Saturday, November 19, 2011

Perpetual Motion Machine

They did a dry run yesterday afternoon bringing The Parasite over to the preschool room. It... did not go well. Lo, the tears! Thankfully, I only heard about them after the fact because it probably would have broken my heart to see it in action. It's new, and new things are scary when you're two. The Husband does drop off and I do pick up but we're both going with her on Monday to meet her new teachers. I hope she transitions well, because nothing makes me feel like Mom of the Year like leaving my kid sobbing in a puddle of her own tears.

Last night I was tired. I know, what else is new? But it was an extra layer of tired. All I really wanted to do was curl up on the couch and go to sleep. For a minute I felt guilty about it. There's laundry to be done! Who will prepare the shopping list? The sweater! What about the sweater?

Why do I feel like I need to be doing something every moment of every day? It was a long damn week and I needed a break. So I took it. I laid down on the couch and watched a crappy movie with The Husband before going to bed early. When The Parasite woke up at 6:30 I was rested enough to take her downstairs and play with her, rather than dragging my cranky ass all over the place.

I don't know why I worry about something as trivial about a night on the couch so much. I look ahead at the mountain of shit to do and stress about it until it's done. It's 12:40, The Parasite is napping, the last load of laundry is in the dryer, the menu plan for the week and the shopping list are done and I'm about to head to the grocery store. In other words, early to bed, early to rise caused no disruption to overall productivity whatsoever. God, I need to cut myself a little slack once in a while!

6 comments:

Just Jane said...

Good for you for getting some much needed rest! Giving ourselves permission to take care of ourselves is so hard...kinda like letting others take care of us when we're down can be.

Makes me think we each need a permission buddy - someone we can call who will give us permission to be kind to ourselves.

Catch My Words said...

I say take the night on the couch any chance you get.

Joyce
http://joycelansky.blogspot.com

unikorna said...

I enjoyed reading the presentation from the profile, you do sound like one of the SATC girls - it's my favorite show -. You have a very nice place here, it is lovely to have met you.

Playoutsidegal said...

I find it hard to wind down too... there's ALWAYS too much work to do, then there are all sorts of fun projects that need starting or finishing. Good on you for putting your feet up! I don't know a mom who doesn't deserve it. Checked out the link to "the sweater". You are brave to tackle that. I just started a scarf and think it'll be the first and last knitting project for a while. It's fun but time consuming.. go figure.

Unknown said...

It is hard to take a moment when you have kids, but sometimes you just have to!

Kathy
http://gigglingtruckerswife.blogspot.com/

The Host said...

@Just Jane, you're right - I need a permission buddy! Someone to tell me it's OK to take a break.

@Joyce, I think I'm going to do it more often. Not every day or anything, but once in a while.

@unikorna, thanks for visiting!

@NM, I'm usually hats and scarfs only. It's the most ambitious thing I've ever tried, for the first and last time.

@Kathy, they're cute but demanding, those little people!