Full-Time Mommy

It's with a sense of combined excitement and humility that I begin my summer as a full-time mom.

Yesterday was ND's last day of day care for the summer. I spent the day doing many things including finishing cleaning the living side (not the laundry side) of our basement, going for a bike ride by myself, dealing with some paperwork, etc.

The key, I think, to making this work for me, is going to be staying active. Today we've had a busy day already. As I write this, ND is napping.

Here she is this morning before we got into our day. She slept in this shirt that U. brought her from Sweden. (That's another story.)

This morning we went so a megillah Shiur (a class) taught by the parent of a child I used to teach. She's been inviting me for some time to come, and this was the first time I could. It was fabulous and ND was relatively cooperative during it. I'll need to bring different toys next time as she colored on the hardwood floor with he crayons.

We then met U. for lunch. And afterwards went to the Tenafly Nature Center for a Little Naturalists class where we learned about dragonflies.

In a few minutes we're off to the chiropractor, and tonight I'm going to a one-time dance class. She's already upset that I might be going somewhere without her tonight, but I think we'll just have to make it happen. She's been very clingy lately, but when I leave her with U. she gets over my absence quickly.

Tomorrow, though, nothing planned yet. Probably a trip to the lake with some friends. But I'm not sure.

I've got a lot to think about to make sure this works... I need to feel my time is being used meaningfully and I have to be willing to slow myself down. I need to be present with her and not try to do too many things that are tricky to do when she's around. It will be a dance, this living side by side through every minute.

I always thought I'd be a stay-at-home mom, but I'm not. I'm a busy person who does best under pressure and wishing to slow down, rather than slowed down and wishing to be busy.

But again, so far, we're having fun.