Flexibility

Julian is sleeping. Of course.

We had a rough night. It seemed like he wanted to nurse almost continuously. If he did sleep in his cradle, it felt as though he woke up after only a short time in there. Matthew took him downstairs at around 6:30 a.m. and let me sleep in.

After a short nap before I woke up, Julian fell back to sleep in his swing more than an hour ago. He slept while Julian and I ate breakfast and talked about our plans for the day. I decided I'd be fine with staying home and playing indoors today and suggested that to Jonah. I figured he'd like that idea, too, since this is usually what he wants to do on the days when I want to get out of the house.

"No, I want to go somewhere," he said.

Okay, I thought. It's still early. I bet I can get both boys out of the house for a little while today.

"Where do you want to go?" I asked him.

"Is the library open today?" he said.

"No, not until this afternoon, so we can't go this morning but maybe Daddy can take you after your nap," I told him.

"Can we go to the bookstore?" he asked.

"Sure," I said, and started the getting-ready process.

We have a window of opportunity for activities with Jonah. He can only make it so long before he starts to get hungry for lunch and tired for his nap. Often, this happens at the same time and that's when we venture into meltdown territory. If I push it too much, we risk missing the window for him to go to sleep easily for his nap and that messes up the entire rest of the day, for everyone.

I like to be home by noon at the latest for a quick lunch. Then, nap by 1 or 1:30. Two if I push it a little.

Well, guess what? It's already 11 a.m. Jonah and I are both ready to go, but Julian sleeps.

I used to have no problem just picking him up out of the swing and taking him along. When I did this, he always woke up mid-nap, never staying asleep during the transfer from swing to carrier. Now that he is 4 months old, I am thinking more about his sleep patterns and much more reluctant to wake him up to make things more convenient for me or anyone else in this family. But, it comes with a price. I keep thinking he's bound to wake up any minute and then I can keep my plan of taking Jonah to the bookstore. But, the window of opportunity for Jonah is closing. Fast. Even if Julian wakes up now, I still have to change his diaper and probably nurse him before we leave. Then I have to bundle us all up, get him in the Ergo, get Jonah in the stroller, and start walking. It will take us about 10 minutes to walk to the bookstore. At this rate, it could be noon by the time we get there. Not ideal.

I think I'm going to have to abandon the plan, and I have to tell Jonah. He's going to have to learn to be more flexible now that Julian is here, I suppose, but I don't know many almost 3-year-olds who are very flexible.

This is just one of the many reasons I hate the question, "So, what have you been up to?" or "What did you do today?" I DID a lot, even if I didn't actually DO a lot.
~ Nicole