It's Friday! This was a short week for us since we had Monday off, so the week went by pretty fast, but it was a good one. Here is how the week shaped up!
The book I'm reading is The Sentence by Louise Erdrich which is my July book club book. This is my 3rd Erdrich novel - I really disliked the previous 2 I read so normally I wouldn't read another book by the author but I had heard this one was different from her others and I am finding that to be true! Erdrich is a local author and bookstore owner, and much of this book takes place in her bookstore - which I am here for! I used to be in a running club that met close to her bookstore so I can really picture the setting.
The high of my week was being on the Best of Both Worlds podcast! It was really fun to share my experience with returning to work after having a baby.
The low of my week was bad sleep and whining. Will has been waking at 5 this week (way too early!!) and one night he woke screaming at 11:30. The screaming was what we characterize as ear infection screaming, but he has tubes so it can't be that. One tube was almost out when we saw his doctor in June, but he always had bilateral ear infections, so if he had one I would think we'd see drainage out of the ear that still has a tube? Who knows. And then there is the whining from the 4yo on the way back from doing fun things - like when we went to the local wading pool after dinner on Wednesday. It was hard to get him to leave and then he wanted to do other things we usually do, like throw sticks in the creek or visit this culvert that Will loves, but we had just spent an hour at the pool so we didn't have time to do all the other stuff we normally do on family walks. My tolerance for whining is really low when I have gone out of my way to give Paul a fun evening. But I know whining is just part of childhood.
 |
| Brother wrestling has already started! |
 |
| Phil swam on Tuesday night so I took both boys for a walk/scoot to the local creek since the weather was back in the 80s and less humid. It was a really nice night! |
 |
| Swimming at our local wading pool on Wednesday night. I'm so glad Paul is loving the water this summer! |
Our week has been busy! We're traveling and we've been packing a lot into the days. Highlight? Probably staying up way to late talking to my sister (my OTHER sister, who I also hadn't seen in YEARS) the other day.
ReplyDeleteI struggle so much with whining and it's 100x worse when it comes after doing something fun. Sadly, my kids do this a lot (I mean I complain after/during fun things, too, so I'm not off the hook here). Like we'll go to a park they begged to play at and then within minutes they want to go for ice cream or something. I struggle with it because when I was a kid I had SO few treats like that and would never, ever have asked for them. So it means that the little things aren't as special.
Don't get me wrong. I have amazing kids and I think they're overall less "entitled" - both in reality and in their own minds - than many kids in their peer group. But still. I just want them to be so grateful for what they have and I do think that's a bit trickier since they just have so many advantages in life.
Also, we parents do so much more with our kids now and so I think they just have more opportunity to whine in front of us. By the time I was Levi's age I was biking to friends homes alone and I'd be gone for hours. I loved the independence AND I couldn't whine about anything to my mother.
It was so fun listening to you on the podcast!
ReplyDeleteSorry about the whining and bad sleep - let's hope this week is better on that front!
I'm so glad you're loving Ted Lasso!!! I LOVED that show! I cannot wait for the next season to come out. I absolutely loved Ted's character, and it literally just made me feel happy and good when we'd watch it! So funny and entertaining. I also love Keeley's character! She makes me wish I could tell someone to f-off in that accent and seem so nonchalant and cool while doing it. LOL! (If you knew me in real life, you'd know that I could never pull that off.) I love Roy's character, too. Oh, they're just all great, in my opinion. Ivan loved it too. We haven't started a new series since we finished that and This is Us, which we'd been watching simultaneously. No idea what to pick! I haven't even looked- we've just been busy, anyway, so it's probably just as well to not have a series going. Sometimes I get a little sucked in and it get be addicting....
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a fun weekend ahead if you can avoid the whining! (Sometimes too much fun brings on whining -- I don't understand how that happens but we've seen it too!). Sorry about the sleep. I think it was so cool you were on a podcast!
ReplyDeleteLoved your podcast interview! I’m a new mama -he’s 3 mos old- and just started back to work! Your story was so affirming and encouraging. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteUgh, whining is the WORST, especially when you've just done something fun! I had an experience recently (related) that made me so mad -- my husband offered to get my daughter a toy, on a whim, and she couldn't decide between two options at the price point he'd set ($15! Not nothing!) and really wanted a different toy ($30). If it had been me, I would have just said, sorry Charlie, pick one of the $15 options, but my husband said, "Let's get her the big toy!" And when he told her she could have it, instead of being super excited, she said, "And can I also get this other ($5) toy?" It made me SO MAD! Like, how am I raising such a spoiled kid?!?! It is so frustrating and deflating and What Is The Point-ing when you try to do something fun/special for your kid and it's not "enough." Well. Seems like I got a little carried away there -- LOL!
ReplyDeleteI apologize if you've shared the titles of the previous Erdrich books you've read (and am pre-embarrassed that I commented on posts you wrote about them previously!), but I loved her books The Round House and The Plague of Doves. I have The Sentence waiting for me on my nightstand, but haven't gotten to it yet. So glad you are enjoying it! I've heard it is really an interesting piece of writing!
Highlight of my week was my 4-year-old daughter getting her COVID vaccine! (She hasn't had COVID yet.) Looking forward to no more quarantines by mid-August. We opted for Moderna since it is only 2 shots until "fully vaccinated."
ReplyDeleteTed Lasso is such a great show! I'm glad you're enjoying it. His character just makes me so happy.
ReplyDeleteUgh, the whining. Whenever my nephews do it, I just tune right out. That's when I'm glad I'm not their parent because I cannot handle the whining. It must be so frustrating as a parent, especially after going and doing something fun! It's those moments when I just want to apologize to my mom for being such a whiny brat at times.
I’m happy to hear Paul is enjoying gymnastics and the water this summer! I know Will loves it so it will be a great weekend activity. Whining is really hard as I still remember it from when you were young. We always heard “I’m so bored!” They do grow out of it, thankfully.
ReplyDeleteI hope the sleeping gets better. Hang in there as soon they’ll be teens and then they want to sleep for hours.