Well, hi there!
It’s been a while. Like the whole summer practically. I hate starting every post with how hard it is to get time to write but that’s where each post starts. And that’s why I’m writing today from the bus. I think I’ll have to get used to finding ten minutes and here and ten minutes there.
So, no cup of tea. No humming dishwasher after cleaning up for the night. No sleeping baby. I did not clear an hour! But I’m writing.
I’m not sure exactly what held me up longer than usual this time. Maybe it’s more exhausting chasing after a toddler. Maybe I kept feeling like there was a big update that I wanted to do Right, but the window of opportunity never opened. Maybe I’m doing everything for everyone else and putting my needs last (I wouldn’t be the first!).
But it’s clear to me that it’s time to turn this around. I recently saw a TED talk by a woman named Mel (maybe I’ll link it later)- the essence of her talk was: just do it. It will never be the right time, you’ll never feel like doing it, and people who actually accomplish amazing things actually have to push through all that discomfort and simply set the alarm earlier.
So, here I am everybody! Writing from the bus. Yay. Maybe this is where I’ll write the book. Writing to work, running home. We do what we can.
It’s been an incredible summer. We were three weeks in Michigan, during which we had an epic 200-Year Storm that put the power out and no water with 13 people in the house for 5 days. It was Little House on the Prairie as we relied on neighbors with generators for drinking water, flushed toilets with river water, and E mastered the word “flashlight.” He had a total blast with his cousins, mastered pretty much everyone’s names (including Mama on my birthday), and loved loved loved the water.
E is totally stimulated by new places, new houses, new people. He is clearly absorbing everything, creating new synaptic pathways at the rate of 2-3 million per second. You don’t want to waste those on anything pointless considering that learning can never again happen so rapidly and easily- so surrounding him with a big motley crew of people who adore him and take him around for summer activities of all kinds is the perfect education at this stage.
He calls many women “Ana” (his nanny) and many men “Chacha” (his grandpa). He’s beginning to learn about men and women caretakers and is trusting and interactive after a few hours of skeptical looks.
Back in SF, we’ve resumed our daily routine with gusto. I’m back to occasionally falling asleep at 8 without putting the dinner away. But- I’m making good dinners (and lunches and breakfasts- no one really told me the high % of time that meal prep and mental planning requires each day), we’re sleeping well, E is digging his daytime shenanigans with his buddies (always cries when it’s time to come home), and using new words all the time. Popular ones today were doggie, truck, on/off (as in the light switch), and pointing at the iPad and asking for Chacha.
We got to have a weekend getaway with my old and dear friend L in San Jose- only an hour but I hadn’t been down there with E due to simple logistics- L has 3 kids and between the two of us we could never seem to schedule. Plus I was admittedly loathe to drive an hour with the baby. So it was that much sweeter when we made it happen- a whole weekend poolside for E with the big kids plus a dinner out for me with L and C. I felt like I won the lottery for making it happen- it was relaxing (you know, in a running around after your toddler way), I got girl time at a wine bar (just blissful as this so rarely happens anymore), and we got to watch our kids play together for the first time.
We’re almost to the office and I’m pretty stoked on my new writing strategy. Opening up to new ways to achieve my dreams. If you keep trying to live the life you planned you won’t be showing up for the life that’s here. Big hugs and kisses and more SOON! Not even reading it through for typos! Mwah!
the solo mama project 