My Week As A Single Mom- Day 2 Highlights

We're living it up over here!

OK, well, here are the highlights from Day #2: The good, the bad and the ugly.

Day 2 Highlights:

• Success! The kids actually slept past dawn this morning, my plan worked! This was the first morning that I’d opened my eye after the sun came up in…I have no idea. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time, meet my pre-kids self who thought that waking up before 9:00 on weekends was early, and slap myself in the face. I would deserve it.

• Left Skye with the nanny while Kaia and I went grocery shopping and realized that no matter how many things I cut off the shopping list in an effort to save money, I cannot seem to spend less than a ridiculous amount on food. And where does the bulk of it go? Cheese. Yep, that’s right- cheese. And not fancy cheese, either (well, sometimes it is, but most of the time it’s not). We’re talking plain old cheddar and mozzarella cheese, with a bit of Parmesan and ricotta thrown in. Not the highest ticket items on the list…unless you live in Indonesia, apparently. But I am from Wisconsin, and cheese is part of my DNA, so good-bye $35.

• Told Kaia that we could get some ice cream on our way out of the mall. However, miscalculated where the ice cream shop was and ended up at the opposite end of the mall. In an effort to spare myself the walk back, not only did I allow, but I SUGGESTED that Kaia get cotton candy from a kiosk right in front of us instead. Yes, yes I did. I broke one of the Parent Commandments, and one of the big ones, at that:

Thou shalt not feed thy child five pounds of sugar in one 15-minute sitting unless thou art a complete moron.

I don’t know if you’ve ever ridden in the car for 45 minutes with a 4-year-old who has just gulped down a WHOLE bunch of cotton candy, but it isn’t pretty. I just kept picturing her sugar crash in my head, and hoping (HOPING!) that Skye would not have had her nap yet, so that we might all enjoy an hour or so of comatose bliss.

• Entered the house JUST IN TIME to find out that Skye had woken up moments ago from her nap. And she wasn’t happy about it. No, she was not. At least she doesn’t make others suffer with her when she is grouchy, though. Oh, wait- no, this is Skyelar we’re talking about, so actually the entire neighborhood within a 5-block radius knew how unhappy she was.

• Grudgingly said good-bye to the nanny as she left for the rest of the weekend and assessed the situation. Kaia’s sugar coma had kicked in full-force, and she was curled up on the couch with her new sleeping bag, barely aware of any movement or sounds going on around her, while Skye walked around the house shrieking angrily for no apparent reason. On the positive side, Kaia was not in the least bit bothered by her. You know, given her coma and all.

• Decided to get the kids out of the house by either going swimming or, at least, for a walk. Here is where you should allow your imagination to manifest some lightning, followed by a torrential downpour. Sigh.

• Twice- yes, twice!- followed the sound of Skye’s screaming to find her standing on a chair that had slid out from under her, leaving her in a bit of a bridge position with her upper body clinging to the table while her legs and feet slowly slid backwards. The second time, the chair actually slid out from underneath her completely, sending her falling to the ground. And if you think she handled THAT well, then you’ve never met my Skye!

• Gave Skye my phone to play with so that I could have 20 minutes to let the ringing in my ears die down a bit. In that 20 minutes, she managed to mix up several names and phone numbers (I’m still not sure how), call one of my friends (though there was some confusion as to which friend, since she’d mixed up the names), take a picture and set the alarm for 4:30 a.m. I didn’t even know my phone had an alarm, but Skye managed to set it in a matter of minutes.

• Took the kids on a walk after the rain stopped. The walk was cut short, though, by the differences of perspective that Skye and I shared. Basically, my perspective was that we need to hold hands when walking in the road for the sake of safety, and Skye’s perspective was that 18-month-olds should be allowed to run wherever they like in the road, and cars will just go around them.* This resulted in our complete alienation of the whole neighborhood as I carried a screaming, flailing Skye the 2 blocks home. And I swear, I’ve never seen so many of our neighbors hanging around outside before, and while I’m not sure EXACTLY what was going through their minds, it was clear from the looks on their faces that they thought I was handling the situation completely wrong.

***Before you call Child Protection Services, I should note here that our compound (along with the rest of Indonesia) doesn't have very many actual sidewalks. So don't go thinking that I walk my kids around in the street because I like living dangerously. If you know me at all, then you've most likely already caught on to my delightful mix of paranoia and over-protectiveness. If you don't know me, then believe me, you'll catch on soon.

• In an effort to combat the 5-pounds of sugar, I made pasta with butternut squash for dinner, and witnessed Skye reach a new and exciting milestone in her young life: the first time EVER that my darling daughter pushed her dinner bowl away from her, crossed her arms, and looked at me with a face that said, “Yeah, I just did that.”

• Explained to Kaia that family movie night could NOT consist of watching any of the movies that we have seen more than four times, for the sake of my sanity.

I am SOOOOOOOOO having a glass of wine tonight!

Good-night!