This has been Gideon’s first week of preschool. Originally we were going to take him three days a week so that we could still have two mornings where we were together, but he asked to go five days and kind of begged to go five days at the end of the summer so we agreed. This week has felt very odd without him around the house in the mornings. Granted, he only has ‘school’ for 2.5 hours, but our entire schedule is completely altered.
For instance, I was prone to not showering before Piper’s nap time, which also meant I was prone to laying around all morning letting the hours somehow slip by me without being productive in any way whatsoever. This week I’ve been hitting the shower at normal people hours (in part due to the fact that I am not working out at all, blaming Gummi Bear for this laziness and thinking thoughts about how a heartbeat of 140 isn’t working out anyway), applying makeup prior to my 4:30 “Jud will be heading home in the next hour” preparation time, and in general finding out what I always knew to be true. When you get ready for the day, your day goes so much better. It sets the tone for engaging the world, the kids and the various machines around our home that help me out. I’ll probably never know why I need to be fully dressed to confront the washing machine and the loads of laundry sitting in front of it, but I can’t deny the reality that is our home when I am put together.
I had kind of counted on the idea that Gid would be gone in the mornings but very present in the afternoons. Piper and I would get some serious alone time while he was in class. Gideon and I would get that same alone time while she napped. But let me tell you about how tired he is after holding himself together for those 2.5 hours. Extremely. Insanely. He’s lash-out-and-randomly-kick-your-sister tired. I obliged him with nap time. He obliged me with sleeping. And now I have two hours in the afternoon to myself, to continue the productivity, to get some much needed rest myself, to work or pay the bills or prep supper. It is both wonderful and kind of sad, but I wouldn’t dare to keep the kid awake just to get to play with him, primarily because he is so out of his mind he can’t put a sentence together by 3pm and then all I do is correct and cajole for the rest of the day. He’s in bed directly after supper time and I really miss out on who he really is.
So we are saddled with nap time for both of them again, even if he doesn’t really take a very good one every day. In the meantime I’ll keep enjoying the days spent with both of them and looking forward to happy hours filled with pre-Kindergarten fun.
