that took a while so he was gone most of the afternoon. While he was gone we played with Legos on the porch, Taiya wanted to snuggle in the hammock (not a tough gig, but when William is shouting at you to help him find Legos, it's not as relaxing as it sounds), we made lemonade, we played the Quiet Game (one person is "it", and the other two people have to be super quiet, and the "it" person picks whoever is the quietest as the winner), we played a game I invented called Guess What I'm Thinking (to demonstrate that we need to use our words and explain what our problem is, because it's impossible to guess what someone is actually thinking), we played the ukulele, Taiya played spelling games on the laptop, William played PBS kids games... it was a lot of jumping from activity to activity, all of which they needed help from me for, usually at the same time. I got zero work done, on anything.
When Jeremy got back he had a load of groceries, a couple books and some summer clothes for the kids, and some stuff for the house from Lowe's. A new hose for porch baths (we have a hot water spigot on the porch, but the old hose was short, cracking, and drippy). Shade curtains so we don't have to wear sun hats to eat dinner outside on our west-facing porch. A collar for Daisy so she won't be covered in ticks all the time. The books we got were The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, for Taiya and me to read after we're done Anne of Green Gables, and a set of dinosaur books for William that I knew he'd like. I was right- we sat down and read all three new books (Dinosaur Rescue, Dinosaurs Zoom, Dinosaurs Dig), and he loved them all.
For dinner, the kids wanted Ramen again. I made them an appetizer of bell pepper slices and strawberries, then they slurped up their beloved Ramen. Jeremy and I had leftover rice, beans, bell pepper, kale, cheese, and salsa. An easy meal but one the kids don't like, because everything is all mixed together. Then it was time for the next Star Wars movie that ended with Han Solo in carbonite, Luke with a new hand, and C3PO rebuilt. I had forgotten how funny Yoda was.
After we brushed teeth and read stories, William fell asleep right away, but Taiya couldn't. She had two snacks, then needed to snuggle with me to fall asleep. I found myself wedged between her and Jeremy, so I escaped downstairs to the futon. I understand that sometimes it's hard to fall asleep, but it just reinforced the frustrating feeling of being needed constantly. Maybe when they're teenagers and hate the way I breathe I will miss this, but some days it can be a tough load to shoulder.
Day 37 done. I am 37 years old, and have been looking forward to day 37 for some reason, but it passed like all the others, with a mix of chaos, joy, fighting, food, sunlight, love, exhaustion. To honor the 37th day, I will share one of the 37 haiku I wrote in 37 days for my 37th birthday:
Baking
You wanted biscuits
so here we are, our hands and
faces white with flour.
Jeremy had to go into town and that took a while so he was gone most of the afternoon. While he was gone we played with Legos on the porch, Taiya wanted to snuggle in the hammock (not a tough gig, but when William is shouting at you to help him find Legos, it's not as relaxing as it sounds), we made lemonade, we played the Quiet Game (one person is "it", and the other two people have to be super quiet, and the "it" person picks whoever is the quietest as the winner), we played a game I invented called Guess What I'm Thinking (to demonstrate that we need to use our words and explain what our problem is, because it's impossible to guess what someone is actually thinking), we played the ukulele, Taiya played spelling games on the laptop, William played PBS kids games... it was a lot of jumping from activity to activity, all of which they needed help from me for, usually at the same time. I got zero work done, on anything.
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| Beautiful ladybug! |
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| Humans in captivity. |
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| Male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on a Sweet William. |
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| Roses blooming from a start we got from Jeremy's mom two years ago. |
When Jeremy got back he had a load of groceries, a couple books and some summer clothes for the kids, and some stuff for the house from Lowe's. A new hose for porch baths (we have a hot water spigot on the porch, but the old hose was short, cracking, and drippy). Shade curtains so we don't have to wear sun hats to eat dinner outside on our west-facing porch. A collar for Daisy so she won't be covered in ticks all the time. The books we got were The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, for Taiya and me to read after we're done Anne of Green Gables, and a set of dinosaur books for William that I knew he'd like. I was right- we sat down and read all three new books (Dinosaur Rescue, Dinosaurs Zoom, Dinosaurs Dig), and he loved them all.
For dinner, the kids wanted Ramen again. I made them an appetizer of bell pepper slices and strawberries, then they slurped up their beloved Ramen. Jeremy and I had leftover rice, beans, bell pepper, kale, cheese, and salsa. An easy meal but one the kids don't like, because everything is all mixed together. Then it was time for the next Star Wars movie that ended with Han Solo in carbonite, Luke with a new hand, and C3PO rebuilt. I had forgotten how funny Yoda was.
After we brushed teeth and read stories, William fell asleep right away, but Taiya couldn't. She had two snacks, then needed to snuggle with me to fall asleep. I found myself wedged between her and Jeremy, so I escaped downstairs to the futon. I understand that sometimes it's hard to fall asleep, but it just reinforced the frustrating feeling of being needed constantly. Maybe when they're teenagers and hate the way I breathe I will miss this, but some days it can be a tough load to shoulder.
Day 37 done. I am 37 years old, and have been looking forward to day 37 for some reason, but it passed like all the others, with a mix of chaos, joy, fighting, food, sunlight, love, exhaustion. To honor the 37th day, I will share one of the 37 haiku I wrote in 37 days for my 37th birthday:
Baking
You wanted biscuits
so here we are, our hands and
faces white with flour.
It's actually a rhyming couplet if you rearrange it a little, but I wasn't writing 37 rhyming couplets for my birthday, so I left it as a haiku. Maybe for my 38th birthday I'll do 38 couplets.
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