|
The Daily Grind |
I walked in
today and annabelly rolled over on her belly to look
at me as I unloaded the gear. Every
day I bring a diaper bag (world’s
coolest diaper bag I may add, gift of the Target.com merchants) filled with
toys, a blanket, a new outfit, my many electronic recording devices (so that I
may embarrass Annabelly later in life by bringing out
her naked butt pictures and presenting them in surround sound), and an Ipod plus speakers, for crooning a little john Denver or in
today’s case, queen (nothing lulls a baby to sleep like “We will,
we will Rock you”)
She was a
rolling over fool today. being able to play on the ground has helped so much. Plus today was the first day she was
really interested in the toys I’ve brought. I think up until now, she was fascinated
by this new person and by the new person’s frantic antics. Now, we’re settling down into more
of a routine and she has a moment to catch her breath, look around and discover
the “friends of all sizes” soft book that squeaks and the baby
Einstein rattles.
She’d
already been given her bottle when I arrived so that inevitably means I only
have an hour to play with her before she falls asleep. So for an hour, she
practiced rolling over, doing tummy time and a few high flying experiences.
Then, as
expected, she began nodding her head as the Goo Goo Dolls “better Days” (Margaret’s last
favorite song) came on the ipod. I laid her on the mattress on the floor
and for an hour and a half she was zonked out. I took cute pics
and a little video. For my friend
Trish P. – I took your advice about not taking too much video of the
kiddo sleeping, so I only took a few seconds worth!! She’s cute as
Button, but I couldn’t catch her snoring (which she actually does from time
to time). Meanwhile, after I had
exhausted all means of electronic surveillance of her sleeping, I just lay down
beside her and rested too.
Day 8_files\Sleeping Best.MOV (click for quick time movie)
On other topics,
a few people have asked what I do with my day. So here is the blow by blow. Better fasten your seatbelts,
it’s a pretty wild ride.
7am:
wake up and check email
8am:
shower. Unless no water as has been increasingly common of
late.
8:15:
wander 400 sq foot apartment hoping for a diversion
8:20:
make tea, wish desperately for a starbucks grande soy chai latte.
8:30:
stare idly out the window and look for a clue to weather. Do I wear Capri pants or Capri pants
today?
8:40:
make bed
8:41:
wander 400 sq foot apartment hoping for a diversion
8:42:
Read the label on my Luna Protein bar.
Twice.
8:45:
Write and upload journal entry from previous day’s visit
9:15:
wash dishes and straighten up 400 sq foot apartment
10:00:
leave for hospital
12:00
– 12:30 depart hospital
12:45:
if I’m lucky I have shopping to do, go to viola market and try to linger
over the cucumbers
1:15:
Return “home” and wander through apartment to see if anything has
changed
1:16:
download photos from visit to computer deleting all photos that include a
double chin on me….
1:30:
make some sort of lunch (today for example I had a salad of tomatoes, cucumber
and cheese, 2 hard boiled eggs and a few shortbread cookies)
1:40:
Eat Lunch in front of computer DVD of highly intellectual fare –
currently going through Buffy the Vampire Slayer seasons 1 – 7
3:30:
Attempt to build a model of the Eiffel tower using tongue depressors and super
glue, both of which were left in bathroom by previous tenant
4:00:
play solitaire on the computer
4:05:
play free cell on the computer
4:15
onwards: Feel guilty about not filling time doing Yoga or work
4:45:
try to read one of the incredibly bad books left behind by previous tenants,
although they barely qualify as plane/beach/bored senseless reading as are
really, really bad
4:46:
Start to wonder about previous tenant – tongue depressors, super glue and
bad novels….hmmm…... What do you think?
6pm: check email again before expensive
internet rates kick in (7-11 pm rates double or triple)
7pm: wonder aloud if that is indeed a dot
matrix printer I hear chugging along in the upstairs apartment
7:05:
make dinner (toasted bread with melted cheese and tomatoes)
7:15:
Eat dinner
7:30:
plump pillows on couch
7:31:
pack diaper bag with new outfit for next day visit
7:35:
watch another episode of buffy’s great
adventures
8:30:
try to figure out baby bjorn
– get tangled up and put it on sideways which thankfully takes a full 20
minutes to correct. I definitely needed my engineer sister for this task.
8:50:
Wonder if I can got to sleep this early
9:00:
Try and can’t go to sleep this early
9:05:
Listen to the usual banging on my front door. This happens
every couple of nights. The first couple of days it freaked me out but now I am
used to it. (Nothing like a steel front door to make a girl
feel snug in her apartment.)
When I first arrived, Oleg warned me not to answer the door unless I got
a call from him first saying he was coming up (no one else would be coming to
visit.) and I have obeyed that. Since they haven’t invented peepholes in
the doors here yet, who knows who might be on the other side?
9:15:
listen to Memoirs of a geisha audio book on my Ipod
9:30:
Get irritated with audio book and reach for another really bad novel
9:36:
gasp in disbelief as the sounds of a badly played accordion come through from
the apartment above. Does anyone
actually still play the accordion?
Could it be a movie (say, fiddler on the roof)? But no movie accordion would be that
badly played, surely. (don’t call me
Shirley)
9:38: Realize I heard the dot matrix printer
coming from upstairs and now the accordion. Briefly fantasize that if I were in
the Buffy show, the person upstairs would be stuck in a time warp, only able to
communicate through outdated technology and musical instruments…..
9:40:
pick up a left behind copy of Motorcross Madness
Magazine hoping it will lull me into a somnolent mood.
9:41:
Wonder aloud at the sub culture of motorcross and
toss magazine aside after discovering an ad for motorcross
imprinted linoleum in the back pages
9:50:
Reorganize toiletries in bathroom to be time sequenced (ie
first brush teeth so toothpaste on top shelf, then shower
so shampoo on second shelf…)
10:00
– 11:00 pm: lie in bed and try to avoid all thoughts so I can fall asleep
About
11:00 finally fall asleep
Rinse
and repeat as needed.
|
|
