Guest Post: Day 5
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
her scooter or walk, insisting on standing on the back of Greta’s tricycle.
Greta thought this was fun at first, but quickly tired of Lucia pushing her
hands off the handlebars, and who could blame her. Lucia would also periodically
hop off unannounced to pick up acorns.
Eventually we made it back to the house, and lo and behold
it was almost 11am. We all missed mommy a lot at that moment. Lunch and nap time went
somewhat smoothly, and I spent the time cleaning up the house for the Orlando’s
arrival and dealing with a nasty trash situation in the garage (raccoons).
When both girls were up, I got them into the double stroller
and we walked down the hill to town, bought a bottle of wine and some chips and
salsa to bring to a cocktail hour at our neighbor’s house this afternoon, and
then hoofed it back up the hill to home. Thankfully, the Orlando’s arrived
shortly after we returned, and all was high hilarity with Gra and Pop-pop.
Around 4:45 we all headed over to our neighbor’s house for a
little summer cocktail party. Gra and Pop-pop were great with the girls while
I mingled and met our new neighbors and talked about Margo. We didn’t stay
long, and the girls played out on the porch with their grandparents while I
made dinner. How nice!
(An aside: Speaking of dinner, in the summers the girls
usually have their dinner outside on the porch, which is really nice, and where
Greta sits in a small booster seat that we’ve strapped on to a regular chair.
However, when she is inside now, she flatly refuses to sit in her normal
highchair at the kitchen table. After not using it once over the past 5 days,
today I moved it out of the kitchen and into our rarely used breakfast room. It
makes the whole room look so much bigger!)
Margo’s often said in the past that the 5th day
that I’m away on a business trip is always the hardest, and I can see what she
means. Both girls were tired and on edge all day until the Orlandos arrived.
Things for some reason always felt just about to spin out of control, and
holding that at bay has its own specific kind of stress and fatigue. Tomorrow
I’ll be back in the office, leaving the girls with their grandparents during
the day. Our babysitter will come on Tuesday and Thursday mornings this week,
too, so many hands will be at the ready over the next few days.
I’m heading back to work with of course a new appreciation
for what Margo does with the girls every day, especially all of the exciting,
creative, engaging activities that she comes up with and somehow finds the
energy to pull off, but also for the adaptability of Lucia and Greta.
Margo had never spent a night away from Greta, and had only
spent one night away from Lucia in almost 4 years, but both girls have been
wonderful – limited whining, very few tantrums and meltdowns, usually good
behavior, listening, etc. It may be too early to tell since this is only Day 5
of 10, but so far I’ve been amazed at how still-good-natured and happy both
Greta and Lucia have been every day. Knock on wood.
Andrew
Some post-nap iPad use:
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