Skipping Town

Dear Little Ones, Once again, a joint letter, my excuse this time my ten-day trip to Bread Loaf. This was a milestone for everyone: my first time away from you two (excepting my hospital stay), and Daddy’s first time looking after you on his own for an extended period. By all accounts, you all thrived, and Daddy’s now dropping hints that he may want to switch roles and stay home with you girls all the time. (This is hilarious, and impossible, for reasons you’re too young to understand.) Greta, you took my return in stride; Lucia, you seemed miffed for a day or so to go back to normal, but we’ve reached equilibrium once more. For both of you, this month we’ve witnessed your great love for our community pool, as well as endless fun at home on our porch and yard with chalk, balls, hula hoops. Lucia, you’ve taken a renewed interest in your stuffed animals. At odd moments you’ll suddenly squeak, “Eee! Eee! Eee!” and it’ll be one of your animals crying for you. Of course Greta follo...

August 22 – 24 My time alone with the girls has come to an end. As I write this, it is 2:30pm on Saturday, and in a few hours I’ll pack the girls into the car and we’ll head to the airport to pick up Mommy. Greta was up at 7am on the dot this morning, and Lucia was up soon after. I came down with Greta and gave her a bottle of milk and we sat on the couch together in the quiet. Lucia soon joined us and we went into the kitchen to have breakfast and start our day. Underneath it all, there was a slight rhythm, a faint sense of routine, as I thought ahead to morning snacks at the playground and wondered how cool it was out and if we would need long pants when we changed out of our PJs. As I put the girls to sleep alone last night for the last time this week (Larry and Marge left Friday morning to drive back home, 2 laughing, well-fed girls in their wake),   I felt a twinge of sadness that this period, however short, was over. We, of course, all of us, can’t wait for Margo to ...

August 19 – 21 Marge and Larry have been here since Sunday, which has allowed me to go back to work the past three days, hence the hiatus in posts. That’s no reflection on the activity of the girls, of course, who have kept both grandparents on their toes. In fact, I’m worried that Lucia and Greta are wearing Gra and Pop-Pop out, as Larry and Marge have turned in earlier and earlier each night they have been here! Luckily, I’ll be working from home tomorrow, and then back on full-time solo parenting for Friday and much of Saturday until we head to the airport to pick up Mommy (Whew!!!!). However, the girls have been thrilled with spending time with their grandparents. I’ve been taking the early train home every day, and I hear the girls laughing and screaming out on the porch from down the block. Additionally, Marge and Larry arrived with tons of food for dinner, so I’ve also been relieved of cooking duties as well. How amazing is that?! Every morning so far Lucia has game...

Sunday, August 18, 2013 Day 5 without Margo was the toughest yet, although reinforcements arrived late this afternoon in the form of Margo’s parents, who kindly drove in from Pennsylvania for the week. They were most welcome, and Lucia and Greta were so excited to see them. Before they arrived, however, there was most of a day to get through, and it started early. Greta was up for 20 minutes or so at 4:30am, and then up for good at 6:30am, with Lucia up shortly there after. The day had a different tenor, and Lucia was very animated from the get go this morning: at one point she was doing laps in the living room, knocking whatever and whoever was out of her way, and it wasn’t even 8am yet. It didn’t help that the day was cloudy and threatening rain. I finally persuaded Lucia to agree to go outside and ride her scooter, and we ended up spending over an hour out on the street in front of the house. However, Lucia whined and complained for most of the time, unwilling to ride h...

Saturday August 17, 2013 Last night didn’t go as smoothly as the previous nights. Bath time and bed time went smoothly, but around 1am Greta started crying. Usually, giving her a pacifier and a quick pat on the back sends her back to sleep, but not this time. After continued crying I picked her up and rocked her and she put her head on my shoulder and soon feel asleep, but as soon as I put her back in her crib, she would start screaming again. After a couple repetitions of this, I sat down in the rocking chair with her and offered her some water, which she quickly pushed away. After about 20 minutes of rocking, I again tried to put her back in her crib, but she wouldn’t have any of it and started screaming again. This time, I left the room and let her cry for about 3 minutes, then went back in, picked her up, and sat back in the rocker. This time she drank some water, and after 5 minutes or so let me put her back in her crib and she finally fell back asleep. Whew.   I woke...