Exercise in Frustration
Plans, they go awry.
Why do I even bother to map out the day when I know MisterE the Mystery will not allow me to do things that I have deemed necessary?
It all started at 10:30 this morning when I tried to get him dressed for the gym. Do you know how hard it is to dress a wiggly toddler that relishes the frigid morning air blowing on his loins? Or maybe he just relishes playing with his major loin. Sometimes he plays with his loin so much and is so distracted by his loin that he tips over, but that doesn’t stop the loin-playing.
His eyes turned bright red and he was whiny so I decided he would probably fall asleep as soon as I strapped him into the car seat. I wanted to avoid that scenario so revised my plans and thought he would surely nap and THEN we could go about our very important bra and onion buying tasks. Not at the same store.
No nap.
No nap.
No nap.
FINALLY. . . finally. . . finally at 2 pm he fell asleep on my lap. He hasn’t slept on my lap in months, but at that point I wasn’t taking any chances and let sleeping babies lie while watching episode after episode of Cold Case instead of doing my freelance work. Suddenly, about an hour into the nap he jumped off my lap, spun himself around in circles, then toppled face first onto his little pulled out baby couch cushion. His eyes were open at first, but he didn’t move for another two hours.
By the time Mike got home I had no onions, no sour cream, no strapless bra, no thawed out pork and no patience. We ended up going out for Mexican food then Mike drove us down to the shopping center that has a Lane Bryant and a Barnes and Noble. We never take Erik out to dinner because he is usually a pain in the ass in the evenings, but I guess the three hours of sleep improved his personality because he was positively giddy. I like giddy toddlers.
Mike took Erik to the train table at the bookstore while I tried to find a decent bra. I ended up buying one that the workers recommended, but I don’t really understand how it is going to hold up my bosom for several hours. One of my friends told me I should use masking tape to keep it all together but I’m not sure what, exactly, I am supposed to tape. I also bought a pair of Spanx, which are supposed to be way better than a girdle. I certainly hope they are better than the girdle I was going to wear at my wedding. What’s the point of sucking in one trouble spot, when the fat just oozes out the top and bottom, making two new trouble spots?
I just can’t believe we are going to enter the chaos on Saturday. My sister’s family is still living with my parents so there will be no escape until the next Sunday. My sister’s almost-husband somehow managed to book a trip to Hawaii for their honeymoon and they leave bright and early the day after the wedding. We’ll still have all the kids, but the kids are a lot better when their insane mother is not around to ignore them and scream at them. My new job requires me to suss out good academic texts so I’ve been doing some reading about child development (all a review for me since as an education major I practically had a double major in psychology and English), and I’m just so sad for those two children. It’s obvious they already missed out on Stage 1 and don’t have trust. It just makes me so angry that my sister thinks her kids are nothing more than animated Cabbage Patch Kids. She’s always been selfish and she always will be, but it looks like she could learn to put her kids second instead of forty-third.
I’m going to get myself in a lather if I don’t stop thinking about these things. I really thought it would be a good thing when she went back to work because daycare would be a stabilizing force in her children’s lives, but she’s cobbled together a daycare solution that basically shuffles the kids around all day, leaving no one ultimately responsible for their development. It’s maddening.
Ok, really going to shut up now.
I installed Yahoo Messenger on my computer yesterday b/c they use it at Mike’s work so I can talk to Mike during the day (if I ever remember to turn it on). My little friends list is very lonely. If anyone wants to add me, my name on there is cnb.a.dorek (without the periods, but I am trying to foil search engines).