So I’ve added another item to my “things that stink about being a parent.” It’s a short list because, honestly, parenting is pretty great most of the time. More often then not (at least in my 19 months of it) it’s joy, fun, funny, or at least pretty good. But up until last week I’ve said that there two things that really make parenting a struggle 1) exhaustion and 2) constant and unending fear. Now I can add item #3 – shared illness.
We’re in our third cycle of family colds here at Casa Mac and we’re only half way through winter. Runny noses, sore throats, whining, crying, up every few hours with sneezing and coughing fits, general irritability x 3. It generally starts with Clare, moves to me and then finishes with J. Now Clare has finished with her cold cycle (and this last time was a rough one for her… and for us), I’m just about done and J is in the throes. Hopefully we’ll have a few weeks off before the next cycle starts.
Sickness aside, Clare is ridiculously fun and verbal these days. Yesterday she told our friend Carrie (Auntie Caw-wee in Clare-speak) that “Mama at work.” Tonight she said (with coaching) “I love Mama” and then immediately said (without coaching) “I love Gee.” She sings all the time – my favorite is her version of “Down by the Bay.” It goes a little something like “Down by Bay! alamala Moose! Mama Say! Down by Bay!” I’ll try to get it on video one of these days because it’s definitely something that I want to save.
Some of Clare’s new words (or word combinations) include her using the word I as in “I sleep,” “I read” or “I drink.” She’s starting to refer to combinations of things with “and” like “O’s and milk” or “Mama and Daddy.” She’s also starting to recognize social roles – as in she’ll point out the mother in a book. Tonight we were reading a book (Down by the Bay by coincidence) and she pointed to the cartoon “mama” in the book and then patted my arm and said “Mama.” She knew the difference between the book Mom and her Mom. Very cool stuff.
A couple of cute stories:
- During the Super Bowl clare kept pointing at the screen and cheering “Go Ducks!” She learned that cheer back in January when U of O played in the BCS Bowl.
- She would not go to Ami’s today without her bead necklace. I tried to get her to leave it behind but she wouldn’t hear of it. It’s the first time she’s had such a strong opinion about what she’s wearing. I see a whole new phase of our life starting…
