Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Day 2 of 2 kids

When Jude was born the hubby was laid off. This was bad financially, but awesome in terms of childcare. We divided and conquered. The 2 year old was out for hours at the park with daddy, and then napped for hours with mommy and harmony was reached in the household.

The hubby went back to work this week. This awesome financially but bad in terms of childcare. I am being conquered. The two year old has not napped in 3 days and the days are looooonger than usual it seems. It doesn't help that it is raining....

On Monday we had a good day; we visited my friend Gwynne and her little boy. We played in the playgrounds of Prospect Park and came home nice and tired. Not tired enough for a real nap, but tired enough to rest for good long while. Tuesday and Wednesday were a whole different ballgame. First of all it has been raining so there was no park time to tire us out. So we ventured out to a playgroup, where Joe was the only boy, and the moms were cliquey. The adventure ended in huge meltdown, complete with tears and screams and not all of them were Joe's. The afternoon brought no nap but we started our pumpkins.

The pumpkins are currently drowning in the front yard. They took roughly 2 hours to clean out and carve, mostly because Joe kept putting the seeds back in. When the hubby came home, it was 2 hours of roughhousing and bedtime.

Wednesday dawned rainy and cold. We had errands to run, which is about 80 million times harder with 2 kids in the rain. We had plans to go to story time at the library, packages that needed to be delivered to the post office, and eggs that needed to be purchased from the grocery store.

The packages got delivered. We missed story time, but got to meet some of the moms who participate in it as they hung out in the warmth of the library. They all had perfect hair and nails . I am intimidated by these perfect hair women. I don't know why, maybe it's a hold over from high school where the popular girls all had hair that was done and nail appointments each week; maybe it's because not one of them talked to me while we were there... I know I shouldn't care but they make me feel like I'm doing something wrong as a mom; like I did Joe some disservice by not knowing about this library group before he turned 2, like I've missed out on hours of fantastic mom conversations because I am not a group joiner, like somehow I am a dirty slob because I didn't get a chance to shower today. 
I've been doing this mom thing for 2 (almost 3) years and still when you put me in a room of perfect hair moms, I feel like a unsure newbie. 

So I hid behind the baby. I hauled the little porker out of the stroller and read stories to him and Joe. When Joe wandered off to play with the puzzles, I practically held Jude in the air and screamed "Look at what I made!" Baby as conversation starter. We shall see if I can break into this mom group, or if I run away as soon as story time is over next week....

The eggs didn't get purchased, it was way to wet to walk to the store from the library. Maybe tomorrow. Nap didn't happen. What the heck do I do in the rain with these kids all afternoon?




3 comments:

InventingLiz said...

You just need to find the right group for you and the kids...I don't know how exactly you do it, but just keep trying different groups.

And, maybe, try not to be so judgmental - you never know if there might actually be a smart cookie that you can get along with behind one of those perfect hair facades!

Ask Mommy to tell you about Little Nanny's next door neighbor who had a granddaughter the same age as me - Mommy would show up to visit in the summer with me in just a diaper because of the heat, while the neighbor granddaughter was all done up in frilly dresses (I always picture her as blond but maybe that's my own particular hair hang up...).

Anonymous said...

we like the library here b/c it has legos and puppets and puzzles in the kids section. the story times are always while chance is napping so we haven't really tried that. not to mention that there's no way he would sit still that long.

we've also been going to a waldorf school playgroup which I like b/c they specifically ask the parents not to socialize with each other, but be busy with crafts or other "work" while the kids play.

It will be snowing soon, then you can bundle them both up and drag them around in a sled. at least that is my plan - the toys in the house are getting pretty boring.

regina said...

a lot easier to drag them in a sled in vermont than in brooklyn! (not to mention jude can't sit up yet)
The library has puzzles and stuff too which i liked- i'm just not so great at being the odd one out at group things like this, it brings up too many old insecurities; next week I'm packing the knitting (i'm much better if i have something to do with my hands)