If maternity leave is like a full-time job, I really wish overtime pay was an option. My day started at 3 am today. LP2 woke up and wouldn't go back down until 5 am. By the time he finally fell asleep, I was wide awake. I fell asleep again sometime around 6 but was up again as Daddy was leaving for work, just after 7. Normally I do not nap during the day because I usually have 8600 other things I want to accomplish. I was thinking that if I could get both LP to nap at the same time this afternoon, even just 20 minutes would be heavenly. I bet you can figure out how that worked out for me.
I had an activity planned with the LP today. It crashed, burned and blew up in my face. They didn't get it, they didn't like it and a major meltdown occurred. It was brutal. I think that much of it was my fault. I don't think I prepared them well for it, I don't think we were in a good area of the house for it and most importantly, I didn't take their moods at the time into account. LP1 was getting close to naptime after a busy morning. LP2 had recently been woken up from his nap by the (47 expletives deleted) dog barking and wasn't overly happy, either (remember how I once said that BAD THINGS HAPPEN if you wake up the LP instead of letting them just sleep?). I was also feeling very tired and when I'm tired, I get frustrated easily and I feel like I don't handle LP meltdowns very well. They really take their cues from the people around them, so I feel like it is important to be calm, rational and very patient with them when they're having a fit because it usually settles them down. I wasn't any of those things at that time. Sigh.
LP1 wore herself out from her meltdown and fell asleep while I was stroking her hair. I gave LP2 his lunch and a bottle. He was out like the proverbial light in my arms. I put him to bed and thought that I would take this quiet time to focus and regroup so we could have a good afternoon together. Two loud cries came from LP2's room. It seems that, unbeknownst to me, the cat had been sleeping on a shelf in his closet. When I put LP2 to bed and closed the door, she did what all cats do when confronted with a closed door: immediately went over to it and started yowling. This woke LP2 up and by the time I reached the door, both of them were announcing their displeasure at loud volumes. LP2 eventually settled and went back to bed. By this time I had given up on a nap for myself and had resigned myself to at least doing the dishes in a quiet house. I had just made myself a cup of coffee when LP1 fell out of bed with a loud crash. This, of course, startled her and she began wailing. As I went to get her, I thought I would look in on LP2 to make sure that he was okay. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! He heard the door to his room opening, woke up and decided that was it for sleeping for him today.
I could tell that both LP wanted to do their own thing for awhile. LP2 just wanted to snuggle and be held. LP1 was playing with Hello Kitty and Mariah, tucking them into places with a blanket, pushing them around in the doll stroller and feeding them. I decided to just let them be. Eventually I put LP2 into the playpen and he was content to play with the toys in there. I started tackling some things that had to be done and it wasn't long before the afternoon got away from us.
I think we've been fairly busy over the past week and the LP probably needed a slower-paced day. I also think that I could have tried a different New Thing or come up with a different plan, but I didn't. I'm not SuperMom. Sometimes I get tired and run out of gas, too. Sometimes I just want to take the path of least resistance. We're not always going to have Best Day Ever! type of activities. I'll keep trying for that but every now and again, like today, I'll fail. As long as I can take something from it, I figure all is not lost.
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